Wow. This was a tough read.

My wife's grandfather was a policeman in the Sudetenland of then Czechoslovakia. He was arrested and shipped off to Buchenwald.

My grandfather in law survived Buchenwald because he was a master carpenter. He was kept alive to make and repair furniture. My wife's family still has many custom wood furniture pieces from him. They are beautiful, robust and functional.

I recently commented that he was a very quiet man. I only met him twice, but my wife knew him her whole childhood as they didn't live that far from her parents.

I mused in another comment that my grandfather in law must have seen many horrendous things during his time in Buchenwald. But I had forgotten about Ilse Koch. He must have been there while she was there. Quite possibly he met her and made furniture for her. Maybe an end table for a lamp? Maybe a lamp body. I shudder anew thinking about what he must have seen during his years at Buchenwald.