Critical Thinking/Discussion Questions - John Lassing

  1. John Lassing told the interviewer, “This experience shattered my belief in human nature. What he saw in Dachau, Germany would haunt him forever.”  Lassing described how overwhelmed the American soldiers were by the scenes they witnessed at Dachau. The soldiers had seen death during combat, but the difference between the dead German soldiers and those who died in the concentration camps was overwhelming. Why do you think encountering the dead in the camps were so difficult for the American soldiers?
  2. Write an expository essay comparing and contrasting the liberator experiences of John Lassing and James Garner. Analyze the similarities between the two interviews and what they reveal about the conditions at the Dachau Concentration Camp. Draw evidence from the films and transcripts to support your information and be sure to cite strong and thorough evidence from both sources to support your argument.