January 27th is Holocaust Remembrance Day. 6 Million Jews (and many others) died at the hands of the brutal Nazi regime. The impact to world Jewry was devastating. Then, arose the US' "greatest generation" that fought Hitler's war machine; and the full scale of Nazi atrocities were made known to the world. NEVER FORGET! And, never allow a "Holocaust Denier" to revise history for their own agenda and purposes. Those that do, insult not only the memory of the Holocaust victims, but all those that fought to liberate the survivors. I've posted a photo of my grandfather, Staff Sgt/Tech 5. C.R. Stancel, who served under Gen. Patton's Third Army during WWII and in the Military Police following the war's conclusion of hostilities. His unit was among those that liberated the Dachau concentration camp. He has since moved to Heaven, but what he found in Dachau left a lasting and deeply disturbing impression on him. I had been a police officer for about 20 years, when he finally spoke for the first time to me about his war experiences; and in particularly, the liberation of Dachau. He visibly shuddered as he recalled the images and stories he had kept to himself for so long. When they had arrived at Dachau, he had been assigned to document what they had found there by way of photographs. Later, he was required to turn them all in. But, even at that early date, there were already whispers of a potential cover-ups and he feared the photos would disappear. He was very concerned that, if so, the world would never know or believe that such things had taken place. So, he made additional prints from the films and hid them in his footlocker to prove Nazi atrocities, should it ever become necessary. Fortunately, the Holocaust was ultimately exposed, but he lived in fear of discovery for over 60 years. Shortly before he passed, he produced the long hidden photos and explained the circumstances of each one to me. After his death, I do not know what became of the originals, but I do still have some photos of the actual original photos that my own father, who was an amateur photographer, took to preserve them. I struggled with whether to post some of them here for the shock value to ensure the world never forgot, but ultimately chose not to do so out of respect for the families of those portrayed in horrible deaths. However, many of these photos are now available via Google search having been released from official sources (of course, the internet was something my Grandfather never anticipated). So, in honor of the 6 Million Jews who were butchered, and in memory of my tenderhearted Grandfather whose innocence was robbed at such a young age, I posted his pre-deployment military photo. It captures him in a far simpler time before such things could even be imagined. NEVER DENY. NEVER FORGET.
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