Selected Quotes
from Auschwitz
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My life's principle, which I was taught very early
on, was to desire and to strive to achieve ethical values. Adolf
Eichmann, chief coordinator of the "final
solution of the jewish problem". I am not the monster that I am made out to be. I am
the victim of an error of judgment. Adolf Eichmann I never had the power and the responsibility of a
giver of orders. I never carried out killings, as Höss
did. Adolf
Eichmann What about the women and children? I made up my mind
to find a clear solution here too. I did not feel I had the right to
exterminate the men while allowing the children to grow up and take revenge
upon our sons and grandsons. Heinrich Himmler ...the reasons behind the extermination programme
seemed to me right. I did not reflect on it at the time... Rudolf Höss, Commandant at We discussed the ways and means of effecting the extermination.
This could only be done by gassing, since it would have been absolutely
impossible to dispose by shooting of the large number of people that were
expected; and it would have placed too heavy a burden on the SS men who had
to carry it out.. Rudolf Höss
The bodies could be buried in long, deep pits
in the nearby meadows. We didn't think about burning them at this time. We
calculated that in the space available in the farmhouse, approximately eight hundred
people could be killed using a suitable gas after the building was made
airtight. Rudolf Höss Experience had shown that the prussic acid called Cyklon B caused death with far greater speed and
certainty, especially if the rooms were kept dry and airtight with the people
packed closely together, and provided they were fitted with as large a number
of intake vents as possible. Rudolf Höss Protected by a gas-mask I watched the killings myself.
In the crowded cells death came instantaneously the moment the gas was thrown
in. A short, almost smothered cry, and it was all
over. Rudolf Höss The whole operation, including assistance given
during undressing, the filling of the bunker, the emptying of the bunker, the
removal of the corpses, as well as the preparation and filling up of the mass
graves, was carried out by a special detachment of Jews, who were separately
accommodated and who, in accordance with Eichmann's
orders, were themselves liquidated after every big action. Rudolf Höss Those who were to ill to be
brought to the gas-chambers were shot in the back of the neck by a small
calibre weapon. Rudolf Höss Once a women
with four children, all holding each other by the hand to help the smallest
ones over the rough ground, passed by me very slowly. She stepped very close
to me and whispered, pointing to her four children "How can you murder
these beautiful, darling children? Don't you have
any heart?" Rudolf Höss During bad weather or when a strong wind was
blowing, the stench of burning flesh was carried for many miles and causing
the whole neighborhood to talk about the burning of
Jews. Rudolf Höss
Crematoria II and III both had underground
undressing rooms and gas-chambers in which the air could be completely
changed. he bodies were taken to the ovens on the
floor above by means of a lift. These gas-chambers could hold about 3.000
people, but this number was never reached since the individual transports
were never as large as that. Rudolf Höss "You will now bathe and be disinfected,
we don't want any epidemics in the camp. Then you will be brought to your barracks
and get some hot soup..." Everything was extremely tidy. But the
specific smell made some of them uneasy. They looked in vain for showers....
The hall meanwhile was getting packed.... Suddenly the door was closed...
Those inside heard heavy bolts being secured.... A deadly paralyzing terror
spread among the victims... The Cyclon B acted
swiftly... Some two minutes later the screams became less and less loud...
Two minutes more and Grabner stopped looking at his
watch There was complete silence... The guards were called off, and the
cleaning squad started to sort out the clothes, so tidily put down in the
yard of the crematorium... SS Unterscharführer
Pery Broad The women went in first with their children,
followed by the men who were always fewer in number. This part of the
operation nearly always went smoothly, for the prisoners of the special
detachment would calm those who betrayed any anxiety or who perhaps had some
inkling of their fate. As an additional precaution these prisoners of the
special detachment and an SS man always remained in the chamber until the
last moment. Rudolf Höss It could be observed through the peep-hole in the door
that those who were standing nearest to the induction vents were killed at
once. It can be said that about one-third died straight away. The remainder
staggered about and began to scream and struggle for air. The screaming,
however, soon changed to the death rattle and in a few minutes all lay still.
After twenty minutes at the latest no movements could be discerned. Rudolf Höss The special detachment now set about removing the
gold teeth and cutting the hair from the women. After this, the bodies were
taken up by lift and laid in front of the ovens, which had meanwhile been
stoked up. Rudolf Höss As strange as that was, so was the general behavior of the Sonderkommando.
All of them knew with certainty that when it was over, they themselves would
suffer the same fate as thousands of their race had before them, in whose
destruction they were very helpful. In spite of this they still did their job
with an eagerness and in a caring, helpful way
during the undressing, yet they would also use force with those who resisted
undressing. Rudolf Höss While dragging the bodies, they ate or smoked. Even
the gruesome job of burning the bodies dug up after being in mass graves for
a long time did not prevent them from eating. It often happened that Jews
from the Sonderkommando discovered close relatives
among the bodies and even among those who went into the gas chambers.
Although they were visibly affected there never was any kind of incident. Rudolf Höss Höss
selected ten prisoners from Block 2 and sent them to Block 11 in retaliation
foe a prisoners escape. They were given no food. All died of starvation between
April 27 and May 26. This punishment had been used many times in the camp
before. Children who were born in the women's camp after
June 1943 were killed by phenol injections into the heart. Prior to this date
newborn were drowned in a bucket of water. Eichmann
expected to receive from Rudolf Höss The next country on the list was Rudolf Höss In the meantime Rudolf Höss The course taken by the war changed all those
plans... Rudolf Höss Himmler
was dissatisfied with the extermination methods in Rudolf Höss SS Unterscharführer
Pery Broad I have already said that the top echelons, to which I
did not belong, gave the orders, and they rightly, in my opinion, deserved
punishment for the atrocities which were perpetrated on the victims on their
orders. But the subordinates are now also victims. I am one of such victims. Adolf Eichmann It is tragic that, although I was by nature gentle,
good-natured, and very helpful, I became the greatest destroyer of human
beings who carried out every order to exterminate people no matter what. Rudolf Höss How I envy my comrades who were allowed to die an
honest soldier's death. Without realizing it, I became a cog in the wheel of
the huge extermination machine of the Third Reich. The machine is smashed,
the motor has perished, and I must perish with it. The world demands
it. Rudolf Höss
My path through life is now coming to a close. Fate
has worked out a truly sad ending for me. How fortunate were the comrades who
were allowed to die an honest soldier's death. Calmly and composed I look toward
the end. From the beginning I was completely clear about the fact that I
would perish with the world to which I had pledged myself with all my body
and soul when that world was shattered and destroyed. Rudolf Höss At the end it is difficult to have to admit to
myself that I have chosen a very wrong path and, because of it, I have
brought about my own destruction. Rudolf Höss And so there is only a pile of rubble left from our
world from which the survivors have to build a new and better world with
great difficulty. My
time has come. Rudolf Höss Sätila April 2001, |