People in Auschwitz PDF
Preview People in Auschwitz
people in auschwitz HermannLangbein.Photograph©AlisaDouer;reprintedwithpermission. hermann langbein n n n People in Auschwitz translated by harry zohn foreword by henry friedlander TheUniversityof NorthCarolinaPress ChapelHill&London Publishedinassociationwiththe UnitedStatesHolocaustMemorialMuseum ©2004TheUniversityofNorthCarolinaPress Allrightsreserved OriginallypublishedinGermanasMenscheninAuschwitz, ©1995EuropaVerlagGmbHWienMünchen PublishedinassociationwiththeUnitedStatesHolocaustMemorialMuseum. Theassertions,arguments,andconclusionscontainedhereinarethoseoftheauthor orothercontributors.Theydonotnecessarilyreflecttheopinionsofthe UnitedStatesHolocaustMemorialMuseum. TheUniversityofNorthCarolinaPressgratefullyacknowledgesthe supportoftheFederalMinistryforEducation,Science,andCulture,Vienna,Austria; theLuciusN.LittauerFoundation;andtheL.J.SkaggsandMaryC.SkaggsFoundation inthepublicationofthisbook. ManufacturedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica SetinQuadraattypesbyTsengInformationSystems,Inc. Thepaperinthisbookmeetstheguidelinesforpermanenceanddurability oftheCommitteeonProductionGuidelinesforBookLongevityoftheCouncilon LibraryResources. LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Langbein,Hermann,1912– [MenscheninAuschwitz.English] PeopleinAuschwitz/HermannLangbein;translatedbyHarryZohn; forewordbyHenryFriedlander. p.cm. ‘‘PublishedinassociationwiththeUnitedStatesHolocaustMemorialMuseum.’’ Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. isbn0-8078-2816-5(cloth:alk.paper) 1.Auschwitz(Concentrationcamp) 2.WorldWar,1939–1945—Prisonersandprisons, German. 3.Holocaust,Jewish(1939–1945) I.Title. d805.5.a96l36132004 940.53'1853858—dc22 2003020485 08 07 06 05 04 5 4 3 2 1 Ihavefeltobligatedtowritethisbook forthesakeofthecountlesspeoplewho carriedonastruggleagainstinhumanity eveninAuschwitzandlosttheirlives— especiallyinmemoryof ErnstlBurgerandZbyszekRaynoch. contents n n n ForewordbyHenryFriedlander,ix the jailers TheGuards,273 introduction People,NotDevils,294 Author’sRationale,3 TheCommandant,302 TheCampandItsJargon,11 ssLeaders,316 TheHistoryoftheExtermination Physiciansinthess,333 Camp,18 Dr.Wirths,365 Numbers,51 SubordinatesofthessLeaders,386 the prisoners Sexuality,402 UnderthePoweroftheCamp,63 ReactionsofHumanNature,414 TheMuselmann,89 FrankandPestek,438 TheInmateandDeath,106 CiviliansinAuschwitz,449 MusicandGames,125 afterward Canada,133 InmatesafterLiberation,471 Thevips,143 ssMembersaftertheWar,502 Jewishvips,169 ConclusionandWarning,518 CreatingAccomplices,178 TheSonderkommando,191 Bibliography,523 TheInmateInfirmary,203 Index,537 ThoseBorninAuschwitz,233 Resistance,240 foreword Henry Friedlander n n n ThenameAuschwitzhascometosymbolizethecriminalityofNaziGermany. It not only was Germany’s largest concentration camp but also housed its largestkillingcenter.Intheend,combiningassembly-linemassmurderand the exploitation of slave labor, Auschwitz was the premier Nazi installation oftheHolocaust. But Auschwitz did not launch the wholesale extermination of people deemed undesirable by the regime. In September 1939, at the beginning of WorldWarII,beforeAuschwitzevenexistedasaplaceof incarcerationand murder, the German concentration camp system was already firmly estab- lished.Theindividualcampsofthatsystem—Dachau,Sachsenhausen,Buch- enwald,Flossenbürg,Mauthausen,andRavensbrück—hadbecomeinfamous. After the conquest of Poland, the Germans needed a new concentration camptoholdthelargenumberof Poleswhohadbeenarrestedaspotential opponentstoGermanrule.ThesearchforthebestsitefocusedonAuschwitz, whosePolishnamewasOswiecim.ItslocationatthejunctureoftheVistula and Sola rivers made possible a large measure of isolation from the outside world.Inaddition,itprovidedessentialrailroadconnections,beingsituated at the crossroads of Silesia, the General Government of Poland, the incor- poratedWartheland,andtheformerstatesofCzechoslovakiaandAustria.In earlyMay1940,AuschwitzwasofficiallydesignatedaGermanconcentration camp,andssCaptainRudolfHöß,whohadservedonthessstaffatDachau and Sachsenhausen,was appointed commandant. About 1,200 Poles whose dwellingswereonorneartheproposedcampsitewererelocated,andsoon thirtyprisoners,allordinaryGermancriminals,arrivedfromSachsenhausen, receivingAuschwitzprisonernumbers1through30.InJune,thefirstPolish politicalprisoners,includingPolishJews,werereceivedatAuschwitzandwere givenprisonernumbers31through758. During1940andearly1941,theAuschwitzcampheldmostlyPolishpris- oners;theremainderwereGerman.Thiscampwouldeventuallybecomethe centerofasystemofcamps,whileitsinmatepopulationwouldbeaugmented withprisonersfromallcountriesoccupiedbyGermany.Knownasthe‘‘main camp,’’itwouldhousetheadministrationoftheAuschwitzcomplex. In January 1941, officials of IG Farben, the large German chemical con- cern,visited the Kattowitz region as the possible site for the production of
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