(27 January, 1945: the liberation of the Nazi’s most infamous extermination camp)
Blood libels against the Jews are nearly as old as the hills. They were stirred during the First Crusade (1096), but reached the nadir (at least, one hopes) during the Second World War, in the form of Hitler’s “Final Solution.”
“At camps maintaining labour installations, like Auschwitz, 10 per cent of the arrivals – those who looked fittest – were selected for work. The remainder were consigned to the gas chambers. They were instructed to undress; the women and girls had their hair cut. They were then marched between files of auxiliary police (Ukrainians usually) who hurried them along with whips, sticks or guns to the gas chambers…these were identified as shower rooms. The Jews were rammed in, one person per square foot. The gassing lasted from ten to thirty minutes, depending on the facilities and techniques used…’finally, all were dead…like pillars of basalt, still erect, not having any space to fall.’ To make room for the next load, the bodies were right away tossed out, ‘blue, wet with sweat and urine, the legs covered with faeces and menstrual blood.’ Later the bodies were burned, either in the open air or in crematoria. Himmler complained about the slowness of proceedings. But no quicker or more secret method could be found. A worker at Auschwitz said that ‘the stench given off by the pyres contaminated the surrounding countryside. At night the red sky over Auschwitz could be seen for miles.””
“The statistics of the death camps are only approximate. At Auschwitz, the largest mass-killing installation, many transports of deportees went directly from the detraining ramps to the gas chambers and were never statistically registered. On 16 March 1946 Höss made the following statement to two officers of the War Crimes Investigation Unit of the British Army of the Rhine: ‘I personally arranged on orders received from Himmler in May 1941 the gassing of two million persons between June-July 1941 and the end of 1943, during which time I was commandant of Auschwitz.’ ” *
Himmler gave a speech to SS-Gruppen-führer officers on 4 October 1943, in which he said: “Among ourselves, this once, it shall be uttered quite frankly; but in public we will never speak of it…I am referring to the evacuation of the Jews, the annihilation of the Jews…In our history, this is an unwritten and never-to-be written page of glory...”
[* Lucy Davidowicz, The War against the Jews 1933-45 (1975)]While your email address is required to post a comment, it will NOT be published.
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