Follow the Screams

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A. Before reading the text, and in about 60 words, make a comment on: “A nation’s greatness is measured by the way it uses or abuses its wealth and power; its greatness derives from its commitment to moral principle”. Read the text. Follow the Screams May 1945: Staff Sgt. Curtis Whiteway was a member of the 99th Infantry Division, which liberated one of the Dachau camps. There were no medics on hand, so he could do little but tell prisoners they were free. O UR TARGET HAD BEEN SALZBURG, to capture a bridge and find an SS officer on the loose. But on the way, we heard screams down the side of a mountain. When we followed the sounds, we ended up at Dachau. As I walked in, I saw 20 to 30 men hanging from poles. They were still alive, kicking and wiggling. I told my men to cut them down. Two men who were nude had piano wire through their wrists and more wire through their privates; they were hung by their privates. I don’t know if those two survived or not. Inside the barracks, everyone was lying across the bunks, in three tiers, with their heads toward us. They were chained by the ankles. They were left to starve to death. In a second barracks, people were so weak, they couldn’t lift their bodies. By now, we were all crying. Some of the men were promising revenge. The greener ones were vomiting. The odor was absolutely terrible. Outside, one man somehow drew my attention. He was lying there, totally nude, horribly starved, nothing but a skeleton. I picked him up, but I could hardly feel him. He was so light. I laid him on the wooden floor of a barracks. At one point, we heard a heck of a ruckus outside. My men had found 20 SS women guards. The prisoners were trying to charge these women guards and tear them apart. I ordered my 16 or 17 men to hold them back. I told everyone there wasn’t going to be any more killing. I told them they were all free.
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