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Q.) How did you end up at Dachau? How old were you?
A.) November 9th, 1938 was Kristalnacht - The Night of Broken Glass - The
night Synagogues were ransacked and burned, Jewish owned shops destroyed;
I guess you could call it the night the fires of hell engulfed the soul
of humanity. I was arrested November 10th, "for my own personal security."
I was 21 years old. My parents were arrested and ultimately died in a concentration camp in France. I was released from Dachau in 1941, under the condition that I leave Germany immediately. This was common procedure before the "Final Solution."
Q.) What did you think when you were sent to Dachau? What did you know
about Dachau beforehand?
A.) My first thoughts were those many others: "The world has gone mad."
I knew that the life expectancy at Dachau was relatively short. I knew
beforehand that inmates were abused. The horror of Dachau was known throughout
Germany. People (Germans) use to frighten their childern, "If you do not
behave, you will surely end up at Dachau." A famous German comedian, Weiss
Ferdl, said "Regardless how many machine gun towers they have around K.Z.
Dachau, if I want to get in, I shall get in." The Nazis obliged him; he
died at Dachau.
Q.) How did you accept the fears of Dachau?
A.) Due to the constant hunger and extreme cold weather, one becomes too
numb to even think of fear. A prisoner under these conditions becomes obsessed
with survival; nothing else matters.
Q.) What were the living conditions like in Dachau?
A.) We were issued one-quarter of a loaf of bread. That was to last three
days. In the morning, we picked up, at the kitchen, a cup of roasted barley
drink. There was no lunch. At dinnertime, sometimes we got a watery soup with bits of tripe or some salt herring and a boiled potato. Our prison clothes were a heavy, coarse denim. They would freeze when they got wet. We were not issued hats, gloves or underware.
Q.) Do you have residual fears? How do you feel about German re-unification?
A.) I have nightmares constantly. I recently dreamed that a guard grabbed
me. My wife's arm touched my face, and I unfortunately bit her severely.
German re-unification, in my opinion, will be the basis for another war.
The Germans, regardless of what their present leadership says, will want
their lost territories back, East Prussia, Silesia, and Danzic (Gdansk).
My family history goes back over 700 years in Germany. I understand all
too well what the politicians do not want the people to be thinking about.
Q.) You mentioned you were shot and stabbed several times. Were these experements,
punishment or torture?
A.) They were punishment. I very often, in a fit of temper, acted "while
the brain was not in gear." The sorry results were two 9 mm bullets in
my knees. Fortunately, one of the prisoners had a fingernail file and was
able to dig the slugs out. In another situation, I was stabbed in the washroom
of room #1, Block 16. Twice in a struggle where I nearly lost my right
thumb. A German prisoner Hans Wissing, who after the war became mayor of
his home town, Leinsweiler, witnessed the whole situation. We stayed in
touch until a few months ago, when he died.
Q.) Do you remember some of the steps taken by the Nazis to de-humanize
people and to make them feel hopeless? How were people robbed of their
dignity?
A.) If you had treated an animal in Germany the way we were treated, you
would have been jailed. For example, a guard or a group of them would single
out a prisoner and beat him with canes or a club. Sometimes to further
terrorize a prisoner, the guards would form a circle around a prisoner
and beat him unconscious. There were cases of a prisoner being told to
report to the Revier ("Hospital") and being forced to drink a quart of
castor oil. Believe me, this is a lousy, painfull, wretched way to die.
You develop extreme diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, and severe dehydration.
If the Nazis wanted you to live and suffer more, they would take measures
to rehydrate to victim.
Q.) What was the routine like at Dachau?
A.) Three times a day, we were counted. We had to carry the dead to the
square. Each time, we had to stand at attention in all kinds of weather.
We stood wearing next to nothing, had weak bladders, while our tormentors
had sheepskin coats and felt boots. The bastards really enjoyed watching
us suffer. I remember how the guards had a good laugh when one of them
"accidentally" let loose with a machine gun, killing about 30 prisoners.
Q.) What did people do to try to adjust to Dachau? Keep up their spirits
up?
A.) There were some actors, comedians, and musicians among us. Sometimes
they would clandestinely perform. One of the muscians got hold of a violin
and played for us. To this day, it remains a mystery how he got his hands on a violin. I still keep in touch with other prisoners. I am a member of the Dachau Prisoners Association. Each year I go back to Germany to visit.
Q.) Did people ever successfully escape? Do you remember acts of bravery?
A.) Nobody escaped, only in the movies does the "hero" escape. Guards received
extra leave time for killing prisoners that got too close to the fence.
I do, however, think all prisoners were heroes in their own way. Especially
the German prisoners, for they would not acquiesce to the Nazis. They suffered
greatly too.
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Q.) Did the camp inmates ever bring up the topic, "If only we were armed
before, we would not be here now"?
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A.) Many, many times. Before Adolph Hitler came to power, there was a black
market in firearms, but the German people had been so conditioned to be
law abiding, that they would never consider buying an unregistered gun.
The German people really believed
that only hoodlums own such guns. What fools we were. It truly frightens
me to see how the government, media, and some police groups in America
are pushing for the same mindset. In my opinion, the people of America
had better start asking and demanding answers to some hard questions about
firearms ownership, especially if the government does not trust me to own
firearms, why or how can the people be expected to trust the government?
There is no doubt in my mind that millions of lives could have been saved
if the people were not "brainwashed" about gun ownership and had been well
armed. Hitler's thugs and goons were not very brave when confronted by a gun. Gun haters always want to forget the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, which is a perfect example of how a ragtag, half-starved group of Jews took up 10 handguns and made asses out of the Nazis.
Q.) Did you have any contacts with the White Rose Society (mostly German
students against Hitler)? Did anyone try to hide you from the Nazis?
A.) I did not, but my local friend, Richard Scholl, had two cousins or
nephews who were members. Both were executed in Munich (I believe) for
standing up for decency and freedom. Not enough people knew about the White
Rose Society. There were many non-Jews who were not anti-Semitic and were
very much opposed to Hitler. It was impossible to hide people from the
Nazis in Germany - it is so densely populated and food was rationed. Another
point that many people fail to understand is that in Germany, you had a
situation where the children were reporting to their teachers if their
parents listened to the BBC on the short wave radio, or what they were
talking about at home. If a German was friendly to a Jew, he was warned
once. If he failed to heed the warning, he would disappear and never be
heard from again. This was known as "Operation Night and Fog."
Q.) Do you think Anerican society has enough stability that Jews and other
minorities are safe from severe persecution?
A.) No. I think there is more anti-Semitism in America (some of it caused
by leftist Jewish politicians and organizations who promote gun control
schemes) than there was in Germany. This may stun some people, but not
all Germans hated Jews. My best and devoted friends in Germany were Christians.
I perceive America as a very unstable society, due to social tinkering
of the Kennedy/Metzenbaum-type politicians. When I first came to this wonderfull country after World War II, America was vibrant, dynamic and promising society. There really was an American dream,
attainable by those who wanted to work. Now, due to the curse of Liberalism,
America is in a period of moral decline. Even worse, corrupt criminals
hold high political office, and you have police officials who don't give
a damn about the Bill of Rights. They just want to control people, not
protect and serve. When you study history, you see that when a country
becomes an immoral manure heap, as America is rapidly becoming, all minorities suffer, and ultimately, all the citizens.
Q.) What words of warning would you like to give to young people who will
soon be eligible to vote?
A.) Vote only for politicians who trust the people to own all types of
firearms, and who have a strong pro-Second Ammendment voting record. Anti-gunownership politicians are very dangerous to a free society. Liberty and freedom can only be preserved by an armed citizenry. I see creeping fascism in America, just as in Germany, a drip at a time; a law here, a law there, all suposidly passed to protect the public. Soon you have total enslavement. Too many Americans have forgotten that tyranny often masquerades as doing good. This is the technique the Liberal politicians/Liberal media alliance are using to enslave America.
A.) Their ignorance is pitiful - their lives have been too easy. Had they
experienced Dachau, they would have a better idea of how precious freedom
is. These leftist should leave America. These Sarah Brady types must be
educated to under-stand that because we have an armed citizenry, that a
dictatorship has not yet happened in America. These anti-gun fools are
more dangerous to Liberty than street criminals or foreign spies.
Q.) Some concentration camp survivors are opposed to gun ownership. What
message would you like to share with them?
A.) I would like to say, "You cowards; you gun haters, you don't deserve
to live in America. Go live in the Soviet Union, if you love gun control
so d--- much." It was the stupidity of these naive fools that aided and abetted Hitler's goons and thugs. Anti-gunownership Holocaust survivors insult the memories of all those that needlessly perished for lack of being able to adequately defend themselves.
Q.) It appears the Liberal left in America is tolerating, and sometimes
espousing anti-Semitism. Why do you think so many Jews still support the
leftist form of Liberalism?
A.) It is for this very reason that I firmly believe that we harbor more
stupid and naive people in our midst, than any other group of people. It
amazes me how Liberal Jews have such short memories that today, they would be so supportive and involved in setting up the mechanics of gun control, so that a Holocaust can happen again. All they're doing is playing into the hands of the very clever communists who are masters at conning Americans.
Q.) Why did you join JPFO?
A.) I feel every Jew should be armed to the teeth, as should every American.
I joined JPFO because as a group, we can stand up tp Liberal Jewish gun
haters and also to Gestapo-minded anti-gun police who want total control
of the people. I wish JPFO was in existance years ago. I believe the Jewish
involvement in gun control would not be anywhere close to what it is today,
but better now than never.