Inside Dachau

For me, the most heart wrenching of all Alexie’s poems I have read thus far is Inside Dachau-- a comparison of the tragedy in the German Nazi camps to the slaughter of the Native Americans that occurred in the 19th century. He begins the poem explaining his expectations coming into Dachau-- how he anticipates to “feel simple emotions: emotions, anger, sorrow” (177 line 8). I definitely related to that feeling-- that feeling before traveling abroad, seeing an emotionally charged film, or perhaps an exhibit at a museum. I come in expecting to feel something-- for my heart to break for those who suffered. It’s almost as if I feel guilty if I am not saddened by what I experience. Alexie came to the camp with that feeling of expectation; he realizes later that he did not need to visit Dashau to feel that kind of grief. Alexie realizes that the mass slaughters that occurred in North America are every bit as deserving of recognition as the tragedies in Dachau. To Alexie and many of the other Native Americans living on the reservation, death has become much less of a tragedy, simply because they have become numb to the pain. He states in the fourth section of the poem, “We are the great-grandchildren of Sand Creek and Wounded Knee. We are the vetrans of Indian wars. We are the sons and daughters of the walking dead. We have lost everyone” (122 lines 10-14) So much death has infiltrated the history of the Native American Indian tribes that it is simply a part of life for them. It had, perhaps, not sunk in for Alexie that that was not necessarily the case for other cultures. When millions of Jews were killed in the Holocaust, memorials were built. Germany had the integrity to recognize the terrible tragedy. Victims are memorialized and people today continue to mourn and honor those who lost their lives. Alexie states at the end of section 4, “Our collective grief makes us numb. We are waiting for the construction of our museum” (120 line 8). It never occurred to me that we as a nation had failed to recognize the Native American lives lost through history. The fact that Alexie can look at the atrocity that happened at the concentration camps in Dachau and instead of feeling pain and sorrow think, “Where is our museum?” shows the disconnect in understanding between the European immigrants living in America and the Native Americans. It is more evident than ever how much Eurocentrism is instilled into our history and our culture. Loewen states, “The Indian-white wars that dominated our history from 1622 to 1815 and were of considerable importance until 1890 have mostly disappeared from our memory” (185). There is so much truth in this statement. The wars that happened throughout these decades were not as one-sided as we make them out to be. Many Native Americans lives were lost, not only in the wars but also in the enslavement and mass-murder that was so commonplace in history, yet unsung today. I think it was fair for Loewen to ask the rhetorical question, “Where is the construction of our museum?"