08/22/2025
https://www.facebook.com/100095211386118/posts/617387011445006/
The Dog Who Waited at the Camp Fence – Dachau, 1945
A German shepherd followed his Jewish owner into captivity at Dachau. Though the guards tried to chase it away with shouts and rifle butts, the dog always returned. Each morning, prisoners noticed him sitting at the same stretch of barbed wire, his ears alert, his eyes fixed on the camp.
They began calling him der Wächter — “the watcher.” For the starving men, the sight of the faithful animal brought an ache of memory, a reminder that loyalty still existed in a world built on betrayal.
Months passed. The dog grew thinner, yet never left.
When American soldiers finally liberated Dachau in April 1945, the dog was still there, waiting. Survivors wept as he wagged his tail wildly at the gates. One GI later wrote, “It was the first time we saw joy in that place of sorrow.”
