Remembering Dachau: A Survivor's Journey After 80 Years

The 8th of May 2023 marks 80 years since the conclusion of World War II in Europe. However, the war's end did not wait for the official ceasefire. Allied forces had already started freeing Nazi concentration camps scattered across German-controlled territories. One of these camps was Dachau. On this day, 80 years ago, American soldiers arrived and found nearly 70, 000 prisoners. Many were Jews who had been transferred from other camps in the east. The scene was grim. Thousands were left to die, abandoned by their captors. Elly Gotz, a Lithuanian native, was one of the prisoners at Dachau. His story began in 1941 when he was just 13 years old. The German Army invaded Lithuania and immediately targeted the Jewish population. Gotz and his family were forced into a ghetto with thousands of others. Life was harsh, with overcrowding and scarcity. After three years in the ghetto, Gotz, his father, and three uncles were sent to Dachau. They were put to work in grueling 12-hour shifts, with minimal food and no proper sanitation. Gotz recalls the constant presence of lice and the diseases they brought. He worked as a mechanic, helping to build an underground factory for fighter jets, a project that was never completed. The conditions were inhumane. Prisoners started dying, including young people. Gotz had to carry the dead bodies, a task that became routine. He remembers the first body he carried and how it was difficult at first, but he eventually got used to it. He carried many more after that. When the American Army arrived, they moved all the prisoners to the central part of the camp. Gotz's father was near death, weighing just 65 pounds. Gotz begged his father not to die, fearing he wouldn't survive the night. But his father lived through the night. The next morning, Gotz got soup and bread for himself and his father. Then, he saw an American Jeep outside. He told his father, "We made it. The Americans are here. " His father's response was simple: "Have you got the bread? " The word "liberation" is often used to describe the end of the Holocaust, but it doesn't capture the full story. Many Jews were killed by local collaborators or independent countries allied with Nazi Germany. After the war, there was a push to blame Germany solely, overlooking the violence in other countries. This has led to tension and denial of historical facts in some places. Survivors like Gotz lived with complex trauma after their liberation. Gotz initially hated the Germans for his ordeal. He even looked for a gun to kill them. But he eventually realized that he couldn't live in hate. He chose to move forward, focusing on his future. He was 17 years old and had his whole life ahead of him.