On the sixth of May 1945, the surviving prisoners of the Mauthausen concentration camp were liberated by American troops. On the gates the sentence “ARBEIT MACHT FREI” can be read. These three words accurately described the essence of this camp (as well as the others): those who worked themselves to death could escape this place. In retrospect, we look at these camps with horror and dismay. We wonder how such a thing could have happened and how these people must have been treated like slaves. They were abducted, imprisoned and forced to work until they finally collapsed under the weight and their bodies were burned.
Fortunately, this is no longer the case in our world today. No one is forced to work under these inhumane conditions anymore. We have organizations that protected us from injustice, helped us with problems and supported us when we were unemployed. Everybody has the same chance and the same right to work without paying attention to their religion, origin or skin color. And at a certain age, one may retire and pursue one’s long-suppressed passions. Then, after a few years, one is cremated and remembers in his last moments still the beautiful life that one has spent here on earth. Everything has changed for the better, don’t you think, dear reader? No one is forced to work anymore in order to survive. No one is exploited like a slave anymore. No one is driven to physical and mental exhaustion every day anymore. We truly live Free and without worries with beautiful prospects for our last days.