Auschwitz-Birkenau (continued)

This is the second half of the Auschwitz-Birkenau entry. For the first part, see the entry just below.

Höss was the master mind behind larger gas chambers and more efficient killing.  He had been involved in the workings of other concentration camps, but his mission was to make Auschwitz the most instrumental camp in the Final Solution.

He went into hiding as a German farmer under a false name after the war ended.  He was discovered by British troops, only after his wife gave away his location to save their son from being possibly shipped to Russia.

Psychologists interviewed Höss throughout his trial.  He seemed apathetic to what had occured under his supervision.  One psychologist even suggested a schizoid type personality disorder.  When asked about the estimated 3 million people he killed, he said (and I paraphrase) not 3.5 million, 2.5 million, the rest were taken by disease.  The estimated numer killed was revised later to around 1.5 million.

Höss was hung in Auschwitz for his crimes against humanity.

He released a statement for days before his execution.

"My conscience compels me to make the following declaration. In the solitude of my prison cell I have come to the bitter recognition that I have sinned gravely against humanity. As Commandant of Auschwitz I was responsible for carrying out part of the cruel plans of the 'Third Reich' for human destruction. In so doing I have inflicted terrible wounds on humanity. I caused unspeakable suffering for the Polish people in particular. I am to pay for this with my life. May the Lord God forgive one day what I have done."

The last thing we did in Auschwitz was enter an original gas chamber.

Pictures were allowed (though I decided not to). Silence was required.
It was just a concrete room with a square hole in the roof.  One large door covered the only entry and exit way.  I thought I could make out scratch marks on the wall, but looking back, I was probably just seeing what I thought I should see.  Zyklon's method of asphyxiation was very quick.

There was no closure when we left Auschwitz. We were simpy told to hand in in our earphones, board the same bus to Birkenau, and we would meet our same tour guide there.

Birkenau had a much more profound effect on me than Auschwitz did.

Birkenau was less touched, less tampered with. There were no ticket counters or cafes nearby.  There was a parking lot, and that was it.
You entered Birkenau through the exact same archway that all the prisoners had passed through.  Most of which only crossed the threshold once. 

Prisoners arrived in train cars at the very center of the camp.  The train cars were dark, often with only one bucket full of water, and another empty one for obvious uses.  The cars were packed so tight that only a few could manage to sit down at one time.  Depending on where they were coming from, the prisoners could have been in there for many hours.  The train track was still there.  It even looked possibly functional.

Once off the train, prisoners were sorted into two basic catagories.
Those that would actually see the barracks, and those that never would. Your apparent ability to do labor determined which (literal) road you walked down.

The road to the gas chambers was nick named "The way to heaven" by the Nazi's.

The other road would lead the prisoners to be processed (shaved, deloused, sorted) to be then put into barracks.

Workers were expected to work at least 12 hours a day on only 30% of their normal calorie intake.  Collapsing in a factory or becoming injured was not acceptable.

The prisoners that did live longer than their first hour in Birkenau deveped a code of ethics among themselves.

Stealing food from another prisoner was the highest offense anyone could commit.  A thief would be killed by other prisoners, and not just whmever he stole from. Exposing a fellow prisoner for one's own gain would end the same way. In the barracks, the newest prisoners would get the bottom barracks on the cold concrete floor, instead of the wooden ones in the second and third levels.

We saw actual barracks, actual latrines actual crematoriums. Some had had their roofs replaced, but were otherwise original.

When it came to the latrines (or rather long benches with holes in them) you got in and got out.  If you took to long, you would be shot.  Toilet paper was not provided.  Toilet paper was a black market item in the camps that was valued almost as highly as food.

Most of the crematoriums did not survive.  As the Nazi's started to see what the outcome of the war was going to be, they tried to destroy any evidence that they could.  This included the "Canada" warehouses, many of the crematoriums and gas chambers.

While we spent almost an hour and a half in Birkenau, I probably saw less than one tenth of the buidings.  The camp was so large it was hard to tell where it ended if you weren't close enough to see the barbed wire.

Our tour guide ended with a few remarks on the vaue of human life, and the destruction that hatred can cause.  It was a nice statement, but I'm sure a post card in the gift shp said something simiar.

I have just a few comments of my own.  Things you won't find on any postcard.

Firstly I'd like to point out that one should be careful not to confuse the word German with Nazi. They are not the same thing.  Germany is a lovely country full of many nice people.  Nazi's can be from anywhere.

Secondly, I don't think the people that did end up joining the Nazi cause were neccessariy bad people either.  Its easy for you to say that you would have never, that you couldn't have mustered such hate.
But you can't say that with 100% certainty unless you were actually there at that time.

The situation is very powerful. Something they don't teach you in history class.

Take Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment for example.

Wiki does a pretty good job expaining it, so I will let you see for yourself.  I can only further recommend you to read Zimbardo's book "The Lucifer Effect".

Stanford Prison Experiment

Those students were not bad people before the experiement, and I'm sure that before the experiement, they wouldn't have believed themselves capable of such acts either.The psychological damage that all of the participants suffered is the reason why the experiment was never replicated.

Exhibit two is Milgram's experiment.It was originally designed to test American obedience as compared to German obedience.

The never got to the second part, because the American results were too sickening.

I'll let Wiki do its thing again...

Milgram

If you're interested, also Google "Eye of the Storm" or "A Classroom Divided".

Basically, what I am saying, is the Holocaust wasn't just a hatred issue. If that was all there was to it, the amount of devastation wouldn't have been as enormous as it was.
It became the horrific catastrophe it was because of propaganda. Because of poor economic circumstances. Because of group think. Because of the blind obedience that every miitary enforces. The chain of command removes the blame from the individual, and so they feel less accountable for actions they would normally never think of committing.However, I cannot use this argument to expain the high ranking Nazi officers. That is for someone with more psychology schooling than me to try to explain.

All I am saying, is that if we see this as purely a lesson in hatred, we haven't learned anything, and history will repeat itself.  If you don't think it has already.

More cheerful post about Vienna next...

Tegs