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Archive/File: camps/auschwitz auschwitz.012
Last-Modified: 1994/01/11

From: dzk@cs.brown.edu (Danny Keren)
Newsgroups: alt.revisionism
Subject: Those Who Kept Their Humanity
Date: 3 Jan 1994 09:27:58 GMT
Message-ID: <2g8oeu$ogr@cat.cis.Brown.EDU>

This is a short tribute to some of the SS men who, in the midst of hell,
tried to help. Often, they risked their own life in doing so. 

The material is summarized from "Auschwitz: A Report on the Proceedings 
Against Robert Karl Ludwig Mulka and Others Before the Court at Frankfurt", 
By Bernd Naumann, 1966, published by Frederick A. Praeger, NY.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Dr. Lucas does not deny the accusations against him. Yes, he was forced 
to select on the Auschwitz ramp (where the newcomers were sorted out - fit 
for work into the camp, to be tattooed and enslaved, and the much larger 
group of the "unfit" sent directly to be gassed). But he couldn't take 
it, and eventually succeeded in having himself assigned to other duties. 
He says that while selecting, he tried to classify as many people he 
could as fit, and save them from being gassed immediately. Some 
survivors testified that Dr. Lucas tried to help the inmates in other 
ways. Because his behavior was considered intolerable by his superiors, 
Lucas was transferred to the Mauthausen concentration camp, where 
commandant Ziereis (whom Lucas describes as "the most brutal man I have 
ever seen") welcomed him with "we make short shrift with your kind".


SS Judge Dr. Konrad Morgen, says how shocked he was when he visited
Birkenau and learned of the mass gassings. He tells of how diabolically
the murder installations were set up, in an attempt to fool the victims,
so they will not suspect they are going to their death. Morgen, like
some other SS officers, claims he actually tried to stop the mass
murder. 

Another SS man, Wiebeck, tells of how he and Dr. Morgen were sent to
Auschwitz to investigate an allegation that commandant Hoss was having
an affair with a female prisoner. SS officer Baer told them "into the
chimney with her", but Morgen succeeded in getting the woman out of
Auschwitz.


SS medical officer Dr. Munch was sent to serve at Auschwitz in 
mid-1943. He tells about how a few days after his arrival, Dr. Wirths - 
the chief medical officer - ordered him to report to the ramp and choose 
victims for the gas chambers. This deeply disturbed Munch, and 
eventually he succeeded in avoiding ramp duty; he asked a friend, the
head of the Hygienic Institute in Berlin, to intervene on his behalf.
The latter sent a teletype to the commandant of Auschwitz, and 
consequently Munch was not assigned either to the selections or to the
gassings. Arrested by the Polish authorities after the war, Munch was
acquitted because survivors testified on his behalf.


Polish survivor Zdzislaw Mikolajski tells how shocked SS man Simon was
after being to Birkenau (where most of the mass murder took place). He
said "I've been to Birkenau. What I saw there is beyond imagination.
Those aren't SS men; they're criminals, murderers". Simon said that even 
if he is punished he will not go to Birkenau again.


Another Polish survivor, Tadeusz Szewczyk, tells of an SS man who had a
nervous breakdown after being ordered to work on the ramp and select
victims for the gas chambers. "He threw his cap and pistol into a 
corner and yelled: 'Let them do whatever they want with me, I will not
work on the ramp'".


A German prisoner, doctor Ella Lingens, praises SS officer Flacke who
tried to help the prisoners with extra food and didn't abuse them.


The witness Brieden testifies about SS men who treated the prisoners
decently. He recalls that a group of SS men came to Auschwitz from the
front, and they did not torture and mistreat the prisoners. When they
were reprimanded for this by the work-detail leader of the camp, they
reached for their pistols and chased him away, saying he should prove
his courage at the front. The next night shots were heard and it was
rumored that these SS men attacked the commandant's villa. After that,
they were no longer seen at the camp.


Karl Husmann, who once worked in the RSHA ("Reich Main Security 
Office"), mentions SS Obersturmbannfuehrer Noske, who refused to shoot
Jews and half-Jews in Dusseldorf. Noske was stripped of his rank and
sent to the front. Noske himself confirms the story. He was actually
to be tried in an SS court for his refusal to murder the people, but
a friend succeeded is squashing the proceedings, and Noske was sent
to the front as an artillery observer.



-Danny Keren.





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