Discuss roles of different kind of texts and representations in informing, teaching and/or describing prisoners’ experiences in Auschwitz.
There are countless different kinds of texts and representations[1] which are able to inform, teach or describe prisoners’ experiences in Auschwitz. Texts such as newspaper articles, government documents, court transcripts and representations such as television programs, graphic novels and drawings are all invaluable. However, due to limitations of knowledge, time and paper length on my behalf, I will focus on just three texts and two representations of the Holocaust out of the seemingly endless possibilities. The texts represent three different contexts, authors, and styles of writing. The first text I will discuss will be excerpts from Auschwitz commandant, Rudolf Höss’ autobiography/testimony, titled in English Death Dealer. The second will be Tadeusz Borowski’s work of literature about his experiences as a Polish prisoner in Auschwitz, This Way To The Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen. The last piece of text I will discuss will be Halina Birunbaum’s memoir Hope Is The Last To Die, chronicling her experiences in the Warsaw Ghetto and Auschwitz as a young girl. All these works have been translated from their original languages to English. The two representations I have chosen are the Auschwitz’s Album found by Lily Jacobs containing photographs of Hungarian Jews arriving and being “processed” at Birkenau and the film footage shot by Soviet soldiers upon their liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau in early 1945.
For these selected texts and representations, I hope to answer several questions which will aid a better understanding of the works. The questions are: Who created this? Why was this work made? What context was this work made? and finally and most importantly, what is its role is in the informing, teaching and/or describing the prisoner’s experiences in Auschwitz-Birkenau? From this examination of the author/creator of the works and the “agenda” and soci-political contexts surrounding the works’ existence, it becomes easier to see what the works’ role is in Holocaust education and describing the prisoners’ experiences in Auschwitz[2].
In command of Auschwitz-Birkenau from May 1944 until January 1945, Rudolph Höss was put on trial in 1947 for his actions. Höss wrote his autobiography in the short period between his sentencing and death. Published in 1956 as Kommandant in Auschwitz; autobiographische Aufzeichnungen, and later as Death Dealer: The Memoirs of the SS Kommandant at Auschwitz it is the attempt by Höss to portray himself in a positive light, separating himself from the dynamic of perpetrator and victim and placing himself in the realm of a third party, neither a victim nor perpetrator. Höss distanced himself by repeatedly asserting that he was only following orders and that “orders are not to be questioned”[3]. Höss’ status of power and leadership in Auschwitz leads to his autobiography to be taken as fact and as an authoritarian voice in Holocaust writings.
Höss wrote his account of Auschwitz with “bureaucratic obtuseness”[4], void of any emotion except for when he pleads to the reader to remember that he is only human. He does this by mentioning his wife, children and their life at Auschwitz. Claiming his family “had it good in Auschwitz” and even that “no former prisoner can say that he was treated poorly in any way in our house”[5], Höss ensures his readers know that he was not a “monster” but instead just man, doing a job. However, from this it raises important questions. What does it mean to be human? Where/when does one stop being a human? These questions are not universally answered and are up to personal interpretation. Consciously, survivors choose what they wish to call the S.S, some like Birenbaum chose “beasts” while others like Zofia Nałkowska chose to call them human. Many factors influence the philosophical decision to strip Höss of his humanity, one but of the factors is the survivors’ and prisoners’ experience of interactions with the guards and officer of Auschwitz.
Written very bluntly, Höss described his opinions and attitudes of the prisoners and the prisoners’ daily activities. His opinions, namely of the Jewish prisoners’ “shows us how heavily Goebbels’ propaganda weighed on Germany”[6]. Höss categorized all the prisoners into groups, no prisoner was singled out or named, but he placed the Jews at the bottom of his prisoner hierarchy. He, and the S.S. protected the lives of guard dogs to a much higher degree than any prisoner, with a dog’s mistreatment being punishable by the S.S. Court[7]. However when Höss witnessed the gassing of Russian prisoners in Block 11 of Auschwitz, he reflected that he was “impressed by the whole procedure”[8]. From these few sections of Death Dealer, it is possible to infer that to the S.S. and the “popular” opinion in Germany was that the prisoners’ were interchangeable and akin to the “vermin” Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda minster, portrayed them to be. Höss held these beliefs even after Germany’s defeat and his subsequent trial and execution (at Auschwitz) in April 1947.
Another work written shortly after the second world war, is Tadeusz Borowski’s This Way to the Gas Ladies in Gentlemen, (Pożegnanie z Marią in Polish). Published in 1959, eight years after his death, Borowski’s work of short stories follows a character named Tadek through Auschwitz and Birkenau. Borowski and Tadek were Polish political prisoners. This allowed Borowski privileges not (usually) offered to the Jewish prisoners.
The ability and privilege to be assigned work details such as Kanadakammando, the group who sorted the incoming prisoners’ belongings, in addition to the food packages from family outside Auschwitz, gave Tadek an opportunity to “organize” supplies and items for himself and others. Items such as shoes and food were an invaluable commodity in Birkenau as “whoever has grub, has power”[9]. From his position of “power” as a Kanadakommando, Tadek is able to describe the situation of transports arriving to Birkenau’s ramp.
A particular passage Borowski wrote about the ramp “tests” the reader. In the story, Borowski wrote of a woman who had just arrived to Birkenau who was running away from her child in an effort to live. The reader is to agree with Andrei who is shouting “pick up your child, woman” [10]. The reader judges the woman and it is revealed that the S.S. guard supports Andrei’s actions. From this, the reader is put in the uncomfortable position of thinking and viewing the situation through the eyes of the perpetrators.
Borowski also includes stories about what no one has seen, notably the events surrounding the shooting of Josef Schillinger. This story appears in numerous texts written about Auschwitz, despite not being important to the overall function of Auschwitz. Each text however, has different details – different locations, times of day, reasons, descriptions of the woman. The “truth” is different for each story, but is true for that particular account. If all information and accounts of the woman shooting Schillinger were to be taken as fact, the accounts would invalidate each other. Literature has the ability to write about what the author had heard happened, or what could have happened.
Memoir however, must stay within the realm of what the author had experienced and knew for certian. Halina Birenbaum, while writing her memoir Hope Is The Last To Die (Nadzieja umiera ostatnia), tried to write within the same understanding and knowledge she had as a young girl in the Warsaw Ghetto and Auschwitz (among other concentration camps). Different from Höss and Borowski, Birenbaum wrote her memoir much after the war. First published in 1967, Birenbaum was inspired to write her memoir in response to the 1961 Eichmann trial. Birenbaum citied that the trial allowed her story to no longer be hidden and unknown[11]. A motivation of Birenbaum’s was by writing her story down, it would allow her story to be shared with “her children, [their] friends, and [her] friends”[12].
By making the decision to write her memoir with the same information she had available during the events she is able to portray the “innocent” child victim. This “innocence” gives Birenbaum the ability to evade the reader’s judgement by having a lack of understanding and children are not expected to question rules or “norms”. Through this Birenbaum describes and talks frankly about her life and growing up in a concentration camp. As she only knows her own views, the events, emotions and situations she describes are unique to her. The reader can read and learn from what Birenbaum tells them, but ultimately, her experience can not be assumed for every prisoner in Auschwitz.
Such experiences are Birenbaum’s various relationships and friends during her time at Auschwitz. Birenbaum is rarely alone, even during her long stay in the camp hospital after an S.S. guard shot her. Here she and Abram, a fellow prisoner, fall in love, according to Birenbaum[13]. As she only knew herself and her experiences, she perhaps does not realize that loneliness was leading to the deaths of other prisoners. As her memoir is titled, Hope Is The Last To Die, the information she gained through her life and the ability to reflect on the past, possibly led to her realization of her “luck”.
Any survivor of Auschwitz had “luck” as there was no way to ensure one’s own survival, however, chance, none-the-less, played a major role in Lily Jacob’s finding of the Auschwitz Album. This 56-page photo album held 193 photographs taken by SS photographers. The photos show transports of Hungarian Jews being “processed” at Birkenau in May 1944. While unclear why the photographs were taken, as they are not propaganda or for a personal collection, they are extremely important as they are the only photographs known to exist of the extermination process inside Auschwitz-Birkenau (with the exception of the four photographs taken by the Sonderkommando).
The Auschwitz Album’s photographs give, at the very least, a face to the countless number of individuals who were not able to record their story. A majority who arrived at Auschwitz-Birkenau, never entered the camp, instead went directly to their deaths. The photographs show the Hungarian Jews disembarking from the train, the selections of workers, and people waiting for the gas chamber in a field. These photographs show the highly efficient manner and huge scale in which Auschwitz-Birkenau operated as these photographs were all taken within a few days.
These photographs, and any photograph pertaining to the Holocaust, are important to the creation of postmemory. Marianne Hirsch’s term postmemory is the “sense of living connection” of children of Holocaust survivors to the Holocaust[14]. Photographs allow for the “transmission of events that remain unimaginable” and the events that the survivors are unable to articulate into words or representations[15]. A deep, indexical, connection happens through photographs, especially to family members affected by traumatic events such as the Holocaust. The Auschwitz Album’s photographs were given away to surviving family who recognized those in the photographs prior to its donation to Yad Vashem (the Holocaust museum in Israel). These photographs “authenticate the past’s existence” and create a sense of “having-been-there”[16].
Similar to photographs in its ability to show the past, is film. Soviet forces who liberated Auschwitz on January 27 1945 were tasked to “as faithfully and vividly as possible record the combat of [the] Soviet Army”[17] Alexander Vorontsov filmed what he saw with little regard for artistic composition or flair. The footage was used as evidence in the war trials against S.S. affiliated personnel. Despite being used as evidence; film footage can not be assumed to be unbiased. The Soviet footage is undoubtedly pro-USSR, and anti-Germany.
While the footage is “truthful” as it shows conditions at Aushwtiz-Birkenau after the S.S. evacuation of January 16 and 17. The Soviet cameramen recorded whatever they felt was important: frozen bodies strewn ground, the emaciated and diseased survivors during a medical examination, the vast amount of prisoners’ belongings hoarded by the S.S. and living conditions within the barracks. Although the scenes within the barracks is a recreation filmed after the snow had melted, the overcrowded and cold conditions of the January weather can be viewed.
The evidence of bias is shown through what the Soviets decided to film. The Soviets held, and filmed, a ceremonial funeral on February 28 1945. The service laid to rest the 470 former prisoners who had been shot during, or died after the liberation. Among those who attended the service were Soviet soldiers and Catholic clergy[18]. The main religion in Auschwitz-Birkenau was Jewish, while the main religion of Poland (which after its liberation from Germany, was controlled by Russia) was Catholic. The filming of the service, was self-serving and was used to create a positive image of the Soviets to the Polish, in my opinion. As well, the Soviet cameramen wanted to film the liberation the way they felt it “should have” happened. Once the former prisoners had regained enough strength, the Soviets refilmed a joyous and energetic welcome of the Soviet army by the Auschtwitz-Birkenau prisoners. Even though this footage was never used, it can be inferred that Soviet army was trying to spin their actions at the liberation of Auschwitz into propaganda for themselves.
Overall, the purpose of these works were never to give a complete over view of the Holocaust and to describe the entirety of the prisoners’ experiences within Auschwitz-Birkenau. Each survivor (or creator of other works) has an extraordinary story, as the “typical” story of the Holocaust was execution. All works created, not limited to the works I examined, about the Holocaust were created for a purpose. From each of these works, the stories told are only applicable to that specific individual. As explored previously in the brief explanation of the death of Schillinger, all facts can only be considered facts within the context of the work. This idea is true for any descriptions given to the reader by the creators of the texts and representations examined previously. From reading numerous works, eventually a “general” picture of the experiences of prisoners at Auschwitz-Birkenau emerges. However, for each work, an idea emerges of how to inform and teach the Holocaust to the readers. From Höss’ blunt and emotionless descriptions of the prisoners the extent of anti-Semitism in Nazi-Germany can be seen by the reader. Borowski’s story of the woman trying to abandon her child tells the reader not to judge the actions of the prisoners in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Birenbaum writes about the “innocent child” that grows up in Auschwitz and questions the readers’ need for victims to be innocent. The photographs of the Auschwitz Album showing the only surviving evidence of the extermination process in Birkenau evokes the power of photographs, especially to the children of survivors. Finally, the Soviet army’s film footage of the liberation of Auschwitz teaches the viewer that even the most “irrefutable” evidence can display both the truth of reality, but can also be deeply sought in political motives. The survivors and creators made works which reflected what they felt was most important to them and what they knew from their immediate surroundings. The texts and representations of the Holocaust can inform and teach the reader through their descriptions and accounts of events which occurred at Auschwitz-Birkenau. The information and teachings are not always clear, but instead they are “between the lines”, hidden within the descriptions and experiences the survivor or creator chooses.
Bibliography:
Birenbaum, Halina. Hope Is The Last To Die. Translated by David Welsh. Oświęcim: Publishing House of the State Museum in Oświęcim, 2014.
Borowski, Tadeusz. This Way For The Gas Ladies And Gentlemen. Translated by Barbara Vedder. New York: Penguin, 1959.
Hirsch, Marianne. 2008. “The Generation of Postmemory.” Poetics Today 29 (1): 103-128.
Höss, Rudolph. Death Dealer: The Memoirs of the SS Kommandant at Auschwitz. Translated by Andrew Pollinger. Boston: Da Capo Press, 1996.
Levi, Primo. Introduction to Death Dealer: The Memoirs of the SS Kommandant at Auschwitz. By Rudolph Höss, Translated by Andrew Pollinger, 3-9. Boston: Da Capo Press, 1996.
“The Liberation of Auschwitz (includes 1945 original Red Army footage).” YouTube video, 52:16. Posted by “chronoshistory,” January 23, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0V0RMf2qU18.
Works consulted:
“The Auschwitz Album.” YouTube video, 46:59. Posted by “The Berdichev Revival,” April 14, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2pT1dbGs2A.
[1] Collectively, I will refer to these as “works”.
[2] Albeit, usually I will only explore one main idea or theme the reader can gain from each work due to paper length restrictions. I choose to examine multiple works over a variety of styles, time periods, authors and mediums instead of focusing heavily on one in order to see the scope of works created about the Holocaust.
[3] Primo Levi, introduction to Death Dealer: The Memoirs of the SS Kommandant at Auschwitz, by Rudolph Höss, trans.Andrew Pollinger (Boston: Da Capo Press, 1996), 7.
[4] Levi, introduction to Death Dealer, 3.
[5] Rudolph Höss, Death Dealer: The Memoirs of the SS Kommandant at Auschwitz, trans. Andrew Pollinger (Boston: Da Capo Press, 1996), 164.
[6] Levi, introduction to Death Dealer, 7.
[7] Höss, Death Dealer, 151.
[8] Ibid., 156.
[9] Tadeusz Borowski, This Way For The Gas Ladies And Gentlemen, trans. Barbara Vedder (New York: Penguin, 1959), 31.
[10] Borowski, This Way, 43.
[11] Halina Birenbaum, Hope Is The Last To Die, trans. David Welsh (Oświęcim: Publishing House of the State Museum in Oświęcim, 2014), 5.
[12] Birenbaum, Hope, 5.
[13] Birenbaum, Hope, 211.
[14] Marianne Hirsch, “The Generation of Postmemory,” Poetics Today 29, no. 1 (2008): 104.
[15] Hirsch, “Postmemory”, 107.
[16] Ibid., 116.
[17] “The Liberation of Auschwitz (includes 1945 original Red Army footage),” YouTube video, 2:02-:05, posted by “chronoshistory,” January 23, 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0V0RMf2qU18.
[18] “The Liberation of Auschwitz,” 47:00.