This Holocaust Author's Auschwitz Blog

Eva Mozes Kor (85 Years Young)

January 31st. 1934 until July 4th. 2019.

“..Getting even has never healed a single person.” Eva Mozes Kor.

Perhaps this was Eva’s own independence day, a day she could look upon and know her work was being well formed and delivered to those all too willing to learn her lessons. For a Survivor who had Survived so much and lent her voice, travelling back and forth to where cruelty and destruction continually confronted her, she is a remarkable Woman. For her to deliver to the World, what it can barely comprehend, even to this day, is a monumental undertaking we can barely conceive of.

“..I was given 5 injections. That evening I developed extremely high fever. I was trembling. My arms and my legs were swollen ..huge size. Mengele and Dr. Konig and 3 other doctors came in ..next morning. They looked at my fever chart ..and Dr. Mengele said ..laughingly. ..Too bad ..she is so young. She has only 2 weeks to live.” Eva Mozes Kor.

Such was Eva’s resilience and strength, she Survived and outlived all those who had condemned her. While this space here is my realm, and I will not sway from the adherence to why I maintain this space, I recognise the appropriateness of those who this space is reserved for. The Holocaust is a matter which should and must confront the World. With that said, there are those of you here who know all too well how profoundly the Catastrophe itself has touched you.

“..Until that moment I had stopped thinking about my family. Maybe it was due to ..bread we ate each evening that supposedly contained not only sawdust but a powder called bromide that made us forget memories of home ..a sedative of some kind. Whatever it was or was not ..I could not feel sorry for myself ..for Miriam ..for anyone. I could not think of myself as a victim ..or I knew I would perish. It was simple. For me ..there was no room for any thought except survival.” Eva Mozes Kor.

I have sought only to insist upon respect for all those who wish to contribute towad the narrative I deliver. With that, and in the hope that all of you are gifted the absolute and factual truth, for me, I still seek to obtain a comprehension of what 6,000,000 Murdered Jews succumbed to and for what all Survivor’s know in detail. For many of You. Eva Mozes Kor will mean so much and for many other’s, she will be a reference point on the edge of the abyss called The Holocaust.

“..Every night I had nightmares. I dreamed of rats ..size of cats ..dead bodies ..needles stuck into me. After we found out that ..Nazi’s had made soap out of Jewish fat ..I dreamed that soap bars spoke to me in ..voices of my Parents and Sisters ..asking me ..why are you washing with us.” Eva Mozes Kor.

Eva’s immense struggle to Survive, took this now 11 year old Child away from a harmful place to other’ places which continued to harm her because of it. Eva for me, is a Survivor and I am unbounded by an immense respect for all she stood for, her meaning, her valaues and her persistence in telling us her story. While I fundamentally did not agree with her stated forgiveness of all those who perpetrated, particpated or merely looked away from The Holocaust, I knew it was Eva’s strength.

“..Mrs. Goldenthal’s twin boys ..Alex and Erno ..were our age ..and I discovered that they had been selected at Auschwitz for Mengele’s experiments like us. Mrs. Goldenthan had stayed with them ..and I found out later that she had hidden a younger Child ..Margarita ..underneath her long skirt. She had come into ..camp with ..Child hidden in her dress and during her entire stay there ..even in ..Nazi barracks where she had kept Margarita under ..mattress during inspections ..she and ..other Women had helped conceal ..Child.” Eva Mozes Kor.

I sincerely felt though, that it was not her place to forgive for 6,000,000 Murdered Jews who had no way of affording us their own forgiveness for what emerged to consume them. But for Eva, as much as for her Sister Miriam, a light was switched oin when she was delivering to Teacher’s and Students who listened ardently to what us lesser beings would have been overwhelmned by. July 4t. 2019, that switch might well have now turned itself off, but the light of example will forwever shine brightly for who Eva Mozes Kor was, is and will be.

“..At Auschwitz dying was so easy. Surviving was a full time job.” Eva Mozes Kor.

“..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.

Death Toll Auschwitz.

There will never be an exact toll of those who were Murdered at Auschwitz, as records vary in depth and description. Many documents too were destroyed by the Nazi’s seeking to conceal their fixed solution to a Jewish Question. An immediate count of those records, though sparse, with additions from Witness sources, from Survivors and the Testimony gained during The Nuremeberg Trials, all provided a view of the Calamity which could not be corroborated. Both Eichmann and the Camp Kommandant Rudolf Hoess were in some form of agreement. Eichmann believed some 2,000,000 had been Murdered in Auschwitz, while Hoess gave a more liberal assessment of between 2,500,000 and 3,000,000 Murdered. While the Russian estimate of some 4 Million gained a public acceptance, and a monument was placed to endorse this figure, it was somewhat frowned upon as mere Soviet propaganda, and less than an accurate assessment.

“..first and foremost perpetrator was Adpolf Hitler. ..without him it would have been inconceivable.” Raul Hilberg.

In 1961 Raul Hilberg decided himself in his book, The Destruction of European Jews, to use German railway timetable records to total the number of Nazi departures. These Transports were assessed for their Nazi consistency, rather than accounting for the arrivals of these ‘resettlement’ trains at the various Death Camps. For Auschwitz, Hilberg arrived at a figure of some 1,000,000 Jews having been Murdered within the Camp. This has been as accurate an assessment as has ever been, and was established by Hilberg before technology and further records were available.

Merely symbolic! A collection of some of the Ashes of Those Jews Murdered here within Auschwitz. This accounting of Hilberg’s, which is as close as we are ever likely to get to that Final assessment, still stands solidly today. It is highly unlikely, unless some tiemly intervention appears, courtesy of new found records compiled by Nazi officials, that we will ever know how many Jews, or others were Murdered at Auschwitz, let alone for the totality of The Final Solution. For me however, I would rather stick to the composite estimate of 6,000,000 Jews Murdered in The Holocaust, as defining Hitler’s assault upon the integrity of The Jewish People of Europe. For Auschwitz and Birkenau, the 1,100,000 figure composes a lasting Monument Always to Remember, Never to Forget.

“..Arrived ..Auschwitz ..July 2nd. or 3rd. 1944. ..about 200 men. ..women 70 or 80 seventy or eighty. ..rest I saw ..getting into ..a number of trucks. ..also a closed vehicle with ..sign of ..Red Cross. I saw them all go off. ..to ..gas chambers.” Georges Wellers.

As late as 1983, research into the Murder rate at Auschwitz, gathering information from Nazi ‘transport’ data, similar in many respects to Hilber’g’s analysis, was given a further assessment. Provided by the French Historian Georges Wellers, the account had demonstrated that approximately 1,613,000 people Died there. These were People who were Murdered by various means which included Gassing. We know from Testimony elsewhere this Gassing was done by Zyklon ‘B’, an insecticide found to be capable of Killing People, more cheaply than Bullets. Many within Auschwitz were ritually Tortured and Hanged.

How many chose their own way out, by running into the Electrified fence cannot be accounted for. So many must have been that discouraged, so brutalised, or maybe even knowledgeable of what was coming, chose to end it all, on their terms. Those others who were left to Starve did so or succumbed to the many Diseases prevalent when such abuses and excesses were endorsed. Of those Auschwitz Murdered, garnered from Weller’s Research, 1,350,000 were found to be the Jewish victims, 83,000 were Polish victims, some 20,000 were Gypsies and over 12,000 were Russian POW’s. Figures for those Jehovah’s Witnesses and Homosexuals Murdered have not been realistically confirmed or verified. We know too from this source that well over 150,000 Poles had been imprisoned within Auschwitz over the duration of the Camps existence.

Franciszek Piper, Director of Research at the Auschwitz Museum, published his own findings in 1989. Using captured Camp records, the register of prisoners, train time table of arrivals, and combining all of that with those lists existing of Nazi deprtations, Piper was able to establish that 90% of all those Murdered at Auschwitz were Jews. This represented some 1,100,000 Jewish Murdered, a figure recognised still to this day. His account also suggests that there were between 140,000 and 150,000 Poles who were victims and some 23,000 Gypsy souls who lost their lives.

According to the Polish American Congres, between 5 and 6 Million Polish citizens were killed during World War Two. Of this figure, 3,000,000 of whom were Polish Jews, they were killed during the period of The Holocaust so as ‘to further the Third Reich’s anti-Semitic policies.’ Their analysis shows that, of the 1,100,000 Jews deproted to Auschwitz, more than 90% of them perished, presenting some 1,000,000 Polish Jews to this study.

While it is always an essential in my study to ensure I am committed to the Remembrance of These Jews of Europe, it isncumbent upon me to ensure that is is never forgotten also, that many other people, many other nations suffered. Of the 3 Million Polish Citizens who died, there is anecdotal evidence which more than suggests, that nearly 2 Million of these Polish Citizens were Killed because of their ethnicity and again, Hitler’s hatred for other People’s. This same congress assessed that, of those other’s Transported to Auschwitz, there loss is accountable as:

Poles 150,000 with 75,000 (50% Murdered),

Gypsies 23,000 with 21,000 (91% Murdered),

Russian POW’s 15,000 with 15,000 (100% Murdered), and

Others, 25,000 with 15,000 (60% Murdered)

within Auschwitz and Birkenau’s confines.

“..I was in ..camp Birkenau ..part of ..Oswiecim Camp. ..a woman in ..last month of pregnancy. ..had to walk ten kilometres to ..place of work ..toiled ..whole day ..digging trenches. ..already ill and ..asked ..German ..for permission to rest. ..refused ..laughed at her and ..together with another SS man ..started beating her. ..situation of all ..women who ..were pregnant ..only during ..very last minutes were they permitted to stay away from work. ..newly born children ..if Jewish ..were immediately put to death.” Severina Shmaglevskaia.

Disguising the Truth of the Catastrophe.

This is an on-going Research and is not in anyway a complete nor finished work. I will attend to this at varying stages through my tenure as a Blogger on Auschwitz. So be aware, they might be errors which are neither intentional, nor are they representative of what matters to me in the context of Remembering those Jews of The Holocaust! The picture displayed in a Bone Grinder which the Camps employed to grind the bones fragments of those Jews who had been Murdered. Before the industrialised scale of Murder, Jews in Belzec, Chelmno, Majdanek, Sobibor and Treblinka were exhumed and burned with expertise from Blobel’s Sk 1005 and the use of adapted machinery. The obliteration of the Crime cannot not be achieved wholly!

So for inexplicable reasons there are people out there who either doubt the truth of what is known of The Holocaust or choose to deny the truth of the testimony we have been provided with. When we all agree and accept that we do not have a written directive from Hitler, we know all too well that Hitler would not allow anyone else to direct, what was his most fundamental directive.

While issuing forth, all arms of the Reich were directed to a ‘Weltanschauung’ that visioned a captive world under a German Nazi jackboot. Within that worldview, the Jews were to be scurged, purged, ‘resettled’ in those captive eastern lands and then eradicated. It is without any doubt that Hitler, der Fuhrer of a proposed 1,000 year Reich, orchestrated every aspect of the assault upon the Jews. While many, like Himmler, Heydrich and Eichmann controlled the day to day operations, the baton of Hitler was framing every movement. I have been involved in the subject of The Holocaust for so many years, I have noticed the tool of denial that seeks to extricate Hitler from the midst of this most awful crime.

For the life of me I cannot uderstand why a world would want to revere a man who denounced his own German people, achieved the destruction of so many millions of different peoples from every nation and then sought to subjugate the remainder of the World. The hatred that Hitler held for the world, the contempt he felt for that world and the very capcity to deal destructively with that world should ensure the rightful abhorrence of the man. What Hitler stood for would have ensured all but an exclusive band of blond, blue eyed ‘aryans’ dined at the top table of a repugnant era. Where, you ask, does this Hitler infatuation come from? Well I have to suggest that it is not so much an adoration of a hated filled leader but an allegiance with what filled Hitler with so much hate, an anti-Semitism stretching back over 2,000 years. So here are some of the fraudulent aspects of that form of revised history which some now seek to adorn our genuine study.

Disguising the Truth of the Catastrophe.Here we have the industrial capacity to disguise almost all that happened within the Death Camps. Until recently, we relied whole heartedly upon the Truthful verification from Survivor’s, Eyewitnesses and those who served well the demands of their Fuhrer.

i) The capacity to murder,

ii) the subjective review of statsitical analysis,

iii) the inability to see the truth and;

iv) a corporate psychosis that promotes an abundance of self promoting and propagating drivel.

The deniers tend to blend mathematical therum, with conjecture, in order to add a form of substance to a lack of true or competent study. Within the Camp system itself there are many ways to prove how divergent the analysis can be so I will attempt to counter what you reckon has been suggested. Operational from May 20th. 1940, the Auschwitz camp was established to shield the world from a view of what was yet to come for all of Hitler’s enemies. By September 3rd. 1941, Zyklon ‘B’ was being used at the Auschwitz facility and an estimated 2,500,000 Jews, by my own estimation, were Murdered there. The Death Factory at Birkenau was operational from October 1941. I stress here that all reliable estimates, as to the destruction that was conducted here, amounts to some 1,200,000 to 1,600,000 Jews murdered alongside many other people of Europe. Those Jewish murdered however, presented Hitler with a very serious concern. Once he fully realised that the world would have the evidence of what had been accomplished in this genocide of the Jewish People of Europe, the task of concealment was undertaken. After 12 months of operations, which had ranged against the Jews of the East, Blobel was called upon, with Sonderkommando 1005, and he set about eradicating the evidence of all that the Einsatzgruppe had achieved. Some 1,500,000 Jews shot to death and buried in pits, ravines and anti-tank ditches at Babi-Yar, Ponary, Bikernieki and Tuchinka had to be disposed of. Following this clean up operation, Blobel moved his expertise into the Death Camps, where the bodies of the murdered who had been buried in mass graves, were dis-interred and burnt. What argument now emerges from a denial of the evidence has been a miscalculation of the logistical endeavour Blobel clearly was well prepared for.

We can assess this undertaking by acknowledging that the remains of a burned body amounts to some 0.004245 cubic metres of ash. If we accept this as the average, then there are three assessments to be made based upon the agreed analysis concerning Auschwitz/Birkenau. This is the figure to be presented at 1). Also, if we are to reckon with the deniers miscalculation of the ability to dispose of Jewish Bodies, we need to look at a human dimension of the overall crime, to assess the ability of the Death Camp to deal with such numbers. On average a human body has an overall volume of some 0.1910 cubic metres, and this estimate will be made at the figure 2). That said these are my evaluations of the hypothesis:-

1) 1,200,000, 1,600,000 or 2,500,000 Jews murdered, cremated or burned would realise the volume of ash of this magnitude 5,094 cubic metres, 6,792 cubic metres or 10,612 cubic metres respectively.

2) 1,200,000, 1,600,000 or 2,500,000 Jews murdered and buried would require a space that would amount to 229,200 cubic metres, 305,600 cubic metres and 477,500 cubic metres respectively.

In operation from October 1941 Majdanek there are estimates of 200,000 to 360,000 Jews Murdered.

A burned body amounts to 0.004245 cubic metres of ash, the figure at 3). On average a human body has an overall dimension of 0.1910 cubic metres and this estimate will be made at the figure 4). These are my evaluations of the hypothesis:-

3) 200,000 or 360,000 Jews murdered, cremated or burned would realise the volume of ash of this magnitude 849 cubic metres or 1,528.2 cubic metres respectively.

4) 200,000 or 360,000 Jews murdered and buried would require a space that would amount to 38,200 cubic metres and 68,760 cubic metres respectively.

In operation from November 1st. 1941 the Aktion Reinhard Camp Belzec have estimates from 500,000 to 680,000 and up to 1,250,000 Jews Murdered.

A burned body amounts to 0.004245 cubic metres of ash, the figure at 5). On average a human body has an overall dimension of 0.1910 cubic metres and this estimate will be made at the figure 6). These are my evaluations of the hypothesis:-

5) 500,000, 680,000 or 1,250,000 Jews murdered, cremated or burned would realise the volume of ash of this magnitude 5,094 cubic metres, 6,792 cubic metres or 10,612 cubic metres respectively.

6) 1,200,000, 1,600,000 or 2,500,000 Jews murdered and buried would require a space that would amount to 229,200 cubic metres, 305,600 cubic metres and 477,500 cubic metres respectively.

In operation from December 8th. 1941 Chelmno has estimates 150,000 and up to 400,000 Jews Murdered.

A burned body amounts to 0.004245 cubic metres of ash, the figure at 7). On average a human body has an overall dimension of 0.1910 cubic metres and this estimate will be made at the figure 8). These are my evaluations of the hypothesis:-

7) 150,000 or 400,000 Jews murdered, cremated or burned would realise the volume of ash of this magnitude 636.76 cubic metres or 1,698 cubic metres cubic metres respectively.

8) 150,000 or 400,000 Jews murdered and buried would require a space that would amount to 28,650 cubic metres and 76,400 cubic metres respectively.

On March 1st. 1942 the Aktion Reinhard Camp Sobibor came on stream and has estimates of 225,000 to 300,000 Jews Murdered.

A burned body amounts to 0.004245 cubic metres of ash, the figure at 9). On average a human body has an overall dimension of 0.1910 cubic metres and this estimate will be made at the figure 10). These are my evaluations of the hypothesis:-

9) 225,000 or 300,000 Jews murdered, cremated or burned would realise the volume of ash of this magnitude 955.125 cubic metres or 1,273.5 cubic metres respectively.

10) 225,000 or 300,000 Jews murdered and buried would require a space that would amount to 42,975 cubic metres and 57,300 cubic metres respectively.

On June 1st. 1942 the Aktion Reinhard Camp Treblinka became operational and has estimates 700,000, 900,000 and up to 1,200,000 Jews Murdered.

A burned body amounts to 0.004245 cubic metres of ash, the figure at 11). On average a human body has an overall dimension of 0.1910 cubic metres and this estimate will be made at the figure 12). These are my evaluations of the hypothesis:-

11) 700,000, 900,000 or 1,200,000 Jews murdered, cremated or burned would realise the volume of ash of this magnitude 2,971.5 cubic metres, 3,820.5 cubic metres or 5,094 cubic metres respectively.

12) 700,000 900,000 or 1,200,000 Jews murdered and buried would require a space that would amount to 133,700 cubic metres, 171,900 cubic metres and 229,200 cubic metres respectively.

The question of combustible material needed is exhaustive, and I do not have the time, at this moment, to enter into that assessment. Needles to say, when the deniers attribute an amount of timber, coal oil, gasoline etc., to the cremation of a body, that figure does not compute to a far larger total of bodies, as each body is a combustible and will ignite and maintain the necessary heat to burn other than itself. Human fat has a value which the deniers seem to dismiss!

The Gas Chambers!

“..I wanted to ..avoid ..persons who came into Auschwitz should know ..they were ..to be gassed.” Rudolf Hoess.

1) There was a crematorium situated within Auschwitz I, with a Gas chamber using three ovens for the ‘handling’ of 320 bodies daily, and operated between January 1942 and April 1943. The total capacity for murder, and concealment of the evidence, was in the region of 150,000 People who could be ‘handled’. All traces are therefore, clearly Eradicated.

2) Within Bunker 1, at the installation Birkenau, there were two gas chambers with a daily capacity for 800 persons. This installation operated throughout 1942. The total capacity for murder, and concealment of the evidence, was in the region of 290,000 People who could be ‘handled’. A Mass grave at this installation was also in operation.

3) Within Bunker 2, Birkenau, there were four gas chambers with a daily capacity for 1,200 persons. This installation operated throughout 1942 and parts of 1944. The burning pits were also situated within this complex. The total capacity for murder, and the concealment of the evidence, was in the region of 500,000 People who could be ‘handled’.

“..I had the misfortune of coming to Auschwitz ..an extermination camp. ..training ..at Auschwitz ..contributed to the extermination of people.” Bruno Schlage.

4) Within Krema 2, Birkenau, there were five ovens with a daily capacity for 1,400 persons. This installation operated from the beginning of 1943 till the end of 1944. The total capacity for murder, and the concealment of the evidence, was in the region of 800,000 People who could be ‘handled’.

5) Within Krema 3, Birkenau, there were five ovens with a daily capacity for 1,400 persons. This installation operated for some 16 months between June 1943 and November 1944. The total capacity for murder, and the concealment of the evidence, was in the region of 700,000 People who could be ‘handled’.

6) Within Krema 4, Birkenau, there were two ovens with a daily capacity for 770 persons. This installation operated between Spring 1943 and 7th. October 1944. Having been destroyed by a Jewish revolt it remained decommissioned. The total capacity for murder, and the concealment of the evidence, was in the region of 423,000 People who could be ‘handled’.

7) Within Krema 5, Birkenau, there were two ovens with a daily capacity for 770 persons. This operation installation operated between Spring 1943 and the end of 1944. The total capacity for murder, and the concealment of the evidence, was in the region of 490,000 People who could be ‘resettled’ and ‘handled’, a very ‘Final Solution’.

“..7,000 people at one time or another ..from ..Waffen SS served in Auschwitz.” Rudolf Hoess.

Birkenau.

“..In addition to Auschwitz there existed ..following extermination centers for Jews ..Culmhof ..Engine exhaust gases ..Treblinka ..Engine exhaust gases ..Sobibor ..Engine exhaust gases ..Belzec ..Engine exhaust gases ..Majdanek Zyklon B. I ..have ..seen Culmhof and Treblinka. ..Treblinka I saw ..whole operation. ..several chambers ..holding some hundreds of people ..built directly by ..railway track. ..Jews went straight into ..gas chambers without undressing.” Rudolf Hoess.

The hustle and bustle of modern living hides the depths of despair that once resided here. There is a growing awareness, however, from those who venture through this enormous Cemetery for the 1,100,000 Jews Murdered here, that a place of such evil exists and it has been an accomplished Genocide in out not so distant past.

“..whole complex had forty-six retorts ..each with ..capacity for three to five persons. ..burning in a retort lasted about half an hour. ..it was theoretically possible to cremate about 12,000 corpses in twenty four hours ..4,380,000 a year. ..well-constructed crematoria fell far behind at a number of camps ..especially at Auschwitz in 1944. In August ..total cremation reached a peak one day of 24,000 ..still a bottleneck occurred. Camp authorities needed an economic and fast method of corpse disposal ..dug six huge pits beside Krema V ..reopened old pits in ..wood. ..late 1944 ..pit burning became ..chief method of corpse disposal. ..pits had indentations at one end from which human fat drained off. To keep ..pits burning ..stokers poured oil ..alcohol ..large quantities of boiling human fat over ..bodies.” Filip Muller.

In 1941, on September 3rd. Zyklon ‘B’ was used at Auschwitz to murder Infirm Jews and Russian POWs. Later, in the month of October, we see the establishment of a facilty at Auschwitz Camp II, known in infamy as Birkenau, which is erected for the sole purpose of the extermination of the Jews of Europe. It must be remembered also, that Gypsies, Poles, Russians, and others from many nations were also murdered at this Death Camp, a Factory facility of Mass Murder. In 1944, on November 2nd. the last gassings at Auschwitz were undertaken. Finally, in 1945, on January 27th. the Auschwitz complex was liberated by Russian soldiers and the World became witness to what Hitler and his Nazis had resolved to commit! This is a date for the Calender and January 27th. has been written in all of History as a place in time which can now pin point that essential need to Commemorate not only all those Jews who were Destroyed here and elsewhere, but has rightly accused that inability of this World to alleviate, to comfort or even to save those 6,000,000 Jews from Annihilation!

Birkenau is enormous! It is huge. It is easy to see how 1,100,000 Murdered Jews could be consumed within its perimeter. The landscape seems to go on forever. There are Trees which bind in the outer reaches of this site of Destrcution. There is an awful connection to what we are looking at and to what was taken away. The emptiness is given over to a sense that we are isolated here. Driven by thoughts which cannot ever imagine the pain and the suffering that went on! But we put a further step forward and retrace the path etched by those went before us and will follow long after we have left. This place will stand as a Monument to Ignominy, to Mankind’s reluctance to search out Intolerance and measure a person’s worth with actual Tolerance!

“..Somann (SS Security Chief Breslau) told me ..death ..by gas poisoning was painless. ..gas van death was very quick ..but actually death came ..slowly ..accompanied by great pain. ..Somann told me about ..Auschwitz ..where ..gassing ..was carried out. ..the dead ..were burned in special furnaces ..200 bodies ..burned simultaneously.” Standartenfuhrer Heinisch.

Travel arrangements made, no comfort was afforded those Jews due for ‘resettlement’ East.

Originally known as Auschwitz II this sub camp was certainly more synonymous with the destruction of the Jewish People than her sister camp at Auschwitz I, though the collective identification of Auschwitz as a killing center has a resonance which educates to this day. Barely 4 kms from the main camp at Auschwitz I, an additional spur was added to the railway line, which delivered the Jews who now approached Auschwitz II, Birkenau, much closer to the detail of their own destruction.

We tread the same path but it is immeasurably different. At the end of our slender journey we will all make our exit and know We have traversed a Devastated land so steeped in the Blood of 1,100,000 Jewish People, it is almost a feeling of intruding upon a grief that, while it should always belong to the whole of Humanity, it is specifically a Jewish Graveyard. The Grey Ashen Path does little to remind us of what happened during the period of The Slaughter, until I arrive back at my Hotel.

I notice! My previously polished and glistening Brown Boots are covered in a Grey Film. It is reminiscent of the Ashe one would find alongside any Crematorium not able to control what exits its exhaust system. It is clearly a reminder of why I was there! To remember, and then to come away and remind the World and any of those who know my work, that life as it happened here was extracted from The Jewish People and the residue of that Destruction is a Grey ash that fertilised and covered the Countryside that sprawls before us!

“..I walk in Auschwitz ..in ..tracks of ..abandoned shoes ..of ..extracted teeth ..of ..cut off hair ..of ..misplaced baggage in order to find ..last moments of my family ..The Schneider Family.” Yossi Sarid.

This death factory nestles precariously beneath the totality of the assault on the Jews of Europe, with upward of 2,000,000 Jews, on Hoess’s earlier estimate, who could have been murdered here. We accept, however, that the likely figure is around 1,100,000 Jews of Europe, Men, Women and Their Children, Murdered here.

As I look back along the railline that brought those Jews from Auschwitz, I realise that the fading landscape which those Jews observed in their final moments, more than suggests there can be no way out for those who were forced to disembark alongside the ramp toward Destruction.

“..Standartenfuhrer Blobel ..authorized to ..obliterate all ..mass graves. His department ..’1005’. ..work ..carried out by ..Jews ..shot after each section of ..work ..completed. Auschwitz ..continuously called upon to provide Jews for ‘1005’.” Rudolf Hoess.

It is perhaps ironic, that as we were set to leave Birkenau somewhere in the far corner of The Camp, someone was Burning rubbish and once more the mind drifts back to an awful time! The Book by Seweryna Szmaglewska, Smoke Over Birkenau immediately springs to mind. But not just the title of a Book, but an experience that was presented to those of us who watched and reflected on many years ago, the billowing smoke was the product of a process which Cremated the jews who entered here, never to emerge until the Smoke brought a film of ash which is ever present in the Soil of Brezenzka and its surroundings.

ALWAYS to REMEMBER, NEVER to FORGET!

I have borrowed from History this image that adorned the gate at Auschwitz at least until I could provide an Image of my own. The fraud that the Nazis presented to the Jewish People, which adorned other Camps and not just Auschwitz, mocks as it sets the Jews, who passed by this sign , toward annihilation. It is a carefully constructed propaganda piece and stands as a Testimony to the vicious nature of those who operated the Camp system and those who penned the very detail of its inception, commissioning and Murderous function. It mocks the Jews en route toward Destruction knowing full well that all that will set the Jews free is Death.

“..If ..world could become convinced ..Auschwitz never existed ..it would be easier to build ..second Auschwitz .. and ..no assurance it would devour only Jews”. Primo Levi.

There are many notable dates relating to Auschwitz’s position within The Holocaust arena! Some events are as gruesome as any Horror ever imagined! Others appear mundane, the apparent ease with which a bureaucratic immersion of a State in the act of Genocide is engaged. In 1940 on May 20th. the Concentration Camp at Auschwitz was established.

This formative Concentration Camp, and a Sister Death Camp of unparalleled statistical achievement in murder, was created in upper Silesia, Poland, some 60 kms west of Cracow, alongside the Wista River. Established in 1940 as a Concentration Camp for the containment of Russian POWs, it became an extermination camp proper in early 1942 when Birkenau was completed. Eventually, it consisted of three other sections: Auschwitz I, was the main camp; Auschwitz II at Birkenau, the Extermination Camp; Auschwitz III was at Monowitz where the Siemens and Schuckert labour camps were established and Auschwitz IV, the I.G. Farben labour camp, also known as Buna Werks.

“..when hatred and defamation quietly germinate ..we have to be alert ..on guard. ..legacy of ..victims of Auschwitz. ….dead were strong ..in their destruction they displayed a strength…Can the living ..be any weaker?” Lucie Adelsberger.

Auschwitz proper had many other sub-camps! There were in excess of 20 work and containment camps. However, Auschwitz is indelibly linked with the overall Destruction of 6,000,000 Jews. Though the majority of the Jews who entered this camp – some 1,100,000 – were murdered at Birkenau, history recognises Auschwitz was at the forefront of a mechanised Slaughter ordered by Hitler, designed by Technicians and carried through by many, like Hoess, functionaries of a Murderous System.

“..I ..never knew the total number ..I have nothing to help me make an estimate. ..I ..remember ..figure in ..larger actions ..repeated to me by Eichmann or his deputies. ..I ..no longer remember ..figures for ..smaller actions ..insignificant in comparison with ..numbers given. I regard ..total of 2,500,000 ..far too high. ..Auschwitz had limits to its destructive possibilities, ..Upper Silesia ..Polish territory under German rule 250,000 Germany ..Theresienstadt 100,000 Holland 95,000 Belgium 20,000 France 110,000 Greece 65,000 Hungary 400,000 Slovakia 90,000 .” Rudolf Hoess.

These figures, which represent the Destruction of some 1,130,000 Jews within Auschwitz/Birkenau alone, are close to the accepted Account we adhere to today. The Catastrophe for the Jewish People cannot remain a Statistic and the Human cost is weighted in more than the phyisical cost to us all! The Gallows presents a limited account of the Justice that was made available to those whom Hoess himself had never known the full extent of the Slaughter he was in charge of. His account, an approximation, makes one shudder as we realise we are talking of in excess of 1,100,000 Jewish People Murdered.