In 1986, while working in Munich, I visited the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial, where 200,000 Jews, political prisoners, the mentally and physically disabled, and homosexuals were murdered by Nazis. In 1992, while working in Prague, I was taken by Czech colleagues to another manifestation of Make Das Vaterland Great Again (MVGA): the village of Lidice. Until June 1942, it had been filled with children playing, teenagers imagining their futures and adults dealing with wartime realities. Then the Nazis marched in, shot all males over 15, 173 in all; shipped all women to a concentration camp; and transported 82 children in extermination trucks to where they were gassed, burned and buried. The Lidice Memorial casts in bronze these “Lost Children,” their faces anxiously searching for moms and dads whose hands they no longer hold. Why the evil? Why the cruelty? This is what Nazis do, because this is who they are.
“NEVER forget” — the rallying cry of death camp survivors and descendants. “ALWAYS forget” — the rallying cry of millions of Americans today. Come November, however, I won’t forget. The homegrown “you will not replace us” Nazis in Charlottesville in 2017. Proud Boys/Oath Keepers/Other Toy Soldiers stormtrooping their way through the Capitol in 2021.
But most of all, I won’t forget our ex-Prez flattering the former: “There are many fine people on both sides!” And sending hugs and kisses to the latter: “We love you. You’re very special.” So help us all if we forget … to judge this man by the company he keeps.
Joseph Jamison
Greensburg