On April 12, 1994, I attended CampPendleton's observance of the Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust,
held at the Officer's Club by the Marine Corps Base' s Chaplain' s Office for
Marines, retired veterans, and members of the general community.
The Commanding Officer welcomed us, telling us that since 1984, the US Military has organized these days of memorialization on US Ships and installations to help us take seriously theatrocity of the Holocaust. He read General Eisenhower' s letter describing what he saw in the Concentration Camps. This letter states that General Patton refrained from entering a room for fear of getting sick. Eisenhower states that he made this visit to prevent charges of propaganda. The CO, Lt. Col. D. G. Croom, USMC then concluded with the thought—provoking quote of the Reverend Martin Nieomöller's which has been posted before on S.C.J.
The Commanding Officer welcomed us, telling us that since 1984, the US Military has organized these days of memorialization on US Ships and installations to help us take seriously theatrocity of the Holocaust. He read General Eisenhower' s letter describing what he saw in the Concentration Camps. This letter states that General Patton refrained from entering a room for fear of getting sick. Eisenhower states that he made this visit to prevent charges of propaganda. The CO, Lt. Col. D. G. Croom, USMC then concluded with the thought—provoking quote of the Reverend Martin Nieomöller's which has been posted before on S.C.J.
After the
US flag and Marine Corps flag were saluted and serenaded, we got a chance to
hear from a couple who were liberated from Dachau Concentration Camp and subsequently
married, Fred and Anne Gilbert. They thanked the Wiesenthal Center in Los
Angeles for enabling them to join us in San Diego. Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert met the
day they were liberated when Mr. Gilbert was looking for survivors from Warsaw
who might know what became of his family. Turning to Brig. Gen. Felix L. Sparks
(ret.), he concluded his recounting with "Sir. I thank you very much for
saving our lives. You sacrificed your life to save some of ours. " Mr.
Sparks led the Infantrymen who liberated Fred and Anne Gilbert and the other
32,000 survivors of the Dachau concentration camp.
It was then that Mr. Sparks turned to address us. Although he was happy to have come from Denver for the warmer climes of San Diego, he soon became serious as he described why he has spoken in many states on his role in liberating the Dachau Concentration Camp of Dachau.
In 1972 the Governor of Colorado instituted a state Holocaust memorialization and invited Mr. Sparks to speak for a few minutes on his part in the liberation of Dachau in 1945 at a meeting where there were some camp survivors . Mr . Sparks was "quite astounded to receive a number of obscene and derogatory phone calls" after that. A quick look at his vita shows us that Mr. Sparks is accustomed to being believed: he was a District Attorney for the 7th Judicial District of Colorado and a Justice of the Colorado Supreme Court .
It was then that Mr. Sparks turned to address us. Although he was happy to have come from Denver for the warmer climes of San Diego, he soon became serious as he described why he has spoken in many states on his role in liberating the Dachau Concentration Camp of Dachau.
In 1972 the Governor of Colorado instituted a state Holocaust memorialization and invited Mr. Sparks to speak for a few minutes on his part in the liberation of Dachau in 1945 at a meeting where there were some camp survivors . Mr . Sparks was "quite astounded to receive a number of obscene and derogatory phone calls" after that. A quick look at his vita shows us that Mr. Sparks is accustomed to being believed: he was a District Attorney for the 7th Judicial District of Colorado and a Justice of the Colorado Supreme Court .
He told us that he became angry that a group of
people in the US would say the Holocaust was a hoax. He resolved to speak on
the subject. Repeating that the reaction of disbelief was beyond his
comprehension, he drew out a leaflet entitled "66 Questions on theHolocaust" published in nearby Costa Mesa, CA., and described how the
yearly Denver commemoration is picketed by such groups . He interrupted
himself to say "As long as I am alive, I will speak out on this."
With that he asked the existential question of the
day, "Why did the Holocaust happen? " He gave a brief sketch of the
pressing, pre—War economic situations in the US and Germany, and the history
of the rise to power of Hitler' s private army, funded by German industrialists
. He related that Dachau started out in 1933 as a German camp, to incarcerate
German citizens who spoke out against Hitler .
Mr. Sparks led a battalion of infantrymen with the
mission of subduing the German province of Bavaria. He described their
success in clearing resistance from Nuremburg. On March 20, 1945, around
midnight, he received a radio transmission from his commander: Tomorrow the
concentration camp at Dachau will be in your zone of attack. This camp has
[serious political nature . (I can' t read my writing——MG)] Take and seize all
records you find.
Since he was not ordered to take the camp, nor had he any idea of what a concentration camp was, he did not pursue the matter at that time. The next day he was able to clear the German resistance in the small town of Dachau after an hour of fighting. He received an urgent message: You are directed to seize the concentration camp at Dachau. After seizure you are to seal that and let no one in or out.
Since he was not ordered to take the camp, nor had he any idea of what a concentration camp was, he did not pursue the matter at that time. The next day he was able to clear the German resistance in the small town of Dachau after an hour of fighting. He received an urgent message: You are directed to seize the concentration camp at Dachau. After seizure you are to seal that and let no one in or out.
That was a strong message for a military leader as
it meant splitting his battalion . Since the resistance had stopped, he was
more confident in doing this than he might otherwise have been .
He proceeded with his company and told them that
he did not know what kind of resistance they would find. As they approached the
camp, they first encountered a string of railway cars. There were 39. They
were on a spur line. Disengaged, the cars were along the entrance to the
camp.
As he approached, he could see some bodies along
the entrance to the camp. Two of them were in striped uniforms . Two had
bashed—in skulls with brain material extruding . They inspected all 39 cars and
there was no sign of life, only dead bodies .
At that point they were 200 men and Mr. Sparks gave the order to go inside. He ordered the troops to scale the wall (in case they met resistance at the front gate.) It looked (again) like an ordinary military post. Officers' homes, well landscaped and I went to one of the houses and I found signs of a very hasty evacuation——children's' story— books left out.
Mr. Sparks heard small arms fire, and took a small crew with him to explore further. With his bodyguard and interpreter, he began to encounter a few prisoners. In one of the buildings, a prisoner in a striped uniform came out in pretty good shape, who could speak German. The forces were rounding up quite a number of Germans .
His men came to the crematoria and stretched in piles and piles were nude bodies weighing approximately 80 pounds each: Some of the troops got out of hand. Some were crying; some were cursing, and they killed a number of the German guards——36 to be exact. And we took 200 prisoners.
Next they came to a large, barbed wire area. Mr. Sparks described the guard towers, each of which had a machine gun and five soldier. As he had been unprepared for the nature of a concentration camp, so too was he unprepared for the reaction of his US infantrymen: his men killed all five of the guards in the first tower. The men from the next tower were taken prisoner. The rest of the guards in the other towers fled.
A few minutes later thousands of the 32,000 inmates who could still walk emerged. They gathered in Roll Call Square, which Mr. Sparks reported was about half the size of the large Dining Hall where he was speaking [These numbers don't make sense --mkg]. They later told Mr. Sparks that they had been hiding as they had been told they would be killed before the US Army was to arrive.
After they emerged, they started yelling and screaming. And then bodies were being tossed up in the air. Mr Sparks turned to his interpreter, Carl, an American, to get an explanation for what was going on: "Colonel, " he said. "They are killing the informers." These were the KAPOS, who were German prisoners given life-or-death control over the barracks. Since Mr. Sparks had asked his men not to enter the camp (for fear that they would contract tyhpus), he had no forces to help stop the quick revenge.
After 20 minutes, things quieted down. Mr. Sparks asked to speak to their leaders and ten men stepped forward. He told them that they would need to remain there as this was a combat zone; he assured them that medical help would arrive . (Nevertheless, since they had arrived, death came to someone new every ten to fifteen minutes.)
Mr. Sparks related that he and a General had a conflict over the area and that an investigation was later conducted by the 7th Army. He did not say what caused the conflict .
What really impressed me in his description was that it was not the death around them that sickened the US Forces, but the depravity that was behind the smell of death everywhere around them. There were some nine thousand bodies, which the citizens of Dachau were ordered to come out and help dispose of. The liberating army tried to identify as many as possible by tatoo number, but the most dignified burial they could provide was still a mass grave .
Mr. Sparks went back to his original question: There is no explanation.
He described the documentary pictures that the Dachau administration had taken and kept . He also showed us some of the pictures the US Army took on liberation day: At Dachau there is a museum and the pictures are there [for all to see.] He had some words of mourning for the gypsies who were exterminated and have no one to speak for them: they have no country—they were not given the chance to go into a work camp.
Mr. Sparks reported that five hundred women were freed and that two hundred of those freed were naturalized Americans, caught in Germany while visiting. He said that during the war US troops often wondered if they were helping, but that at Dachau he felt that he did accomplish something, in that he helped to free its 32, 000 inmates so that they might resume what was left of their shattered lives. He mentioned that two of the prisoners--one a camp doctor--were executed at the Nuremburg war trials .
Captain Ivan B . Burnett, CHC, USN, the Group Chaplain led us in prayer, asking the Lord to help us carry on the struggle against evil through education, without losing hope or being consumed by hatred. I went over to thank Lt. Joel Newman, CHC, USNR, for organizing and publicizing the talk.
At that point they were 200 men and Mr. Sparks gave the order to go inside. He ordered the troops to scale the wall (in case they met resistance at the front gate.) It looked (again) like an ordinary military post. Officers' homes, well landscaped and I went to one of the houses and I found signs of a very hasty evacuation——children's' story— books left out.
Mr. Sparks heard small arms fire, and took a small crew with him to explore further. With his bodyguard and interpreter, he began to encounter a few prisoners. In one of the buildings, a prisoner in a striped uniform came out in pretty good shape, who could speak German. The forces were rounding up quite a number of Germans .
His men came to the crematoria and stretched in piles and piles were nude bodies weighing approximately 80 pounds each: Some of the troops got out of hand. Some were crying; some were cursing, and they killed a number of the German guards——36 to be exact. And we took 200 prisoners.
Next they came to a large, barbed wire area. Mr. Sparks described the guard towers, each of which had a machine gun and five soldier. As he had been unprepared for the nature of a concentration camp, so too was he unprepared for the reaction of his US infantrymen: his men killed all five of the guards in the first tower. The men from the next tower were taken prisoner. The rest of the guards in the other towers fled.
A few minutes later thousands of the 32,000 inmates who could still walk emerged. They gathered in Roll Call Square, which Mr. Sparks reported was about half the size of the large Dining Hall where he was speaking [These numbers don't make sense --mkg]. They later told Mr. Sparks that they had been hiding as they had been told they would be killed before the US Army was to arrive.
After they emerged, they started yelling and screaming. And then bodies were being tossed up in the air. Mr Sparks turned to his interpreter, Carl, an American, to get an explanation for what was going on: "Colonel, " he said. "They are killing the informers." These were the KAPOS, who were German prisoners given life-or-death control over the barracks. Since Mr. Sparks had asked his men not to enter the camp (for fear that they would contract tyhpus), he had no forces to help stop the quick revenge.
After 20 minutes, things quieted down. Mr. Sparks asked to speak to their leaders and ten men stepped forward. He told them that they would need to remain there as this was a combat zone; he assured them that medical help would arrive . (Nevertheless, since they had arrived, death came to someone new every ten to fifteen minutes.)
Mr. Sparks related that he and a General had a conflict over the area and that an investigation was later conducted by the 7th Army. He did not say what caused the conflict .
What really impressed me in his description was that it was not the death around them that sickened the US Forces, but the depravity that was behind the smell of death everywhere around them. There were some nine thousand bodies, which the citizens of Dachau were ordered to come out and help dispose of. The liberating army tried to identify as many as possible by tatoo number, but the most dignified burial they could provide was still a mass grave .
Mr. Sparks went back to his original question: There is no explanation.
He described the documentary pictures that the Dachau administration had taken and kept . He also showed us some of the pictures the US Army took on liberation day: At Dachau there is a museum and the pictures are there [for all to see.] He had some words of mourning for the gypsies who were exterminated and have no one to speak for them: they have no country—they were not given the chance to go into a work camp.
Mr. Sparks reported that five hundred women were freed and that two hundred of those freed were naturalized Americans, caught in Germany while visiting. He said that during the war US troops often wondered if they were helping, but that at Dachau he felt that he did accomplish something, in that he helped to free its 32, 000 inmates so that they might resume what was left of their shattered lives. He mentioned that two of the prisoners--one a camp doctor--were executed at the Nuremburg war trials .
Captain Ivan B . Burnett, CHC, USN, the Group Chaplain led us in prayer, asking the Lord to help us carry on the struggle against evil through education, without losing hope or being consumed by hatred. I went over to thank Lt. Joel Newman, CHC, USNR, for organizing and publicizing the talk.
