THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, November 10, 1994 TAG: 9411090174
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Long : 144 lines
HE SAW THE RESULTS of torture, starvation and medical experimentation involving men, women and children.
He saw the emaciated dead - hundreds and hundreds of bodies on the ground and in railroad cars, a sight of horror commonplace at Dachau, the German concentration camp just outside Munich and one of the Nazis' most notorious extermination centers.
On April 13, 1945, the day after its liberation by the U.S. Army, Capt. A. Lewis Greene entered that camp.
To this day, the now 70-year-old retired colonel still finds it impossible to equate that Germany of horror with the Germany of culture.
In a letter to his family, written the day after entering the death camp, Greene called the Germany of World War II ``a nation of gangsters.''
``The Germans love music and art. To this day, what they did there is a mystery to me,'' he wrote. ``To see the remains of some of the slave labor camps - what was coming of this `mad' nation?''
The madness of Dachau was echoed at Buchenwald, Ravensbruck, Auschwitz, Treblinka and 10 other Nazi death and disease factories.
Extermination centers built within the camps were used for the mass murder of ``undesirable'' populations, particularly the Jews - part of an effort by World War II Germany to develop a so-called master race.
Victims were shipped to the camps in freight trains. Men, women and children deemed unfit for heavy manual labor were exterminated at once in gas chambers usually disguised as bathhouses.
The most notorious extermination center was at Auschwitz in Poland. Its commander, Rudolf Hess, confessed to the extermination of 2.5 million people in that camp alone.
``We had no idea of the extent of the atrocities. We weren't prepared for what we saw,'' Greene wrote to his family. ``When I get home and tell you what we've found and have pictures of, your hair will stand up. My friends and I are still in a daze. You won't believe it.''
In the letter he sent his family after entering Dachau, Greene wrote, ``We should never show them (Germans) any mercy for those atrocities. ALL Germans can never be forgiven.''
The years have softened that attitude because, Greene says, ``a lot of the people who were living at the time of those happenings passed away.''
Time has not softened his attitude toward the Germany of World War II, but his attitude about today's Germany is completely different.
Greene, a Spring Valley, N.Y., native, has visited Germany with his wife, Martha, every February for the past 11 years.
``We go to Tulfes in Austria and Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Germany. It's beautiful,'' he said, happily describing ``ski trips in the Alps with some people who, over those years, have become good friends.
``But that World War II generation should never be forgotten,'' Greene said during a recent interview in his Quaker Drive home. ``I will never have a change of heart about them - no way.''
Though he will never forget what he saw, he vows he will never let it dictate his life, never let it affect him mentally as some Vietnam War veterans have been.
``I can't be that dramatic, like some of those guys in Vietnam. I think 95 percent of that is baloney. I have a lot of bad thoughts - but no nightmares.''
He has shared those thoughts with the Center for Research in Social Change at Emory University in Atlanta, helping it put together a book on the subject.
Locally, he tries to help people understand the Holocaust by talking to civic clubs and churches.
One thing he tells them is to ignore those who deny the Holocaust's existence.
``Those people really annoy me. I was there the day after the camp was liberated.''
The reaction to his talks is similar to those who see ``Schindler's List'' in theaters, Greene said, referring to the Steven Spielberg film that recounts how one man saved many people from the gas chambers.
When the film ends, there is often complete, thoughtful silence.
``After I talk about it, people are speechless,'' Greene said. ``The way they receive my comments is most gratifying.''
Lewis Greene worked his way up through the military ranks, serving at the Naval Base in Norfolk, at Fort Monroe and Camp Pendleton.
He spent more than three years overseas during World War II, involved in both the North African and European campaigns.
He switched from the seacoast artillery to anti-aircraft artillery, then to combat engineers.
A graduate of the Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, in Pennsylvania, Greene also spent some time in Washington, where he took part in inaugural parades for presidents Truman and Eisenhower.
``During the Eisenhower parade, a big, white, stray dog marched with me. Ike saw it and smiled. A picture of it made the front page of many daily newspapers,'' said Greene, who now has a 17-year-old poodle. ``I wanted to adopt the dog but I couldn't find it.''
When he retired in 1981 he moved to Gatlinburg where he worked with civic and charity organizations. He was on the board of directors for the building of that city's $28 million convention center. At one time he worked with Dolly Parton. A picture of the two hangs in a room in his home.
The atmosphere in the Greenes' Suffolk home is almost Norman Rockwell-like - the neat, comfortable house fronted by a garden, a gorgeous source of justifiable pride.
``My first hobby is growing roses. I give flowers to people needing some floral cheer,'' said Greene, whose maternal grandparents came from a town near Munich.
He is proud of the way the country set up the Memorial Site Concentration Camp in Dachau.
``Germany did a fantastic job of renovating that camp and making a museum of it,'' Greene said, adding that, in one way, the country does give him cause for concern.
``The German standing army is now larger than the combined armies of the rest of Europe - more than 500,000 troops. We have about 100,000 there. That's not many. We're observing.
``I'm worried about the Skinheads, the resurgence of Naziism.''
An ordained Baptist deacon who attends Holy Neck Christian Church, he can never dismiss what he saw - what he knows.
``One thing that sticks in my mind is that the Germans are known for efficiency and cleanliness. It's amazing how quickly they cleaned the villages and towns, mopped the streets, during their retreat when they heard the Americans were coming.
``On the other side of the coin, you could see them operating the concentration camps.
``It was like Jekyll and Hyde.'' ILLUSTRATION: The picture on the cover of retired Col. A. Lewis Greene on his
front porch in Suffolk was taken by staff photographer John H.
Sheally II.
Photos of Dachau provided by A. LEWIS GREENE
An aerial view of Dachau shows the scope of the center where
thousands of Jews were exterminated by the Nazis during World War
II. ``The Germans love music and art. To this day, what they did
there is a mystery to me,'' then-Capt. A. Lewis Greene wrote to his
family. ``To see the remains of some of the slave labor camps - what
was coming of this `mad' nation?''
Hundreds of bodies covered the ground at Dachau when the U.S. Army
arrived there.
Staff photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Retired Col. A. Lewis Greene shared his thoughts on Dachau with the
Center for Research in Social Change at Emory University in
Atlanta.
KEYWORDS: HOLOCAUST DACHAU WORLD WAR II by CNB