The American Expatriate Who Said That the Only Thing That Helped Concentration Camp Inmates Survive During World War II Was "Hope"

Once a month or so, a group of expatriate Americans meet in one of Paris's Irish pubs (along with a smaller number of French and other-foreign friends) to discuss American politics, policies, and the events of the day. I'm often the only conservative present (or one of the few conservatives present) at "Political Pub" as most of them seem to be leftists or, at least, Democrats.

• Everyday Meetings with Common Europeans

During one of those meetings — in which the discussion led to war and to Obama's decision to send more troops to Afghanistan, and in which we were repeatedly told (certainly, I should say, I was repeatedly told) that the people present do not agree with war and that they are not in favor of military involvement — one young girl eventually got up and, for some reason, spoke of Adolf Hitler's concentration camps during World War II. She said that the only thing that those poor souls had going for them, the only thing that helped them survive, was "hope".

That's when I intervened. Hope did not help a single inmate survive. Whether the inmates were optimistic, they were murdered by Nazi butchers. Whether they were in a state of despair, they were murdered by Nazi butchers. Whatever they felt, however they felt, they were murdered by Nazi butchers. And the rare men and women and children who survived did so not because of hope (or because of despair), but in spite of hope (and in spite of despair).

No. The only thing that helped the inmates survive — or the main thing that helped the inmates survive, at any rate — was (well-armed) members of the United States armed forces (along with their British allies) killing Germans, as many as possible, as they headed East to defeat and destroy the Nazi régime.