Fritz Ottenheimer

The author was born in Germany in 1925. Eight years later in 1933 Hitler came to power and the wonderful life he & his family led in the town of Constance on the border with Switzerland ended because they were Jewish. An extreme example of the hatred nationalist Germans held for Jews is the fact that Oppenheimer's father had fought in WW I in the German Army, was severely wounded and awarded a medal for his valour but still in 1938, he was sent to the Dachau Prison Camp just for being a Jew. When he returned home from the camp, he threw his medal in the garbage and prepared to move his family out of Germany.

The family made it to America just a few months before war broke out or they would all have died in a death camp. Oppenheimer returned to Germany as an American soldier in 1945 and used his German language skills to help displaced persons and to eventually track down Nazi criminals for justice.

In more recent times he has returned to Germany many times to visit friends & family as well as speak to young people about the Nazi reign of terror from his personal experiences. However, he still asks how could it happen? Why didn't good people speak up and challenge the Nazi bullies? There were examples of neighbourhoods or towns pushing back and stopping Nazi officials from carrying out their plans. Why didn't this happen on a greater scale?

If you question why, this is a good source to examine.… (mehr)