"TOUR OF THE BOOK"
Auschwitz... You might have gotten there too

Heinrich raised his right fist up to his eyes and opened it slowly. Letters on the upper palm, tattooed on the skin between fingers, came into view: M, E, H, T. “Like the Four Evangelists,” he reflected. Meine Ehre heißt Treue. The Evangelists of the new Scripture. A new order requires a new Faith. “My Honor is Loyalty.” He clenched his fist and the letters disappeared.... “That’s the way it should be unless we grow in power,” A.H. keeps repeating. “Then they will not overcome us. We cannot repeat the mistake of our predecessors.” Heinrich had an original belt from a Nazi SS uniform which he cherished liked a sacred relic. After putting on the belt and standing in front of a mirror, he tried to imagine how its original owner must have felt the first time he saw himself dressed in the full uniform. The belt had a swastika and an inscription which read: “My Honor is Loyalty.” Heinrich was convinced that the man had made the right decision not to vow loyalty to a weak God who had allowed himself to be crucified by Jews.

Just then A.H. added, “We must all be like Walter Hess.” At the mention of Hess’s name, everyone listened intently to what A.H. was about to say. “Walter Hess,” A.H. reminded the group, “did not hesitate to cut off a festering ulcer. For the love of his fatherland, his race and Fuehrer, he turned in his own father. He became a model to follow for millions of German boys in the Hitlerjugend. This may concern your neighbor, teacher, or even your family member,” A.H. continued. “You mustn’t hesitate to report enemies of the fatherland.”

A.H. abruptly changed the topic and spoke slowly without gesticulating, “Ahmadinejad denies that the Jews were ever killed in Auschwitz. That moron claims ‘it was physically impossible.’ And David Irving, the British bullshit historian, fools around making statements like ‘There weren’t even any gas chambers in Auschwitz.’ Look, Heinrich, they are no better than Jews who are preaching about the Holocaust all the time while making money on it. Ahmadinejad and Irving are even worse because they question the Reich’s intentions; they claim the Holocaust never happened. To say there was no Holocaust is like telling loyal Germans that they failed the fatherland and Germanic destiny.”

A.H. also said, “Purity, the world’s future depends on it. Hitler understood this years ago. Millions of loyal Germans believed in his vision. Any sober person knows that a disease is contagious. The sick must be separated from the healthy. Hitler undertook this great plan. Cretins, dwarves, Jews, and degenerates should be eliminated to correct nature’s mistakes…. You have no say about where and under what star you were born. You can be born into a colony of lepers, or into a Jewish family; but if you were lucky enough to be born with the right blood, you are obliged to make a choice. Do you want to be sewage or a man? A rat or a wolf? There is no other way, nothing will ever exempt you from having to make that choice.”

Auschwitz was bursting at the seams, the ovens were overloaded, and the chimneys were crumbling. The factory named Auschwitz had to be expanded. The German nation kept expanding its living space by conquering new countries, then sending these countries’ citizens to Auschwitz so that they could expand the space of the camp and thus increase the productivity of the death factory. Auschwitz was run with precision the world had never seen before.... Starvation rations day in and day out: watery turnip soup, artificial coffee, and a lump of black, clay-like bread. According to the camp’s statistics, the life expectancy of the prisoners was ninety days. Those prisoners who were not sent to the ovens immediately were either killed or died within three months, while cattle cars continued to provide more Arian and non-Arian Italians, Greeks, Poles, Hungarians, Czechs, Slovaks, French, and even Germans, to replace their exterminated predecessors.

Individuals and whole families kept coming from France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Poland, Greece, Italy, Slovakia, Czechoslovakia, Hungary. Jews from Western Europe were more welcomed than others. Yes, France, Belgium, Holland, Greece, Italy, they all sent fresh victims. Well-nourished and fleshy, they burnt well. To have the furnaces working at peak efficiency, Sonderkommando members grouped the bodies in certain ways: alternating prisoners who were tall and short and prisoners who were fat and slim. Jews from Central Europe required more effort.

As new arrivals spilled out from over-loaded trains, they were separated into two rapidly moving human streams. Piles of suitcases, packages and bundles tossed along the track were almost as high as the cars. In front of the ramps, Doctor Mengele assisted by medical NCOs was performing the miracle of multiplication – the stream of men would be divided into two, and the stream of women would likewise separate into two rivulets. Those fit for work walked to the Sauna, while others unknowingly took their last steps to one of the four crematoriums.

We were now proceeding step by step, and yet almost without interruption, someone in front of us was deftly directing us the way sheep herders would herd their sheep. Finally I saw: several chic green uniforms, officers’ insignias, shining jackboots, shaven faces, and caps with the Death’s Head symbols. Their hands were moving as if beating out a sinister rhythm, the two human lines were slowing down. We followed our captors’ orders obediently. They made us exit to the left and to the right like well orchestrated zombies.

Daniel was limping, favoring his shorter leg and we somewhat lagged behind the group. An SS officer walking nearby gave us a sharp look; having realized what was wrong, he stopped looking at us suspiciously. With the clear May sky above us – even though it was partially clouded by the smoke from the brickyard – we passed a long fence covered by blankets when a sudden gust of wind made a gap in the cover. It was just for a second but I saw enough. Daniel hadn’t noticed anything, he was spared the view of naked bodies sticking out from a massive hole. The SS officer leapt over to me in two strides. He gave me a piercing glare, but neither one of us said a word. I put my arm around Daniel and we moved on.

A soldier with a camera approached us. Wandering among the waiting crowd now divided into smaller groups, he conversed politely and took pictures. Rabbis, children, old men, cripples, Jewish matrons wearing wigs and smart ladies dressed in Parisian fashions – he seemed to have an equal interest in them all. He appeared determined to immortalize that day’s routine in photos. A young woman asked if he could get her a cup of hot milk. In her small basket, she carried a baby’s bottle while her husband held their baby in his arms. They had taken an alarm clock from home to remind them when to bottle-feed the baby. The alarm kept ringing as set, but they had run out of milk a long time ago. The German officer shook his head, took a snapshot and moved on.

I walked into the changing room with Daniel. When the last Jew from the train entered the Sauna, the heavy door closed behind us. I wish I could write about it all someday. It’s not possible, I know. My story, Daniel’s story, is just one of so many, I can only hope that someday the full truth will be known.