“..We have embarked on a vital mission ..to uncover names of those who have no one to Remember them.” Avner Shalev.
Christmas is a time for Remembering. It is a period for reflection! We dwell upon what has passed and we recall all those who have left us! That is true more so in our own personal lives. But as we come to terms with what History has presented us with, it becomes just as salient for a Catastrophe such as The Holocaust. We humans are continually aiming to make a difference to what is coming for the future of the World we reside in. We all stand as either moral or desolate beings and choose a path formed by Belief, Acceptance and a History that is both Resolute and True, all the while remaining Unambiguous. We each have a memory formed that has been gained by experience and we utilise that experience to ensure a moral lesson is learned. Hopefully, we can administer that lesson for other’s who will best adapt to what is essential to learn. In the terms delivered by The Holocaust, we have to immerse ourselves in its detail to even come close to comprehending what 6,000,000 Jews of Europe underwent. That said, what the Survivors of Hitler’s final resolve now stand to deliver for us is an imperative! That their deliverance is being weakened on a continuing basis by their demise, they are still the best placed to afford us what we need to know. We demand much of them!
“..From now on ..do not answer by your name. ..felt like ..not ..human person anymore. ..shaved our heads ..I felt so ashamed. And also when they told us to undress and to shower ..they made us feel like ..animals. ..men were walking around ..laughing and looking at us. And you take a young girl at that age ..who had never been exposed to a person ..to a man ..and you stay there naked ..I wanted ..ground to open ..and I should go into it. We were packed like sardines. ..beds were bunks ..3 layers. I was on ..top layer. If one person wanted to turn ..we all had to turn. They gave me ..little rations of hard ..dried up bread which was half mildew ..I could hardly eat it. ..a tin can of soup ..so rotten and vile ..when I tasted it I couldn’t eat it. .. I just ate ..bread and drank a little water ..which was just rust running out from ..sink that they had over there. ..finally ..got so hungry ..knew I had to eat ..soup ..so vile. ..so terrible. I never ate anything like that in my whole life. ..If I want to survive I have to eat ..soup. ..So I started eating ..soup. And I ..forcing ..soup down my throat ..big tears coming down my face. Eating ..crying ..eating ..crying ..this is how I was in Birkenau. Every day ..I woke up and I would find 1 ..2 people who wanted to end their lives and couldn’t take it anymore. ..throw themselves to ..electric wires ..make an end of it. ..every once in a blue moon ..couldn’t take it anymore. ..try to sneak out of ..barracks late at night and I would see ..sky. ..talk to myself ..can’t believe ..stars ..looking down at us in this Hell ..this camp ..same stars ..shining at ..outside of ..world. ..other people ..looking at ..same stars ..they are free. ..to do what they want to do. ..living a good life. ..we are ..in Hell ..human beings worse than animals. ..nobody is doing anything about it. ..young as I was ..asking myself these questions. ..Where is ..world ..Why isn’t ..world doing anything about this ..I would question God ..Where is God ..How can He let us be killed like that ..after I cried myself out real good ..I would go back to ..barracks.” Lily Appelbaum.
The essential for all that humanity needs is to simply acknowledge the wrongs done and aspire toward a better understanding of what we must ensure never happens again. For ourselves and for the remainder of history, it is already too late! Genocide had overtaken Genocide. But deniers would destroy all of our history in not accepting the truth! Deniers would alter history to fashion their own agenda. In that agenda the deniers would destroy all Jews and replace a State of Israel with what? A ‘state’ of anarchy? A neo-nazi state? A state of isil? This denier hatred for the Jewish People, compounded by that allowance which for the World War 2 period gave Hitler the latitude, a Lebensraum to destroy 6,000,000 Jews of Europe, and this makes our World duplicitous. For these 6,000,000 Jewish People, who were failed by a World simply because they were Jews, it is an accusation in itself. As we stood back from the abyss into which these Jews were plunged, our conscience and our charitable nature followed headlong into ignominy. We did not have the moral courage to prevent this nor the will to stand taller. As we now present to all eternity a Genocidal term which has rocked the core foundation of civilisation, we need to accept the wrongs done more purposefully. What had purportedly credited us with a culture above baseness, crudity and perversion has been singularly effaced by our lack of steely determination and a weak willed compliance which leaves the World grief stricken.
“..Our family was sent to Auschwitz. ..My sister and I ..sent to one side ..my mother ..my little brother to ..other. ..it all happened so fast ..I looked around ..they were already gone. To Birkenau. ..where gas chambers where. My little brother was 15.” Fela Drybus.
As human beings, we not only share in that grief with all other’s but we certainly empathise with those whose grief is far greater than our own. I recall being sent the image of Tokele, the 4 year old Jewish Child, Murdered because she was a Jew. I remember this like it was my own grief. I knew I could focus my very own sense of loss and make use of that still raw emotion to write about Tokele, a Child, an Infant, an Innocent. In my attempt to come up with those relevant terms with which we all might add to an overall understanding of what the Jews of The Holocaust went through, I discovered 6,000,000 just like Tokele. In that discovery, I have been issued a summons which will not allow me to ever Forget what was delivered to more than 1,000,000 Jewish Children. There are a further 5,000,000 Jewish Men and Women who looked out for, looked over and were protective of these Jewish Children. I cannot begin to stress enough and I would not wish ever to betray the emphasis I have placed upon Remembering what happened to these 6,000,000 People, these Jewish People, so ritually slaughtered and in our time, so I choose Always to Remember, Never to Forget!
“..Since ..campaigns of murder were conducted with ..strictest secrecy ..there was considerable temptation to delude one’s conscience into believing that ..deeds committed outside any social control never happened. Who was ..to ask at home ..what was done to ..unknown Jew in ..forest near Minsk or behind ..barbed wire of Auschwitz.” Hans Buckheim.
I have journeyed far and emerged nowhere nearer any of the comprehension I had sought out than when I began this emotional effort in Remembrance. I am engaged upon a journey I know will widen my view and bring me slightly closer to those whose memory History must preserve for posterity. We do not know all their names, but we know of them and that they came this way. So here I am again at Auschwitz! I have stood on the platform that is Oswiecim! I have walked through the gate that signed away so many lives and I have traipsed across the abyss that is Birkenau. I stood on hallowed ground still shaken by the destructive achievement that was undertaken ere. What was clearly known here is applied to many more than will ever admit! I have stepped upon a soil so satiated with the blood of innocents, it rebels against our own decency. What stems from a hatred for the Jews whose blood was spilled here clouds the judgement all future governments make. There is no marker which is large enough nor broad enough to label this monstrous site with other than Auschwitz/Birkenau. Knowing that the World will never come to terms with what has happened, I am all too aware of what I am treading upon. I am more than cognisant of what we ‘christians’ had failed to do for these Jews and of the Jews in the entire Holocaust.
“..After all has been said that can be said ..how future generations run their own lives will be up to them. At least we will have done our duty.” Kitty Hart.
Lest we forget, there is also the travesty which remains over the very injustice that has not adjudged rightly or more appropriately the wrongs done against these Jews of Europe. That entire failure to prosecute all those whose ability to kill and maim those Jews who entered The Holocaust arena has been recognised. We have readily identified those many who have defied all of humanity and persist with a life that they have no moral right to remain free within. This guilt laden stance, before the scales of Justice, mock’s the very core values which have are chosen for all of humanity. That mockery confronts us for all that The Holocaust represents in terms of the destruction of a People. It is not least a confrontation with an identifying principle that, with all of those Jews of all The Death Camps, Killing Sites and wherever a Jew was met with disdain, brutality and then extinction, we let them down. In a failure to make the necessary effort to save even more than the few we singularly secreted away from the mouth of danger, that failure will accuse us for eternity.
“..You weigh on me ..you whom I lost in death. You’ve given me ..silent charge to live for you ..for me ..to erase ..debt of your extermination.” Viktor E. Frankl.
For all the terror and horror that permeates The Holocaust, Auschwitz straddles Hitler’s sickening remit toward a final resolve. As the vanguard of all that was atrocious during this period, few are more well known than the murderous enterprise that was engaged in at Auschwitz and Birkenau. Here, after Auschwitz has been liberated and its cost has been felt in human terms, there are less than 800 individuals who were ever prosecuted for their crimes in this place of torment. Justice for more than 1,100,000 Jews of Auschwitz or Birkenau, and more especially for all 6,000,000 Jews of The Holocaust has not been nearly accomplished. From the availing Waffen SS, SS, Police, Gestapo and other national personnel ranks, who resided over the Catastrophe for the Jews that is Auschwitz and Birkenau, the stench of a betrayal hangs over us all. Of the more than 6,500 Perpetrators and Participators who were involved in the carnage wreaked against the Jews and other’s just here within Auschwitz and Birkenau, there were fewer than 750 who were even sentenced for their Crimes. And these brutal Crimes were not meaningless nor even trivial crimes. They were of such terror and horror that no term had existed which could contemplate The Holocaust achievement.
“..Seventy years ago ..after our nation’s German occupation ..Nazi overlords and ..Hungarian authorities that collaborated with them seemed to fulfil ..will of Hitler’s Nazi Germany.” Janos Ader.
They were Crimes Against all of Humanity. They were a savage War waged upon an innocent Jewish People. All of human decency has been soured and tainted. That these Crimes were an ill conceived and contrived notion, that they were always a murderous venting of anger and rage in pursuance by an individual, Adolf Hitler, directed toward and dedicated to the very Final Solution of The Jewish Question on Continental Europe. While more than 20 years will pass before the major trials of these Auschwitz arraigned personnel are linked, with the Trial of Hoess, the Cracow Trial and the latter Frankfurt Trial, a measure of closure is still to be sought. All of these trials however will not avail the Murdered Jews of Auschwitz or Birkenau with even a notion of fairness, nor even with a modicum of Justice. Nor will all that is to be delivered in igniting the debate over what should be regarded as Justice, can any of these trials be considered anything approaching an Equity to that resolution of a Justness which is still required.
“..Surviving as a prisoner of ..Nazis was a hard and bitter struggle. In ..face of ..generous freedoms ..our persecution was even more difficult to translate. I felt pain ..lots of pain ..but I had to suppress it. I envied everyone everywhere who had escaped this terrible ordeal. ..in 1949 people had already heard of Hitler and his deeds and were not eager to hear more. Only later generations wanted to know what had happened to ..European Jewry. By this time a new term had arisen to identify ..Nazis’ mass murder and torture of millions of European Jews ..Holocaust.” Benjamin Jacobs.
Gauged by what this Camp personnel managed, any form of Justice which seeks a comparative form of justness for all that the Jews of Europe were forced to endure in Auschwitz and Birkenau, has been omitted. From the history of that time, no example of proper justice for all Hitler achieved has emerged. Rudolf Hoess for one, singled out here, is set apart from all other’s who presided over the monumental crimes of Auschwitz and Birkenau. The deeds of this one man are solidly etched now into our recollection and stand as a testament to man’s brutal inhumanity. As the first Commandant of the overall Auschwitz and Birkenau complex, he established himself as the power broker of death over life and with eventual annihilation the only outcome. Upon his return to lead the Death enterprise once more, and this time against the last residing great Jewish Community of Europe, against the Hungarian Jewish Community, Hoess wreaked decimation upon these in such a short space of time. It is key to Hoess having been sentenced to death for the destruction of all Jews and other’s here.
“..then came ..war crimes trials in West Germany where former Nazi’s were given sentences ..3 years for killing 150 people ..ridiculously lenient ..notional sentences. ..trials brought tension ..fact ..these criminals ..clearly not being considered ..that guilty ..a terrible blow for ..survivors.” Leo Eitinger.
In any other trial, set before the Supreme National Tribunal in Warsaw, the full investigation of one man’s decent into the obscenity of a Genocide against an innocent People would have been more deliberately explored. That the name of that man was Rudolf Hoess is significant and this Trial, which was conducted between March 11th. and March 29th. 1947, fully found Hoess guilty of the founding crimes perpetrated within the Auschwitz and Birkenau complex of Camps. For his detailed crimes, Hoess was executed on April 16th. 1947. With a grave sense of poignancy, Hoess was Hanged in front of the crematorium that was established in Auschwitz. This siting, as opposed to the later constructs at Birkenau, was his place of learning which Hoess added to with an expertise that would traipse more than 1,100,000 Jews toward their eventual destruction. It is relevant that Hoess was taken back to the place of some of the worst excesses against the Jews of The Holocaust, and answered solely for his own crimes but not for the complicity nor duplicity of so many more.
“..Day and night ..dragged off. ..deprived ..of ..possessions. Families ..torn apart ..all ..separated. Children coming home ..find ..their parents have disappeared. Women return ..to find ..their families gone.” Anne Frank.
For me it is more than just a simple twist of fate which brought The Holocaust to my attention. It is an essential from my historical perspective that what we learn from the wrongs of the past. We must clearly choose also to remember in order that we never forget what Hitler fully achieved. During this period of The Holocaust, between 1933 and 1945, 6,000,000 Men, Women and Their Children were Slaughtered because of their Jewish antecedence. That is not to say that we should then deny Hitler his culpability in the destruction of those 50 to 70 Million’s who died as a consequence of a World War he engineered. Here though, after Auschwitz, after the dust had settled on the destructive capacity accelerated there, it is essential to remind ourselves that it was not merely Hitler, Himmler, Heydrich, Hoess, Eichmann or even the following indicted who alone acted both brutally and without conscience. That a mere 41 gaolers were tried and tested before the scales of justice is a sickening rendition toward judicial capitulation.
“..In Upper Silesia ..they simply slaughtered ..people systematically. They were gassed in a big hall. There’s ..greatest secrecy about all those things.” Lieutenant General Heinrich Kittel.
With a crime of such monstrous dimensions, it might have been pointed out too that there were some 8 Million Germans and Austrians who were fully fledged members of Hitler’s murderous minions! In the overall catastrophe which accounted for these 6,000,000 Murdered Jews of The Holocaust, both in Ghetto’s and Killing Sites and elsewhere, Jews had few chances to evade Hitler’s dragnet. Here at Auschwitz and at Birkenau, there is the mounting capacity for murder that is far in excess of the 1,100,000 which is the accepted reckoning for Hoess’s complex of Camps. However, all speculation, which can only add toward an excess as yet totalling way more than these Murdered Jews here, and those from many other nations, all stands as further accusation of what we must submit is a failing we will never justify. The failure to deal more liberally with the criminal cadre’s who organised, planned and competed amongst themselves for a slice of the Auschwitz and Birkenau bounty, amidst the tragedy for the Jewish People will never be assessed.
“..extermination process in Auschwitz took place as follows ..Jews selected for gassing were taken as quietly as possible to ..crematories. ..men were already separated from ..women. In ..undressing chamber ..prisoners of ..Sonderkommandos ..who were specially chosen for this purpose ..would tell them in their own language that they were going to be bathed and deloused ..and ..must leave their clothing neatly together ..and ..remember where they put them ..so ..would be able to find them again quickly after ..delousing. ..Sonderkommando had ..greatest interest in seeing that ..operation proceeded smoothly and quickly. After undressing ..Jews went into ..gas chamber ..which was furnished with showers and water pipes and gave a realistic impression of a bathhouse. ..women went in first with their children ..followed by ..men ..who were always fewer in number. This part of ..operation nearly always went smoothly since ..Sonderkommando would always calm those who showed any anxiety or perhaps even had some clue as to their fate. As an additional precaution ..Sonderkommando and an SS soldier always stayed in ..chamber until ..very last moment. ..door would be screwed shut and ..waiting disinfection squads would immediately pour ..gas into ..vents in ..ceiling of ..gas chamber down an air shaft which went to ..floor. This ensured ..rapid distribution of ..gas. ..process could be observed through ..peep hole in ..door. Those ..standing next to ..air shaft were killed immediately. I can state that about one-third died immediately. ..remainder staggered about and began to scream and struggle for air. ..screaming ..however ..soon changed to gasping and in a few moments everyone lay still. After 20 minutes at ..most no movement could be detected. ..time required for ..gas to take effect varied according to weather conditions and depended on whether it was damp or dry ..cold or warm. It also depended on ..quality of ..gas ..which was never exactly ..same ..and on ..composition of ..transports ..which might contain a high proportion of healthy Jews ..or ..old and sick ..or children. ..victims became unconscious after a few minutes ..according to ..distance from ..air shaft. Those who screamed and those who were old ..sick ..or weak ..or ..small children died quicker than those who were healthy or young. ..door was opened a half an hour after ..gas was thrown in and ..ventilation system was turned on. Work was immediately started to remove ..corpses. There was no noticeable change in ..bodies and no sign of convulsions or discoloration. Only after ..bodies had been left lying for some time ..several hours ..did ..usual death stains appear where they were laid. Seldom did it occur that they were soiled with feaces. ..no signs of wounds of any kind. ..faces were not contorted. ..Sonderkommando now set about removing ..gold teeth and cutting ..hair from ..women. After this ..bodies were taken up by an elevator and laid in front of ..ovens ..which had meanwhile been fired up. Depending on ..size of ..bodies ..up to three corpses could be put in through one oven door at ..same time. ..time required for cremation also depended on ..number of bodies in each retort ..but on average it took 20 minutes.” SS Obersurmbannfuhrer Rudolf Hoess.
We move on from Hoess’s Trial in Warsaw toward The First Auschwitz Trial which began on November 24th. 1947 sessioned in Cracow, a further stab at gaining an insight into what prevailed here is being made. Here in Cracow, where Poland’s Supreme National Tribunal’s authority tried 40 former staff of the Auschwitz concentration camps, can we ever claim to have triumphed in some small way over Hitler’s evil? The trials ended on December 22nd. 1947. There was a failed result to mark significantly the beginnings of any process of reconciliation. To add toward that comprehensive calamity for these Jews of our History, who were in need of a signal, a Justice for which they had been so fundamentally denied, added to the Jewish Tragedy. Surely we cannot merely judge this handful here, when many, many more should have been indicted. More should have been judged from all of those who where indeed guilty! There are countless other unnamed, some even unknown, who were not only guilty but were positively identified with their hate filled guilt. With as many as 8 million Nazi’s who conformed to that model of perpetrator which existed within the realm of Jewish Destruction, how can any sense of fairness be equated with what the trials of Hoess, the Cracow and Frankfurt Trials failed to indict.
“..Our war of independence ..fought after 6,000,000 of our people have been exterminated by ..Nazis ..proved once again that ..cause of justice ..faithfully pursued ..must triumph in ..end.” David Ben-Gurion.
Within any context, with what is expected has guided civilisation toward any form of Justice that is required, this Genocide of the Jewish People is markedly without any relevant justice whatsoever. We might well have gained a knowledge from the many, petty bureaucrats like Blobel, Eicke, Nebe, Ohlendorf or even Stangl, yet other’s, those many German’s and other’s who simply drifted back toward their ordinary and mundane existence, did not afford us a drop of testimony. That they did deny History a more rounded Truth, leaves a gigantic hole in the term of Justice. With a seeming impunity governed by the sheer lack of urgency required to prosecute more of the guilty for their awful deeds, the guilt ridden returned to their former lives. Once these Nazi’s were faced with their routine life, they could ignore the requirement of History to have the fullest integral truth augmented by those whose evidence was gained closest to this abyss. For all of those who assailed these Jewish People, and so many other people into oblivion, and without any concern at all, theirs has been a remarkable restoration without redress.
“..Hatred can be nurtured anywhere ..idealism can be perverted into sadism anywhere. If hatred and sadism combine with modern technology ..inferno could erupt anew anywhere.” Simon Wiesenthal.
Atop of this, what history has always demanded, and those like Dwight D. Eisenhower who knew that it would become possible, is a Truth which cannot be swayed by denial. That all manner of denial would become an aggregate response in protection of those who thought with Nazi aspirations and who then sought shelter from their crimes, this has been proven to be recognised! Ignorance of these basic facts of The Holocaust pays no dividend. To merely deny The Holocaust is indeed a factual truth conveyed by the integrity of History, is without credibility. This denial, from a remnant of a failed racist cause, is all adding toward an irrelevance for those who espouse their clear anti-Jewish hatred. Their denial marks them as both intolerant and irrelevant. Deniers have contrived a level of abuse for those who wish to add toward the Remembrance for these 6,000,000 Murdered Jews of Europe. That denial is what signal’s their own lost irrelevant cause.
“..It will be a disgrace to go on living ..to belong to ..what was known ..what was done by ..Allies human race ..unless immediate steps are taken to put a stop to this crime ..greatest that history has known.” Shmuel Artur Zygielbojm.
The veiled abuse, the threatening manner of their invective perversion cannot deter those who will never allow threat and abuse to manage the course of History. Deniers vacate the arena of integrity by their continued use of argument over evidence. The denier views The Holocaust era through tainted lenses. The denier cannot appreciate that The Holocaust is not open to debate. By sheer weight of the fact of The Holocaust’ s commissioning, planning and execution, History has the burgeoning proof of all it needs and that veracity secures for all posterity the memory for 6,000,000 Murdered Jews of Europe. However, for those who seek the truth, they will witness within the invective that is denial, no honesty whatsoever. There exists a course beyond the denier lies, deceit and racist intent and it has a proven integrity of proof, evidence and testimony. Truth will always win out. History will always Remember that 6,000,000 Jewish People, those Men, Women and Their Children of the Jewish Faith, whose Antecedence and Integrity was murdered in The Holocaust. We will Remember them.
“..horrible sight ..I encountered during ..trip was a visit to a German internment camp near Gotha. ..things I saw beggar description. While I was touring ..camp I encountered ..3 men who had been inmates and by one ruse or another had made their escape. I interviewed them through an interpreter. ..visual evidence and ..verbal testimony of starvation ..cruelty and bestiality were so overpowering as to leave me ..sick. In one room ..where they were piled up 20 ..30 naked men ..killed by starvation ..George Patton would not even enter. He said that he would get sick if he did so. I made ..visit deliberately ..in order to be in a position to give first hand evidence of these things if ever ..in ..future ..there develops a tendency to charge these allegations merely to propaganda.” General Dwight D. Eisenhower.
For those many, who will continue to denounce all form of Trial, Arraignment or Indictment for those represented here, these are the 42 defendants of The First Auschwitz Trial, a mere speck in an ocean of criminality and atrocity. For Rudolf Hoess, as the recognised first Camp Commandant, executed ahead of this particular Trial by a Court in Poland, where his crimes were committed, he was justly convicted. Some of the most sickening and pernicious crimes, bestiality and atrocity ever imagined was perpetrated here and within all the Camps along with the 5 other Death Camps. The Jewish People were meant to fall, and also into those Killing Sites dug to converge the mass of Jewish innocence into a tomb that would seek to conceal them, the design for Jewish destruction had been struck. Hoess though was hanged for his participation, perpetration, complicity and duplicity in the murder’s of more than 1,100,000 Jews of Europe and countless other’s from those same nations of Europe. Hanged before the Crematorium of Auschwitz I, this criminal managed to afford posterity a document seething with a righteous indignation for an accomplishment he was roundly proud of. With both Therese Brandl and Maria Mandel the first defendants to be Hanged for their Crimes Against ALL of Humanity ahead of their male co-defendants, after the Cracow Trial, more evidence of the Truth could be accounted for. All Death sentences were carried out at the Cracow Montelupich Prison.
Aumeier, Hans Hanged January 28th. 1948.
“..not always ..pleasure to see ..mountains of corpses ..to smell ..constant burning. ..Hitler had ordered it. ..seemed necessary.” SS Sturmbannfuhrer Hans Aumeier.
Bogusch, August Raimond Hanged January 28th. 1948.
Brandl, Therese Hanged January 28th. 1948.
Breitwieser, Arthur Death Commuted to A Life Living in prison.
Bulow, Alexander 15 years Living in prison.
Buntrock, Fritz Hanged January 28th. 1948.
Danz, Luise A Life Living in prison.
Dinges, Erich 5 years Living in prison.
Gehring, Wilhelm Gerhard Hanged January 28th. 1948.
Goetze, Paul Franz Hanged January 28th. 1948.
Grabner, Maximilian Hanged January 28th. 1948.
“..There were so many deaths ..I completely lost count and today cannot state how many ..were murdered. ..during my term as head of ..Political Department it was at least 3,000,000.” SS Untersturmfuhrer Maximilian Grabner.
Hoffmann, Hans 15 years Living in prison.
Jeschke, Karl 3 years Living in prison.
Josten, Heinrich Hanged January 28th. 1948.
Kirschner, Hermann Hanged January 28th. 1948.
Koch, Hans A Life Living in prison.
Kollmer, Josef Hanged February 28th. 1948.
Kraus, Franz Xaver Hanged January 28th. 1948.
Kremer, Dr. Johann Death Commuted to A Life Living in prison.
“..had already been assigned to take part in gassing. These mass murders took place in small cottages outside ..Birkenau Camp. ..All SS physicians ..took turns to participate in ..gassings ..Sonmderaktion. ..oxygen apparatus to revive SS ..employed in ..gassing ..in case any ..should succumb to ..poisonous fumes. When ..transport with people ..destined to be gassed arrived at railway ramp SS officers selected ..persons fit to work ..rest ..old people ..all children ..women with children ..other persons not deemed fit to work ..loaded onto lorries ..drive to ..gas chambers. ..people ..undressed ..went naked to ..gas chambers. ..door was closed ..SS man in ..gas mask threw ..Cyklon ..through ..opening. ..shouting ..screaming ..could be heard ..it was clear they were fighting for their lives. ..for a very short while.” SS Obersturmfuhrer Dr. Johannes Paul Kremer.
Laechert, Hildegard 15 years Living in prison.
Laetsch, Otto Arthur Hanged January 28th. 1948.
Lechner, Anton A Life Living in prison.
Liebehenschel, Arthur Hanged January 28th. 1948.
Lorenz, Eduard 15 years Living in prison.
Ludwig, Herbert Paul Hanged January 28th. 1948.
Mandel, Maria Hanged January 28th. 1948.
Medefind, Adolf A Life Living in prison.
Moeckel, Karl Hanged January 28th. 1948.
Mueller, Kurt Hugo Hanged January 28th. 1948.
Muench, Dr. Hans Acquitted.
“..I had heard reports of Extermination Camps. ..It wasn’t until I arrived at Auschwitz and saw these reports were not exaggerated.” SS Untersturmfuhrer Dr. Hans Wilhelm Muench.
Muhsfeldt, Erich Hanged January 28th. 1948
“..Each furnace had only one retort ..independent ..fuelled by oil. ..could hold 2 to 5 corpses. ..daily capacity of 1 furnace was about 100 bodies ..burning round ..clock. ..burning of one load ..lasted about 1 hour.” SS Unterscharfuhrer Erich Muhsfeldt.
Nebbe, Detlef A Life Living in prison.
Orlowski, Alice 15 years Living in prison.
Plagge, Ludwig Hanged January 28th. 1948.
Romeikat, Franz 15 years Living in prison.
Schroeder, Richard 10 years Living in prison.
Schumacher, Hans Hanged January 28th. 1948.
Seufert, Karl A Life Living in prison.
Szczurek, Paul Hanged January 28th. 1948.
Weber, Johannes 15 years Living in prison.
Here it was decided that the torturing of prisoners who had already been tormented to the very extremes of human endurance, was deserving of Capitol punishment. Here was the evidence of an ever more inhumane savagery perpetrated by all of these defendants, some of whom, as a result of this trial were sentenced to death. The listed violent crimes committed by the named defendants, Gassing, Hanging, Shooting, Bludgeoning to Death, Starving to Death, and who all took smaller or larger part in the brutalization and mass murder of these prisoners, has been recorded. What it also reveals is that the accused were involved in these acts of killing and brutality for sheer pleasure. Many who pronounced the myth of superior orders, did much that was not in pursuance of any orders from their superiors. If it were not for these defendants own expressed desire to harm, hurt, cruelly act upon and kill, they should have otherwise displayed elements of sympathy for the victims. That they didn’t, or at least show an indifference to their plight, show’s them for what they were, as they tortured so many of the condemned to death.
“..Dear finder of these notes ..I have one request of you ..which is ..in fact ..practical objective for my writing ..that my days of Hell ..that my hopeless tomorrow will find a purpose in ..future. I am transmitting only a part of what happened in ..Birkenau ..Auschwitz Hell. You will realise what reality looked like. ..From all this you will have a picture of how our people perished.” Zalman Gradowski.
With a further Indictment issued on December 20th. 1963, and with all material that had been resolved and decided, on August 19th. 1965 The Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial, of this the Second Auschwitz Trial, came to a conclusion. Indicted and charged were 22 former Auschwitz and Birkenau personnel. They were clearly identified with their specific roles in commissioning of The Holocaust that took place here at Auschwitz and Birkenau. These newer defendants were tried under German criminal law, and so that none in the World would fail to recognise Germany’s acceptance of its own role in The Holocaust of The Jewish People, a small measure of justice was afforded those Jews and other’s destroyed within the Auschwitz and Birkenau complex. The Chief Prosecutor Fritz Bauer made it abundantly clear though that the defendants presented here before the bar of Justice, represented but a very small sample of those many guilty, who were completely responsible for the atrocities History has come to acknowledge.
“..wishful fantasy that there were only a few people with responsibility ..rest were merely terrorised ..violated hangers on ..compelled to do things completely contrary to their true nature. ..had nothing to do with historical reality. There were virulent nationalists ..imperialists ..antisemites ..Jew haters. Without them ..Hitler was unthinkable.” Fritz Bauer.
Baretzki, Stefan A Life plus 8 years Living in prison.
“..I was in Auschwitz. 1,000’s were killed there. ..a law and had to be done ..SS camp leader Schwartzhuber said at ..instructional session. ..They said there must be gassings. ..necessary to exterminate ..Jews. When we asked ..women ..children too. ..everything Hitler did was law.” Stefan Baretzki.
Bednarek, Emil A Life Living in prison.
Boger, Wilhelm A Life & 5 years Living in prison.
“..more than 4,000,000 were Murdered here.” SS Unterscharfuhrer Wilhem Boger.
Breitwieser, Wilhelm Released.
Broad, Pery 4 years Living in prison.
“..2,500,000 or 3,000,000 were gassed here.” SS Unterscharfuhrer Pery Broad.
Capesius, Victor 9 years Living in prison.
Dylewski, Klaus 5 years Living in prison.
Frank, Willi 7 years Living in prison.
Hantl, Emil 42 months Living in prison.
Hoecker, Karl Friedrich 7 years Living in prison.
Hofmann, Franz Johann A Life Living in prison.
Kaduk, Oswald A Life Living in prison.
“..When ..ovens were burning ..leaping flame was 5 metres high and could be seen from ..railroad station. ..station ..full of civilians. No one said a thing. ..furlough trains ..often stopped in Auschwitz. ..Sometimes ..whole station was fogged in ..Wehrmacht officers asked there was such a sweet smell. ..no one had ..courage to ass ..what is going on. ..no sugar refinery. Why are these chimneys here.” SS Unterscharfuhrer Oswald Kaduk.
Klehr, Josef A Life & 15 years Living in prison.
Lucas, Dr. Franz 39 months Living in prison.
Mulka, Robert 14 years Living in prison.
“..Gas chambers. ..I had heard ..about gas chambers ..word ..got around. I wondered about ..red glow ..smoke ..rumours ..these were ..fires burning in ..crematorium.” SS Obersturmfuhrer Robert Karl Ludwig Mulka.
Neubert, Gerhard Released.
Nierzwicki, Hans Released.
Schatz, Willi Acquitted & released.
Scherpe, Herbert 54 months Living in prison.
Schlage, Bruno 6 years Living in prison.
Schobert, Johann Acquitted & released.
Stark, Hans 10 years Living in prison.
“.. At ..later gassing ..autumn 1941 ..Grabner ordered me to pour Zyklon B into ..opening because only one medical orderly had shown up. During a gassing Zyklon B had to be poured through both openings of ..gas chamber room at ..same time. This gassing was also a transport of 200 – 250 Jews ..Men ..Women ..Children. As ..Zyklon B ..was in granular form ..it trickled down over ..people as it was being poured in. They then started to cry out terribly for they now knew what was happening to them. I did not look through ..opening because it had to be closed as soon as ..Zyklon B had been poured in. After a few minutes there was silence. ..time had passed ..ten to fifteen minutes ..gas chamber was opened. ..dead lay higgledy piggedly all over ..place. ..a dreadful sight.” SS Untersturmfuhrer Hans Stark.
The Evidence here provided by these Nazi’s who chose to speak and who were then convicted, or were otherwise released from their responsibility, is in stark contrast to the fate they administered to their Jewish charges. In the most reprehensible crimes ever perpetrated in all of History, what humanity requires in bringing to Justice those in need of indictment for these crimes is a resolve to act judicially. If the assessment is not forthcoming from a moral theologian to expand upon, then as a lay judiciary, their crimes certainly demands from those of judicial prudence to administer Justice. To those of us who have come to recognise how scant a regard has been placed upon that requirement, a further loss is heaped upon these Jewish People. How can it be possible to assert a knowledge of such an enormous crime, knowing the identity of those many who perpetrated these crimes and then lend leniency to the indictment by not prosecuting even a more substantial fraction of those responsible? History has already adjudged us wanting and time will not allow for other than a damning reflection be placed upon us for the initial failing that resulted in 6,000,000 Murdered Jews being so soundly forsaken in the call for Justice afterwards.
“..We continue to uncover German concentration camps ..in which conditions of indescribable horror prevail. ..have visited one of these ..I assure you ..whatever has been printed ..to date has been understatement. If you could see any advantage in asking about a dozen leaders of Congress and a dozen prominent editors to make a short visit to this theater in a couple of C-54’s ..I will arrange to have them conducted to one of these places where ..evidence of bestiality and cruelty ..so overpowering as to leave no doubt in their minds about the normal practices of ..Germans in these camps. I am hopeful that some British individuals in similar categories will visit ..northern area to witness similar evidence of atrocity.” General Dwight D. Eisenhower.