Evening star., 1945-03-18
Vitamins for Pigs

the sudden, ugly smell OF death. I looked
at our guide with questioning eyes. He
nodded, as if to say, TT won't be long
Indeed, We were. Our proximity to death
was indisputable. To put it In the simple
words Of my girl friend, This is too
spooky for me-I'm going back" she ex-
claimed. But we persuaded her to 60 on
Finally our guide stopped We had
reached a small earthen elevation OF
about 20 feet. I'VE can see them from
up there" the guide said. The ascent
was steep and difncult; we had to prac-
tically crawl up on our hands, and that
naked contact of our palms with the cold.
soggy earth was appalling. to say the
least. When you reach the top" our
guide whispered, you must cover your
nose and mouth"
Indeed. When We reached the top we
were nearly knocked back by the violent
sickening stencil of death! Our first in
stinctive reaction was to run from 1t
all-but there we stood, petrified, look
ing down at sinister, open grave filled
with corpses.
He Was a General
"See this one?" the guide said in a
voice that was peculiarly unreal. He
was general in the Air Corps fine
man, if there ever was one"
Strewn about the general were a mul-
titude of bloated heads, arms, legs.
A strange sensation took possession OF
me. I wanted to look away from the
unbelievable, terrifying truth at my
feet-and yet I found myself tensely,
irresistibly staring into the mortal
ditch. The irrefutable evidence OF the
Gestapo's sadistic ferocity was right
there before my eyes! This was no idle
propaganda, but bare, revolving, hair
raising chapter of the same Nazi terror
ism that has inflicted so much miserable
suffering throughout the world I no
longer asked myself: Can it be true?
My incredulousness had now changed
into a deep sense of utter revolt: 1t
must not be! was shaken to the very
core of my being. I felt an uncon-
trollable urge to rush into the open and
shout to the world what I had seen,
what knew, what I felt.
A Horrible Nightmare
I was brought back from the depths
into morbid reality by the colonel who,
taking my arm, said Come, let's get
out of here!" I don't think we could
have stood it much longer. The ex-
ecrable stencil of Ifeless human flesh
was asphyxiating Breathing became
more and more difficult.
So we left, coming soon into the fresh
air. 1t was good to be alive, to breathe
again! felt as If had awakened
from a horrible nightmare.
On our way back into the city, and
by way Of one Of those strange CO.
incidences. we found ourselves riding
through Via Rasella-the very street
which ever since the fatal afternoon Of
March % had spelled blood and tragedy
to its residents. please stop!" cried
to our driver. Lets talk to some Of
these people"
In true italian fashion, small groups
OF men, women and children were sitting
outside the doorsteps of their homes.
Our car stopped in front OF one OF these
groups Guido, boy OF about l3, was
the first to answer our call. He was
soon joined by the rest Of the family.
We did not haye to coax them to have
them tell us all they knew. In fact, 1t
was rather dificult to stop them once
they got started. FOR they had been
through the entire fateful episode and
had miraculously survived 1t.
The elder Of the group was short,
stocky sray-hAired restaurateur and. Ike