Avoid the Avalanche

Dear Boo and Bubble,

This morning, Captain and I decided to go down to Hickerman’s Café for breakfast. It’s one of our favorite “hole-in-the-wall” places to eat about halfway between home and the town of Banner Elk located in the valley between Sugar and Beech Mountains. The staff is very friendly (by now, we’re such frequenters they know our names) and comes from two families, the Hicks and the Ostermans—thus, the blended name of the establishment.

There are no fancy trappings…tables and chairs scattered around…several booths along one side…a commercial steamer hovering next to the kitchen waiting to be activated on Sundays for the $9.95 “all you can eat” buffet. Covering one entire wall is a huge blackboard that advertises the special for the day. Depending on the day, it can be meatloaf or chipped beef, but always in the bottom corner is the never changing enticement for “Nanner” Pudding.

At the front door, right beside the register, there is a small erasable signboard where somebody writes a thought for the day. Every time we go, I always enjoy seeing what pearl of wisdom they choose the share. Today, the board read, “No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.”

My first response was “how clever,” but as I munched on my scrambled eggs and sausage, the configuration of the words began to take on a more weighted meaning. They morphed into a very subtle warning of sorts—that sometimes, if we’re not careful and thoughtful, we can get caught up in a flow of circumstance that takes us to a place we might regret.

Perhaps this might seem odd, but this simple little phrase written innocently on a signboard has triggered a memory for me that I’d like to share with you. It’s not lighthearted. In fact, the recollection revolves around one of the darkest chapters in the history of our world…the rise of Adolf Hitler to power in Germany and the subsequent horrific travesties that he and the Third Reich perpetrated on humanity. I’ve written about this before, but not to you. It’s the story of our trip to Nuremberg in 2015 and the tour we had of the Nazi Documentation Center, Zeppelin Field and Courtroom 600 in The Palace of Justice. Rather than compose anew my thoughts, I’ll just reiterate them here.

December 12, 2015

The final destination on our cruise was Nuremberg. We spent the afternoon on a World War II tour, and I must tell you it was one of the most informative, intense and compelling experiences I've ever had. Our guide, Werner, is the founder of a non-profit organization to educate local students on the factual history of the German "nightmare," as he calls it. His academic credentials coupled with his passion for the subject and a counterbalance of humor made him the perfect one to maneuver us through the very real emotions elicited from what we saw.

Our first stop was the Documentation Center located in the ruins of what was to be Hitler's Coliseum. If it had been completed, 80,000 people could sit underneath a cantilevered roof with a hole in the middle for the sunlight to stream down to a pulpit in the middle and witness their Fuehrer preaching as if a god. The first concentration camps were opened to house Nazi political opponents dispatched to granite quarries to produce the stones for construction. When the war started in 1939, the building of the coliseum halted. Stones which have lain on the ground since then can still be seen.

An exhibit of the Nazi horror is now on display at the center. It wasn't until 2005 that there was any use of the building and to Germany's credit, there is a sincere desire to make sure that this dark period in the country's history is displayed for all to see in order not to forget. But as Werner explained, this could only realistically be done after the passing of a couple of generations.

We also went to Zeppelin Field which Hitler used as a parade ground to rally his followers by the hundreds of thousands—young and old and in between. As our guide explained, he was a megalomaniac, a homophobe and one who sought to convince his people that the Arian race was the predominant one among all men and that he was destined to be their leader.

We were left to meander through the exhibit at our own pace. At each stop, we listened to an audio explanation of what we were seeing. By the time I finished, I was almost in tears...watching movie footage of Jews being carted off in train cars to gas chambers...little children among them clinging to their mothers...the utter horror of concentration camp photos and executions caught on camera as if with pride...the bodies of men in the quarries lying in the place where they dropped to their death from exhaustion...the steely eyes of the Fuhrer...the propaganda machine that made almost an entire population believe in the myth of his infallibility....and the overwhelming amazement that this could happen at all.

Werner gave us some historical context...how in the years leading up to Hitler's ascension, the German people were in such a bad way, desperation descended upon them....and when people are desperate, the seeds of manipulation and suspicion fall upon fertile ground. Even though Hitler never received more than 36% of the votes in any popular election, over time the gradual improvement of the everyday lives of the Germans, coupled with the massive propaganda campaigns and huge rallies, gave him the opportunity to usurp power. He then systematically dismantled the constitutional government, imprisoned or killed any opposition, and positioned himself as dictator.

Even so, it is still hard to comprehend that there would be no revulsion of what was happening in Germany. Werner told us that his mother, 94, is still alive and he will ask her questions about that time. He probed her about what every day Germans knew, particularly about what was happening to the Jews. Her response was that "yes, they knew something was going on, what with people disappearing and never returning. But they did not know the extent of it.”

Our WWII tour ended in the Palace of Justice just outside of Nuremberg. In its courtroom 600, 26 Nazis were given a trial for their participation in the atrocities of the war and particularly the holocaust. Our guide explained to us that immediately following armistice, many wanted the immediate recrimination of hanging, but fortunately this did not happen. It was the position of the United States and Britain particularly that to do so would reduce civilized nations to the very same actions of the Nazis. Ultimately, the trial had much more long-lasting and significant benefits. Through the process of the fifteen months of testimony and release of documents, the scope of the holocaust and other war crimes were thoroughly substantiated and could not be denied. Also, the development of applicable charges for the defendants laid the groundwork for what became known as the Nuremberg Principles which can be found in international law today.

The Principles set out specific crimes for which someone can be tried - 1) Crimes against peace 2) War Crimes and 3) Crimes against humanity. The first two deal with carrying out aggression and violating acceptable practices of war. The third is particularly provocative in its wording - "Murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation and other inhumane acts done against any civilian population, or persecutions on political, racial, or religious grounds, when such acts are done or such persecutions are carried on in execution of or in connection with any crime against peace or any war crime."

Many of the most heinous actors in the war committed suicide before even being brought to trial. Of the 26 against who charges were brought, three were found innocent, several received lengthy or life sentences. Twelve were hanged. Werner suggested that the variety of verdicts gave the court legitimacy, particularly for the German people who otherwise would have seen it as only a Kangaroo court.

Of particular interest to me was his description of the witness who dispassionately described his involvement as only "doing his duty to his country...following orders." Principle IV of the Nuremberg Principles addresses this issue. "The fact that a person acted pursuant to order of his Government or of a superior does not relieve him from responsibility under international law, provided a moral choice was in fact possible to him".

In commenting on this, Werner made a statement that really summed it all up for me.

"The reason that I do this...that I work with my organization to teach young people about these things is because they must see that learning to think for one's self is critical to preventing any of this from happening again."

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Boys, this admonition from Werner to “…see that learning to think for one’s self is critical…” resonates so deeply with me and I hope that you will take it to heart. If you do, there will be times when you have to go against the grain…or buck your friends…or stand alone…or not go along with everybody else. Hard? Yes! But in so doing, you will perhaps avoid the avalanche.