How do good ideas get twisted into bad outcomes?

As you walk into the front gate of the Dachau concentration camp, you can’t help but notice the phrase formed at eye level into the gate itself— Arbeit Macht Frei (Work makes free). Of course work is a good thing and provides us with many choices and opporunities, but two months after Hitler’s ascension to power, the first prisoners entered Dachau for “retraining”.  That was March, 1933, seven years before the Americans would officially join the allies in defeating Hitler.

In his book, In his book, “Yearning for the Living God”, Elder F. Enzio Busche, an emeritus member of the First Quorum of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said “I have no memory of anything before Hitler was in power. I was born in 1930, and Hitler came to power in 1933. For me the only political system was the National Socialistic Party of Workers. Its symbol, the swastika, the social greeting with the raised right arm, the uniforms, the music, the talks and proclamations—all were the regular part of the fabric of my childhood life.”

He goes on to say “My father was very interested in politics. One day he brought home a radio, and it became the center of our family life. Because he always listed to the news, I also became involved in the elements of politics. In the evenings, our family sat around listening to the radio and talking about what we heard. We listened to the talks of Hitler, Goebbels, and others, all of whom were very convincing. They built their arguments in such a simple way that someone listening today might ask, ‘How could you have fallen for that? How is it possible that you did not understand?’”

“But Germans were not a politically savvy people. The French and British states had existed for many generations. Germany had not. German territories existed historically as little kingdoms, duchies and counties. Germany, as a united country, was not established until 1871. It is a surprise to many when they learn that the United States has a longer history than the country of Germany.”

“I am not saying that the system was good; what I want to carefully explain is that the system had expressed a moral goal that was very successfully portrayed to the population. Everything that happened, we were told, was in pursuit of achieving that moral goal. My father, together with most German people, believed in the basic premise of Hitler’s alternative to the chaos that had occurred in Germany’s past. There had been inflation, prostitution, starvation, terrorism, anarchy. My father told me that there was a time when there were 30,000 prostitutes in the city of Berlin alone. Corruption was devastating German society. When the new system began, there was a growing hope and a vision of purpose. There was meaning and an understanding of the need for order and discipline.”

So where did it all go wrong? Why did moral goals result in a very evil outcome? We saw the dormitories built for 50 people that housed almost 450 in 1945. We saw the ovens where cremations occurred. We saw the showers where individuals were gassed (the Dachau showers were never used for mass executions). Over 43,000 people died at Dachau, all of which is documented because of the thorough registries that were created when prisoners arrived, when they completed their training, when they returned again and when they died.

Seven days before we visited, there was a gathering of Dachau survivors. Several wreaths were laid to remember those who suffered and gave their lives as a result of a cause that would fail. There was a set of flowers that sat solitary a long distance from all the other wreaths. These flowers were placed at the location where the medical facility stood and medical experiments were performed.

There was discussion as to whether I should take Hannah to Dachau, but in the end, I’m glad I did. It was a power learning and life experience.