Dr. Richard Dutro- Lakewood Educator, Dachau Liberator

Dr. Richard Dutro's life is one that has been filled with the rich experiences of helping other people, particularly in Lakewood's educational community.

Dr. Dutro served the Lakewood Public Schools as an elementary teacher, a remedial reading specialist, and a principal of two elementary buildings at the same time! He was also Lakewood City School District's first Coordinator of Language Arts. Dr. Dutro completed his professional administrative career as Lakewood's Director of Elementary Education before retiring in 1991. Additionally, he has served as President of the Ohio Reading Teachers' Association and has worked at Baldwin Wallace College to help train future teachers.

In short, it's no secret that this man has helped generations of Lakewood students and teachers to learn, grow, and make a better world for others.

In all this time, however, Richard has had a secret of his own...something in his past that he did not talk about for many years...something that he experienced as a young teen-aged replacement soldier in the American 7th army, in the closing days of the Second World War.

There was little doubt when Richard joined his unit (the famed 42nd "Rainbow Division") in Europe in January of 1945 that the war was winding down. There would still be dangerous house-to-house fighting ahead in the streets of Germany, but just about everyone thought that victory in Europe was around the corner. As Dutro's unit entered the outskirts of the German town of Dachau, however, something else was just around the corner waiting for them...something that would change the lives of Richard and his fellow soldiers forever.

When the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933, they brought with them political ideologies that made enemies of just about anyone who was not a part of their system. Outside of the normal systems of government, the Nazis established concentration camps of their own, of which the Dachau camp was the first one built. Through a series of decrees and laws, the Nazis soon consolidated their power and virtually became one with the state. Civil liberties soon went out the window, and people could be taken in the dark of night, without warning. They could then end up in a concentration camp, and be put into the vast secret slave-labor operation serving the fast-growing and super-secret German war machine...that is, if they were fortunate enough to be kept alive. The Dachau concentration camp served as the model for what would become known as the Holocaust for millions of Europe's Jews, and others as well.

It is no secret that many Germans were willing to trade their freedoms for the relative security and order of life under the Nazis. The concentration camps were no secret either. A German children's prayer at the time went this way:

"Lieber Gott, mach mich stumm, dass ich nicht nach Dachau kumm"

Dear Lord, make me dumb, so I will not to Dachau come.

Another saying in Germany was: "Halt's maul, sonst kommst du nach Dachau!"

Shut your mouth, or you will go to Dachau!

Although Dachau was primarily intended as a punishment and work camp rather than one of the later extermination camps, near the end of the war, a great many prisoners from many countries flooded into Dachau from other camps, as the Nazis tried to hide the evidence of their atrocities from the advancing Allies. Many prisoners died enroute to Dachau, so that when the Americans came upon the camp, there were railroad cars upon railroad cars filled with the remains of emaciated prisoners. Hundreds of stacked skeletal naked bodies greeted the liberating American soldiers. The stench was overwhelming. Disease and starvation were rampant within the camp as well.

This powerful scene is what greeted the first Americans to arrive at Dachau on 29 April, 1945. Richard arrived on the following day. What the American liberators experienced, they would never forget. Living skeletons in blue-gray striped rags lined the barbed wire as the Americans approached. Those heaps of stinking corpses, and their sightless eyes, paid bitter witness to what the Nazis had done. Mass burials had to quickly transpire. The Americans quickly brought food and medical care to the camp, but it would be some time before the former prisoners would be allowed to leave, due to the risk of infectious diseases being spread.

The expression on Dachau's iron gate was "ARBEIT MACHT FREI". That is, work makes one free.

Ironically, Nazi Germany would surrender on May 8th, only about a week later than the camp's liberation. Richard Dutro would remain in service after the war in Europe, until mid-1946 serving in the Army of Occupation.

The Nazis developed an extensive means of prisoner identification within the concentration camp system. Many are familiar with the yellow star and its identification with the Jews, but there were other symbols as well. There was a pink triangle for the homosexual and a purple one for Bible inquirers. A green triangle signified a criminal, and a red one was worn by political prisoners. A black triangle identified the prostitutes. Prisoners also had their identification numbers tattooed on their left arms...

All this, and more, Richard Dutro witnessed. It was a lot for a young teenager to take in. A hell of a lot.

For many years, a shocked and traumatized Richard Dutro said nothing about his experiences. Instead, he resolved to do whatever he could to make a better world for the young people of his community, in any way that he was able to. As a remedial reading specialist, Richard was very mindful of how the Nazis treated people who in one way or another just could not fit in. Richard resolved that no child would ever be left behind, many years before that concept would become the law of our land.

A few years ago, Dr. Dutro decided to return to the Lakewood Schools for their Veterans' Day observations, and to start to speak about his experiences with young people. He has spoken to classes at Garfield and Harding Middle Schools, and has spoken at the high school, as well as at other schools in other communities. He carries a memory book with him on those occasions, filled with photos and documents from those terrible days. He also carries the infinitely heavier weight of being an eyewitness to the Holocaust, deep in the recesses of his memory. For years, like so many of our WWII vets, Richard Dutro wanted to keep the terrible horrors of war far from his home, friends, and family. Dr. Dutro now feels that the battle for human rights, tolerance for others, and fundamental human dignity in the face of sublime tragedy is a battle that never ends.

The stories of the Nazi concentration camps are deeply sorrowful, and would be even more so, except for one fundamental fact: Due to genuine American heroes like Dr. Dutro, we stopped the Nazis in their tracks. The good guys won, and went on to build a better world for us all. Thanks, Dr. Dutro, and to all of you veterans, who have served our country with honor. The pulse of this city, and of our nation, owes each of you more than words could ever say...