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Henry and the Great Log Caper

By Pat Racimora on June 5, 2009 at 2:38 PM in Current Affairs

I was moved today by the ceremony at Buchenwald, the former German concentration camp liberated by U.S. troops in 1945. Elie Wiesel’s recollection of the death of his father while both were imprisoned there reminds us all that life is fragile, human beings are capable of extreme prejudice and cruelty, and family stays in the hearts of the living forever.

So, what is Henry doing?

Henry, my father-in-law, was imprisoned in a labor camp (translation: if you do enough work you get to eat—otherwise….) for 4 years until the camp was liberated. He and my mother-in-law–just kids themselves in Poland–ran towards the Russian border when things just didn’t seem right in Warsaw. (The rest of their families thought they were crazy. They were all murdered shortly thereafter.)

My in-laws were caught on the run, and the accounts of their camp experiences are horrific. But, I much prefer to musing over those stories that remind me of some of the zany plots in Hogan’s Heroes.

The camp was in a forest, and the men’s job was to cut down trees. After each tree was downed, the guards would paint a huge black X on the big end of the fallen log. Each was then tallied. There was a large daily quota, or else the camp would not be fed.

Well, the men figured out how to boost each day’s count. When the guards were not looking, they would cut about an inch off the round end of several trees during the course of the day, which meant that these trees would now be counted a second time. The rounds with the Xs were then quickly buried.

We don’t like to think about what would happen if they had ever been caught. But they did survive, thanks to the creative human spirit.

Henry, this one’s for you!

Stan Davis

Re: The Human Spirit

Great story and ‘toon, Pat.

During a layoff in Las Vegas on my way from Seattle to Wichita, where I was living at the time, I read Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning. You can’t imagine how weird it felt to read that book to the sounds of video slot machines and poker. What irony! I thought.

Frankl, a Holocaust survivor, taught that they can take away your liberty, in the physical sense, but not your freedom. Freedom is a state of mind. They can only take away your freedom if you let them or give it to them.

Stan Davis
Lakewood, CO
mountainaires

Thank you for remembering and telling their story, Pat.
http://deleted BuzzisbackLatte

My uncles served in the Pacific. One, a seabee, fouled the engine and hid in the bucket of a crane for three days when the Japanese over ran the project they were working on. The other floated in the ocean for days after his ship was blown up by the Japanese. They are and were a generation of ingenuity and guts.

Both uncles came home and with them came the horrific memories. Still they were proud to serve and be a part a phenomenal time in history.

I wonder if we would have the guts to survive as they did.
OMG

Again, why is he even there?
Angela Merkel must be upset. She doesn’t like Barry and prefers to deal with someone she can trust (Sec. Clinton)
GM was taken over by the executive branch who over-stepped their bounds without backing from the legislative branch and he’s off speechifying and touring other nations?
I’m so confused.
And who was responsible for helping the US journalist in Iran get free? Barry? no no no…Secretary Clinton! (My secret president)
I just don’t know what to think anymore. What’s the point of having a do nothing, know nothing gasbag for a president? Confused yeah.
Pat Racimora

Great stories–Yes your question is a good one. I wonder also.
Mary Miller

He is overseas creating ‘no will’ while his aunt from Kenya still lives in the HUD housing project in Boston illegally (she filed false documents under false pretenses).
I know you are all sick of me harping on this..but, it is a perfect and timeless illustration of his dishonesty..he asks the world to honor commitments to humanity, equal rights and morality while he does the opposite in his own life…that is my point.
Solara 9

Great story–thanks for sharing. Glad Henry made it out OK! Clever guys!
pm317

I wonder if we would have the guts to survive as they did.

Having led a very sheltered and comfortable life, that was my first thought too as I read Pat’s post. But I read somewhere how resilient the mind is and that even though we can’t envision getting through catastrophes before hand but when they actually happen we are wired to react to them with survival mode in high gear.
tminu

Obama’s fake great uncle Payne made his showing, he’d better retreat home and stay under the liability radar or he’ll meet the same fate as grannie.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2262079/posts
Rich

Very nice cartoon about a terrible time in history! In addition to being clever in figuring out how to increase productivity, it also was a way of maintaining some kind of control over one’s life and at the same time doing what they could to hamper the German’s war efforts and goals.

We must hold on to life, no matter what at the moment or even for several years life has to offer. So many people give up their lives so easily either but just giving up on life or committing suicide in one form or another and thereby changing the potential future for themselves and others in a very negative way. Just like those who chose to hold on to life have also changed their futures in a positive way.

Rich
Don X

Nice cartoon and story, Pat.

There must be many stories that never get told about the survivors of the holocaust as well as survivors in many countries today where extermination of minorities or political enemies takes place. It is great when someone remembers and tells their stories.
A nice memorial tribute to a creative survivor.
Denise

Beautifully done, Pat.
Marvin

Thank you, Pat, for this wonderful piece on the human spirit!

I know my comments will seem like perhaps terribly out of place and even inappropriate, but I just read an interview with Michael Madsen, who was saddened by David Carradine’s death. Michael called him a brother and said he meant to call Carradine last week, but didn’t get around to it. What struck me most was Michael urging everyone to not hold off on calling a loved one or a relative since life is, indeed,like you mention, very fragile, and not to be taken for granted.

Oh, if only everyone had a story like the one you’ve shared to remind them that life is much too precious and should not be wasted senselessly.

Thank you again, Pat. . .
http://ksclematis ksclematis

Yes, great post, Pat…..
I remember D-Day and the ensuing war….it was horrific. Especially the Pacific theatre with so much torture, which was probably worse than that taken place in Iraq. But any war is total hell. I’d like to believe in BO, but he seem to be just treading water, making great sounding speeches, but no follow-up action, especially since he has a politically “friendly” legislature.

I know you have a great deal of experience with the holocost and WWII. Thanks for another post bringing the timely events into perspective.
TexasMirth

What an amazing account of your father-in-law’s Great Log Caper – and a perfect cartoon to accompany Henry’s tale, too. Thanks, Pat, for sharing it.