From Our Readers

Dachau Gas Chambers

In your article “From Death to Life in Dachau” (February 8, 1985), the writer made several errors. The motto on the belt buckles of the S.S. men was not “God With Us” but “My Honor Is Loyalty.” Also, she says that prisoners were ordered to the shower rooms and gassed there. Anyone visiting Dachau today is informed that no one was ever gassed there.

M. K., Federal Republic of Germany

I have been informed that children were not detained at Dachau.

Britain

The folder given to visitors to the Memorial site of the Dachau concentration camp states regarding the gas chamber installed in Dachau: “This gas chamber, camouflaged as a shower room, was not used. The prisoners selected for ‘gassing’ were transported from Dachau to the Hartheim Castle, near Linz (Austria) or to other camps.” The booklet “Dachau Concentration Camp” mentions a procedure that could have given rise to the belief among prisoners concerning gassing in Dachau. “Prisoners who were picked for transportation were forced to wait for departure in the shower room, where their clothing and shoes, if of better quality, were replaced with those of lesser quality and where their glasses and dentures were confiscated. They were then transported at night by truck to Hartheim Castle near Linz . . . There they were gassed to death . . . A gas chamber for executing people was also built at the Dachau concentration camp in 1942, but for unexplained reasons it was never put into operation.”

As to the slogan on the belt buckles, the writer, a girl of 14 years at the time of the experience, might have confused members of the S.S. with ordinary soldiers, on whose belt buckles that slogan was used. She associated the slogan “God With Us” with those responsible for her plight, and indeed those soldiers were involved. That turned her against God.

At the Memorial site of Dachau, there are various slides on sale. Slide number 23a shows a number of children in prison uniform. The caption for the slide reads: “Concentration Camp Dachau. Liberated children 1945.”​—ED.

Nazism Rejected

In your article “Nazism Rejected​—By Whom?” (June 8, 1985), you claim that no one openly opposed Nazism until it became apparent that the war was being lost. This is false. The Churches are mentioned but only as a negative example. Unmentioned go the Communists, Socialists, and anarchists who offered opposition to the Reich from its very beginning. Many more than only “thousands” were arrested, placed in concentration camps, tortured, and murdered because of offering opposition.

M. S., Federal Republic of Germany

We agree that thousands opposed Hitler’s regime from the very beginning and that they were persecuted for doing so. We limited our coverage of opposition to those who opposed Hitler on religious grounds, not political. If the churches and their flocks are mentioned as negative examples, it is simply because they failed to take the course of political neutrality the Bible clearly imposes upon Christians. This is true of them as groups, and in no way is meant to imply that sincere individuals did not oppose Hitler or did not suffer for doing so.​—ED.