the ever-present
scrutiny
of
the
SS
men.
Howevet
the
SS
began
to
stop
watching
the prisoners
with
the
same
intensity.
The
prisoners could
feel
freedom
coming
as
the end
of
WWII
neared.
And it finally
did: when
the
American
soldiers
came.
Unluckily,
the Americas
didn't
understand
German,
so
when
they heard
the
prisoners
speaking
German,
they
assumed
these
political
prisoners were
SS
men.
It
didn't
help
that
Thaler
and
some
of
his
friends had
put
on
SS
shirts (but
only
because
they
were
freezing and
barely
clothed). Thaler
was
made to
march all
the way
to
France
by the
American
soldiers
for
six
days,
yet
he
didn't
receive
any
food
or
water during that
entire time.
Luckily
they
did
get
food
in
the
end'
Thaler
cried,
he was
so
happy: "Tears kept on
running down
my
face
and
I
swallowed
many
atear.
According to
a wise
sayrng,
you
have
to
eat
bread mixed
with
tears once
in your life
in
order to
appreciate its true value.
I
would
have
certainly
not wish this on
anybody,
but
some
actually
could
have a
bit
more
respect
for
bread...
I
felt
new hope.
At
this
moment
I
forgot all
the
sad
things
that
had happened before and thanked
God
that he had
1et
me survive
these
hard
days"
(Thaler
137).
The
prisoners were moved
from
camp
to
camp. Fortunately,
these
camp
s had
muchbetter
treatment
of
the prisoners. Soon, they were allowed
to
go hoe.
Thaler
took
a
train
part
of
the
way back
to
South
Tyrol, but
he
had to walk
for
a
few
days
to arrive
back
in
his
hometown. He
arrived
at
his
home
Sunday,
August
19,
1945.
He
encountered. some
people
who
had
a
hand
in
his
imprisonment
at
Dachau. He
said
this about meeting
the
first
person
who
had done
this:
"This
may
have been
for
me the
first
rehearsal
in
forgiving, which
I
had repeatedly
promised
to
do
in
the times
of
my
greatesr
misery"
(Thaler
l6l).
So
what
caused
all
of
this?
Why
were the
concentration
camps
*ud.'i.,
the first
place?
It
all
Ieads
back
to
the
causes
of
\Aiorld
War
L
There
are
five
main
causes
of
\A/WI:
one,
the
mutual
defense
alliances made by most
of
the large empires
of
the
world
at the time. Those
include
Russia
and Serbia,
Germany
and
Austria-Hungary
France and
Russia,
Britain
and France and
Belgium, andJapan
and
Britain.
Countries attacked
each
other
for
various
reasons,
and
other
countries
u'ho
had made
alli2n6.. with
them
had
to
come
in
and help. These
alliances
made wars
a
ver
v*
messv
business. Second reason:
imperialism. Imperialism,
as
defined by the
New
Oxford
American
Dictionan;
is:
"a policy
of
extending
a
country's
power
and influence
through
diplomacv or
militan'force."
Many
countries
in
the
world
had
extensive
empires
at
this
time,
and
litde fights
or.'er
the
rau'materials
in
their territories
led
up
to
World War
I.
Third
reason:
U\FORGOTTE\:
.\
REPORT ON
THE
MEMOIR oF
DACHAU
BY
FRAI{Z THALER
