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Liberation of Dachau (part 5 of 6)
By Nihomachi Outreach Committee San Jose
Outside Dachau, Staff Sgt. Mamoru Araki of Battery C was busy manning his gun position when he first saw a number of prisoners coming toward them. He described them as being "run down, really in bad condition, haggard and dirty." They wore stripped clothing and were starving. He and some of his men passed over their extra C rations and cookies to the starving prisoners. Some of the prisoners were barely walking.
Araki noticed cattle that were "butchered up and nothing but bones"
He noted the puzzled looks the prisoners gave the Japanese American soldiers...
Right after the war had ended in Europe, Araki and other 522 soldiers were policing the area. He was given a tour of Dachau by one of the camps survivors. Araki was horrified when he found a "30 by 30 building that looked like a shower" "There was a peeping window where the Nazi's could look inside" He was told that people were corralled into this gas chamber and then their bodies placed into large ovens to be cremated. There was also a "freezer chamber used to test on Jews"
Araki then "realized what a shame it was". He was horrified and remembers the foul odor the ovens gave. Some with bodies still inside. "How can anybody do that to a human being" said Araki
"How can the younger generations believe this happened? It must be so "hard to comprehend it"
Liberation6 - The Story of the Liberation Story