# The good life of the Auschwitz guards



## Allegra (Oct 1, 2007)

It's chilling to think after a day sending fellow human beings to gas chambers those guards enjoyed their life just like anyone else: playing with dogs, socialising, decorating Xmas trees, and from what I read elsewhere they often organised sublime concerts performed by Jew musician prisoners. Isn't human nature the most undefinable thing?

BBC NEWS | In Pictures | In pictures: Nazis unwind at Auschwitz

BBC NEWS | Americas | The good life of the Auschwitz guards



> It seems like a carefree life - but the pictures were taken at the Auschwitz death camp at the height of the Holocaust.
> 
> The happy men and women are Nazi officials enjoying time off from the business of genocide, their images collected by Karl Hoecker, an adjutant to the camp commander.
> 
> ...


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## Curt Chiarelli (Oct 1, 2007)

I believe the phenomena is called cognitive dissonance a staple of all corporatized life. And it chills me to the bone to contemplate how these people are no different from the ones who surround us in our common day-to-day activities. All they need for their dark side to assert itself is the right set of circumstances.


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## mosaix (Oct 1, 2007)

"What it says to me is that anybody is capable of committing genocide under the right circumstances........"

I've always thought this to be true. 

"He also sees an echo in the scandal at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, where American men and women "raised as good citizens" were guilty of abusing Iraqi prisoners in their charge."

Why does no one ever consider how a simple soldier, sailor or airman can  knowingly kill civilians, as in the case of a stealth bomber pilot dropping bombs on Baghdad? Is this worse than abuse of a prisoner or not?


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## Rawled Demha (Oct 2, 2007)

because the fact that you can kill somebody whose face you can see is terrible. from bombers, which are quite high up in the air (if im correct), it doesnt matter too much, so long as the numbers (or maybe proportions?) arent too high. the dead are nameless, faceless people, with which the pilots have nothing to do.

to abuse a prisoner is to look him in the eye, and then pull his toenails out, it takes a certain, rather frightening personality to be able to do this - but then, i agree that the circumstances can force the personality into shape required. 

we each and every one of us have the capability for extremes of both kindness and viciousness, all that is required is that they be "brought" out of us.


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## mosaix (Oct 3, 2007)

Rawled Demha said:


> because the fact that you can kill somebody whose face you can see is terrible. from bombers, which are quite high up in the air (if im correct), it doesnt matter too much, so long as the numbers (or maybe proportions?) arent too high. the dead are nameless, faceless people, with which the pilots have nothing to do.



That's the problem Rawled, until we accept that killing _per se_ is terrible, whether we can see them or not, then there will be no change.

Modern warfare makes the killer even more remote from his victim and less likely to truly consider what he is really doing. 

We have war-time press conferences showing aerial  views of lazer guided bombs landing on buildings and all the commanders comment on is the accuracy of the weapons. Not a thought that _at the very moment of the explosion_ dozens of people are being blown to bits or maimed. And what do the press do? Report on the accuracy of the weapons.

Because the media aren't taking their jobs seriously any more and are just getting hypnotized by the armed forces and their technology we are getting inured to it all. 

And just to keep up the silly impression that we are the goods guys, we periodically drag some poor sod before the courts for abusing a prisoner. Bad though the abuse may be, no one seems to give a second thought that some bomber pilot, regarded as a 'hero', may have killed the prisoner's mother, father, sister, brother, wife and blown the arms and legs of his children. But we can't see them - so that's OK then.


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## dustinzgirl (Oct 3, 2007)

It is not very hard to think that they could live their lives amidst so much utter evil. This ability exists in all people. No, really. Consider that once you accept that a particular life is a means to an end, it becomes easier to oppress or destroy that life. Factories in China do it all the time. Chemical manufacturers in America do it all the time. Religious fanatics do it all the time. This isn't different, just bigger. It happened throughout history, and even is happening today. It helps separate the atrocity from the self to accept that the atrocity is necessary to create a profit (in any form), and thus the atrocity does not affect the self.


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## cape_royds (Oct 3, 2007)

The extra amenities were provided for the German SS guards were a result of Heinrich Himmler's earnest concern over the psychological strain of genocide on his SS men.  

Such solicitude was also one of the reasons why he ordered a stop to the early tactic of mass shootings of Jews, in favour of a more "industrial" approach to massacre.

As for ordinary folks inflicting cruelty, bear in mind not only the experience of history, but also the Milgram and Stanford prison experiments.


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## Curt Chiarelli (Oct 3, 2007)

cape_royds said:


> The extra amenities were provided for the German SS guards were a result of Heinrich Himmler's earnest concern over the psychological strain of genocide on his SS men.
> 
> Such solicitude was also one of the reasons why he ordered a stop to the early tactic of mass shootings of Jews, in favour of a more "industrial" approach to massacre.
> 
> As for ordinary folks inflicting cruelty, bear in mind not only the experience of history, but also the Milgram and Stanford prison experiments.



That's precisely correct. And as a direct result of their activities, the Waffen SS had the highest rate of suicide and alcoholism compared to other divisions of the German military. But it should also be duly noted that these issues didn't stop or even slow down the wholesale butchery they were responsible for.


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