"How Nazis killed priests"

"Priestblock 25487: A Memorir of Dachau. By Jean Bernard. (Zaccheus Press, 4605 Chase Avenue, Bethesda, MD 20814, 2007; (301) 654 - 7057). 196 pp. PB. $14.95."

Adapted from: Homiletic & Pastoral Review, May 2008, pp. 75 - 76.

"Mental abuse adds more affiction to th eagony of physical an demotional torment.

"The brutal idiocy of camp discipline forces the victims to make their beds three times a day with mathematical exactness (The cover is folded to a width of 60 centimeters with a measuring stick), and to stand at perfect attention for three hours until all rows have lines straight enough that you could shoot a bullet between them.

"Amid all tese these sordid conditions prisoners are required to write letters that report I am well. I'm healthy and in good spirits. I don't need anything.

"It is only a matter of time, then, that gradually we break ourselves of the habit of thinking, or the prisoner begins to lose his mind... "

What an apt description of a real - life hell hole!