Photos of Nazi leadership at Auschwitz

[ikojo]

Many of the photos on the website were taken months before the liberation of Auschwitz. See Nazis having fun while Jews were being murdered.

http://www.ushmm.org/research/collections/highlights/auschwitz/auschwitz_album/

In January 2007, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives received a donation of a photograph album. The inscription "Auschwitz 21.6.1944" on its first page signaled the uniqueness of the album—there are very few wartime photographs of the Auschwitz concentration camp complex, which included Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi killing center. Though his name does not appear anywhere in the album, the dates of the photographs and various decorations including adjutant cords on the uniform of the album's owner, indicate that the album almost certainly belonged to and was created by SS-Obersturmführer Karl Höcker, the adjutant to the commandant of Auschwitz, SS-Sturmbannführer Richard Baer. Höcker was stationed at Auschwitz from May 1944 until the evacuation of the camp in January 1945.

[shance]

1. There were many murdered and not just Jewish individuals.

n/t

[cali]

11. 90% of those who perished there were Jewish

That in no way dimishes the terrible tragedy and horror of the others murdered there, but it's an important fact to acknowledge.

[Bonobo]

39. Alarm bells go off when I hear people say that. Trust me. They should.

[cali]

43. yup. and this poster has a wealth of

like statements. He frequently brings up how Jews weren't the only victims, and not in a way that indicates that he gives a shit about the others.

[shance]

66. Oh Cali shut up. You are the one that stirs up more controversy and has made

more of a reputation that is not good, than anyone I know around here.

As for you incredibly dishonest accusation, please provide references.

[shance]

67. And what are those alarm bells? What did I say that was incorrect Bonobo?

Are people of Jewish faith the only ones who died during Hitler's reign?

Are they somehow more valuable than the others who were not of Jewish faith who died?

What alarm bells go off for you?

Id be very interested to know.

[ikojo]

68. Not all victims were Jews, this is true

but all Jews were potential victims. For many all it took to avoid the concentration camps was to renounce political beliefs.

If one had one Jewish grandparent one was marked for extermination. There were Germans whose grandparents long before 1933 had converted to Christianity. They were not aware of Jewish ancestry until the Nazis came "knocking" on their doors.

[shance]

69. I couldn't agree more. We have so very much to learn from that era.

The discrimination, scapegoating and manufactured hatred continues and yet it has just altered its media perceived "villains" has it not?

The cast and characters seemed to have changed, and of course some have remained the same.

Now it appears the Muslims have their own Star of David symbollically sewn onto their humanity, which is isolating them from the herd of mankind, leaving them terrified, powerless and very vulnerable.

They are in the name of "terrorism" are being genocided, tortured, terrified and scapegoated.

There are also have WASP activists like myself and many other activists (of many different shapes and sizes)being monitored for speaking out against this Administration and their devoted counterparts.

We are having a database created for us, instead of the so called "terrorists" they claim they are looking for.

We are having Homeland Security watching us, we have individuals being recruited and employed including our neighbors being employed (Operation TIPS) to invade our privacy, create potential gossip campaigns in our neighborhoods and places we frequent, in addition to other paid for recruits watching and/or harassing us.

We, for speaking out are being scapegoated, monitored, intimidated and our personal lives are being invaded because of those who are abusing their power and have money to buy off those who can be bought.

If you actually had a chance to know me, you would understand that I am on the side of anyone who is being treated unfairly, being wrongly accused, and/or who is being automatically judged for the color of their skin or of their faith.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

42. No shit, Sherlock. The question is, why do you feel the need to point THAT out? -nt

[rockymountaindem]

2. My first thought is that I'd like to get my hands on all the Nazis in those pics

My second thought is, well... nevermind.

That's some surreal stuff there. Thanks for posting.

[MadMaddie]

3. They acted as if nothing was amis....sick bastards.

[rockymountaindem]

5. For them, nothing was amiss

They were quite satisfied with what they were doing.

[MannyGoldstein]

8. Do You Think It Would Be Any Different Here?

I've studied Germany's descent into hell - and I don't think it would be any different in the US.

Sorry to say.

[cali]

12. I think it could well be different

We don't have the same historical background as Germany; we're a nation of immigrants, and I believe that does make a difference. And yes, I've studied Germany's descent into madness too.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

16. history of massacres of Native Americans?

the first immigrants were not always that nice to native americans?

[cali]

18. Not to disregard that terrible chapter

but that was 100+ years ago. We are now a very multi-cultural society. Germany was not.

[Spazito]

24. One only needs to look at the Abu Graib photos to suspect

it would not be all that different at all, sadly. The faces in both say the same, imo.

Edited to add: Also the lack of outrage of most Americans regarding the expose of the torture of victims in Abu Graib says a lot as well.

[Thothmes]

27. I disagree

Look at the photos taken at Birkenau, Sobibor, Belsen, Babi Yar. The photos of Abu Graib are deplorable, but pale in comparison to those of the Crematoriums, the burial pits, the thousands of corpses after years of German occupation. They do not say the same thing. One speaks of a Government ineptness in a poorly planned occupation. The others are pictures of a concerted, well planned governmental operation to eradicate an entire population off the face of the earth. Just my opinion.

[Spazito]

31. The Nazi regime and the collusion of the German people did not

begin with Birkenau, Sobibor, Belsen, Babi Yar, it ended with them. It began with acts such as was done at Abu Graib, it began with places like Gitmo, detention camps. The question was "Would it be any different?" At one time, such a question would not even have needed to be asked, sadly.

[Thothmes]

35. Again I must disagree

Those incidents you speak of are only the latest manifestations of a society thats history includes the trail of tears, Wounded Knee, Jim Crow and Manzinar. We should be asking you question every time we open an American History book.

[Spazito]

37. Good point, man's inhumanity to man is not limited

to the Nazis and can be found in the history books of many countries as well as recent, relatively speaking, actions/lack of actions.

[TankLV]

64. Wrong - we are at the Beginning. You are comparing the END with our BEGINNING...

I hope that we can stop it all before it comes to such an end, but so far, many of us see only creeping steady progress towards that horrible end...

[LanternWaste]

53. Actually, I think it began with...

Actually, I think it began with 'the German problem', the unification of the German states, and the lack of democratic traditions in Germany.

But I'm just going by some texts I've read on the subject...

[Spazito]

54. From what I understand the Nazi party was able to grow because

of the conditions put upon Germany after WWI, the reparations Germany had to pay, etc. The Nazi party used the anger of the German people for what they felt were unfairly harsh conditions imposed upon them to build up their base and provided a 'target' for that anger by blaming the Jews for the problems the German people were having.

[LanternWaste]

57. Might I suggest

Might I suggest 'The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers' by Paul Kennedy, and (especially) David Calleo's 'The German Problem Reconsidered: Germany and the World, 1870 to the Present'. Because, although what you mentioned contributed to the problem, it merely contributed to a pre-existing problem that had been going on for quite some time.

The Nazi party simply perfected and codified an already in-place political/social concept.

[ikojo]

14. I'm not sure many Americans opposed or

protested the internment of Japanese Americans during WW II.

I think with sufficient scape-goating, Americans could be whipped into a frenzy to support rounding up so called undesireables. I am convinced there would have been little hue and cry had the government rounded up people of the Muslim faith immediately following the events of 9/11/01.

The same media that sold us on peeing into a cup for most jobs would sell us on scape-goating a minority as well.

[Thothmes]

28. Interment

I agree that few Americans were distressed by the interment of Japanese Americans. However, I am beginning to think that a postive consequence may have came out of the interment. Given my countrymans propensity for violence, I could easily see a virtual "Kristanacht" against Japanese Americans living on the West Coast. How many of the Japanese Americans that were released from the camps in 1944? would have been alive if they had not be removed from proximity to their neighbors.

[TahitiNut]

15. Agreed.

What's frightening to me is to contemplate the odds of being EITHER a victim or an accessory to such atrocities. It's a very sobering thought to know that one cannot be sure of being immune to either.

[AlCzervik]

4. about 2 weeks ago out local pbs station ran a doc. about all the concentration camps

it was horrific obviously and i've seen and read plenty about them but every time i see anything about the camps it give me the worst knot in my stomach.

[Octafish]

6. Chimpy asked Auschwitz guide if people "challenge the accuracy of what you present?''

By his own words we learn the Coward from Crawford is a "Holocaust Denier.''



When he toured Auschwitz, Bush asked the tour leader if people challenged "the accuracy of what you present?"

Press Gaggle on Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau

Ari Fleischer, White House Press Secretary
Krakow, Poland
May 31, 2003

EXCERPT...

MR. FLEISCHER: Oh, that probably extended some 30, 40 feet behind glass, and you just see hair. Women's hair. The guide talked about in the next room that Auschwitz was also a site of plunder because as the Jews were rounded up and sent there, they brought their belongings with them so they had their suitcases. They didn't know they were going to their death, so they carried their life's possessions with them, which was then quickly plundered, the guide explained.

The President saw the Jewish prayer shawls that were hanging. And then another deeply moving part, he saw artificial limbs, actual artificial limbs, prosthesis, legs that were there and which she explained to the President, even these were plundered after people were killed, and then used back in Germany.

The President would say things such as "Powerful." I just wrote down as I listened to him -- "powerful." When he saw the suitcases, he said, "So sad." And then at one point when he went by another display where there were teeny little shoes, the President looked at it and said, "All the little baby shoes." He told the guide, "You've done a good job recording history."

The President talked about the current context of it, how many people come each year. He asked, where do they come from. He asked, "Do people challenge the accuracy of what you present?"

Q: And what did the guide say?

MR. FLEISCHER: She explained where people come from. They come from all over, she said. A lot come from Poland, from the United States, from Israel, from Germany.

Q: Did she answer his question, do people challenge --

MR. FLEISCHER: I didn't get it. If she did, I don't remember, I didn't write it down.

Then he saw some cells where the prisoners were kept. Now, these are not -- at Birkenau he saw the bunk cells. But this were actual prison cells with doors that swing open and bars, very, very small rooms. And in one small room, the guide explained, there were 39 people in a small cell with a teeny, teeny little bit of air that came in from a window up top. And this cell was very small. And she said to him, on the doors you can see signs on how to scratch the door to survive. And you could see it -- on the door they would just scratch to get air into the room. They tried to claw their way through a very thick wooden door.

CONTINUED...

http://www.state.gov/p/eur/rls/rm/2003/21131.htm

Whatever the tour guide answered Bush, it must've been a dinger for Ari to have forgotten.

He is so far removed from it, Fleischer couldn't recognize the Truth if it he wanted to.

[bdamomma]

29. * and that comment

The President talked about the current context of it, how many people come each year. He asked, where do they come from. He asked, "Do people challenge the accuracy of what you present?"

what a a$$hole this man is, so ignorant and arrogant.

[formercia]

50. Recording History

"And then at one point when he went by another display where there were teeny little shoes, the President looked at it and said, "All the little baby shoes." He told the guide, "You've done a good job recording history.""

The Nazis did a good job of recording History as well. They had museums of Jewish artifacts, a display of items from a dead race.

Real-time archeology.

[rurallib]

7. My daughter was 14 when she visited there. A hot summer day

She said she walked on the grounds and it was cold, very cold. She started shivering. Could not wait to leave.

[ThatsMyBarack]

9. Those pretty white Nazis....

...are butt-ugly! :puke:

[mitchum]

34. Yep, those examples of "the master race" don't resemble the nazi propaganda...

posters much at all, do they?

[Jane Austin]

10. Haunting.

And at that time, my joyous day of birth was but five months away.

And a world away.

[TahitiNut]

17. The album is dated 1 day before my first birthday. Creepy.

:scared:

[Jane Austin]

58. Isn't it?

I've got so many pictures of my brother's first birthday around that time, and of my sister at the beach, and my young parents having fun.

They look not unlike the people in the album except prettier and always smiling.

I have pictures of my family's Christmas tree from that year to compare to the one he was decorating.

You are right. It is creepy and haunting.

[baldguy]

13. .

[NNN0LHI]

19. He would fit right in with that bunch wouldn't he? n/t

[Fleshdancer]

20. I couldn't finish it

Lounging and having fun at Auschwitz...wow. Just wow. This makes my heart hurt.

[MedleyMisty]

21. I spent third and fourth grade researching the Holocaust

and have kept researching it my whole life, although never quite as obsessively as I did then because I ended up really depressed. It's not like there were a whole lot of other nine year olds in rural Surry County who knew what a Mussulman was and what Canada meant in camp slang that I could discuss it with.

If there's one thing I know about it - the Nazis were human. They weren't inhuman monsters. They weren't a special circumstance that can never happen again. A look around the world today shows you that. We must always watch ourselves and stay aware of prejudice and hate and fear and obedience and conformity. We have to look it in the face and know it and rise above it. In all my reading, there was one constant theme.

Witness.

And so today I look at the pictures of the victims of humanity. I witness their suffering. I look at their torturers and killers and I witness their fear and their hate. I look in the mirror and witness those oh so human qualities in myself. I will not let them take me over.

If we really truly mean it when we say "Never again", we all have to do that. We have to look at the worst parts of human nature and know them intimately and recognize them and own them as part of ourselves so we can overcome them.

[Skittles]

22. they look like republicans

yes INDEED

[Tinksrival]

23. Page 104 has a group of photos

from a funeral of SS men killed in the December Alied bombing of Auschwittz. The caption in the photo album written in German says,
"Burying our SS comrades from a terrorist attack."

This seem is odd to me. It's not a phrase I have ever heard associated with this war. :shrug: creepy

[KittyWampus]

30. Pointing an arrow to your post about Pg. 104 & caption. Wouldn't have noticed if you hadn't

highlighted it.

[rockymountaindem]

32. The Nazis were quite fond of using the words "terror" and "terrorism"

In fact, a lot of people credit them with popularizing the word. They used it in reference to Allied bombing of German cities, as well as with resistance/partisan activities.

[mmonk]

51. Terrorism is a theme Hitler used.

[Octafish]

60. Rove knows Hitler said something important regarding terror...

"Terrorism is the best political weapon for nothing drives people harder than a fear of sudden death." -- Adolf Hitler

"Propaganda" is another word that's under-used these days...

[Kurovski]

25. K&R. (nt)

[Warren DeMontague]

26. Heartbreaking.

So damn heartbreaking. :cry:

[mitchum]

33. More proof of Arendt's "banality of evil"

[Greyskye]

49. Exaclty what came to my mind

Yes, it can happen here. :(

[yurbud]

36. I haven't got all the way through it, but the seemingly innocent photos reminds me that these were

people who committed these monstrosities not cartoon monsters we see in movies.

Ordinary people were in the grip of a bad idea that led to unspeakable cruelty and death.

The sad thing is, Americans seem unable to grasp this lesson, and so fall for the same idea: that we were meant to rule and if it means killing inferior people, so be it.

[DemoTex]

38. Pic #14: Notice the skull and bones on the SS officers hats.

I never knew that they advertised their trade so blatantly.

[Minstrel Boy]

40. "I never knew that they advertised their trade so blatantly."

"Hans, I've just noticed something. Have you looked at our caps recently? They've got skulls on them. Hans - are we the baddies?"

http://youtube.com/watch?v=OpZ8EkK3eWY

[DemoTex]

41. "Rat's Anus"

Pirates of Fun
Why skulls?

Good clip, MB! What is that from?

[Minstrel Boy]

44. A BBC sketch comedy show

called "That Mitchell and Webb Look". Other good clips from it on Youtube.

[Octafish]

59. Gov Terminator uses the same tailor.

You can take the boy out of Berchtesgaden...



But you can't take the Berchtesgaden out of the boy.

[backscatter712]

62. That skull & bones is the logo for the SS Death's Head Unit,

or the SS-Totenkopfverbände in German.

IIRC, that exact symbol, rendered the exact same way it is done on that hat, was seen on T-shirts in Wal-mart last year - a stealth symbol for neo-Nazis...

And seeing the above post, a stealth symbol for closet-Nazi Arnold Schwarzeneggar.

[Jed Dilligan]

45. Support our troops! nt

[formercia]

46. Can't see the images

I sent them a note asking that they use a display format that we untermenchen can view.

A site designed by elitists for elitists.

[Solly Mack]

47. OK..my skin is crawling now

[MissB]

48. A fist full of blueberries or a moral stand?

Roger Cohen had an essay published yesterday in the NYT. Title is Tying the Threads of Truth's Tapestry. I can't find it online without a registration.

Anyway, he must have been talking about this group of photographs. A couple of snippets (typed from my newspaper copy):

So now we know where Eva from Mannheim and Angela from Dortmund and Irmgard from Dresden ended up during the war years - jiving in pleated skirts to the strains of an accordion, or gorging themselves on blueberries, or lounging on deck chairs in the shadow of Auschwitz-Birkenau crematoriums.

snip


If they were downwind of the camp, did some trace of the acrid-sweet stench of death ever mess with the merry-making? Did the image of a Jewish girl from Budapest being herded toward the gas mar a mouthful? Did conscience stir or doubt impinge? Such questions are useless. The facts must speak for themselves.

snip

Inevitably, they pose the question: What would you have done? Filled your mouth with blueberries or balked and paid the mortal price? Perhaps no single question is more important. The voyeur has the luxury of posing it whereas those living then had to answer it. The overwhelming majority acquiesced to the unspeakable.

It has become banal to quote Hannah Arendt. But she encapulated these photos' conundrum when she wrote; "Under conditions of terror most people will comply but some will not," adding that "Humanely speaking, no more is required and no more can reasonable be asked for this planet to remain a place fit for human habitation."

[leftofthedial]

52. is that Auschwitz?

or Camp David?

[cali]

55. Yes, let's compare the horrors of Aushwitz

to the admin. Fucked up beyond belief. And callous to wit.

[leftofthedial]

56. glad I made your day

again

[Kazak]

61. #42

It looks like some in the back are singing. Are they all singing while the black man plays the accordion? What is going on in this picture?

[backscatter712]

63. Banality of evil indeed.

This photo album makes it look like they're all having fun at summer camp.

It's just that this summer camp had countless thousands coming in through the front gate lettered "ARBEIT MACHT FREI", and departing through the smokestacks...

Pray, and fight, to make sure that America never, ever builds a place like that.

[KAZ]

65. Ugly fucking "people". Inside and out. I can never forgive...

... nor ever forget. My apologies to our DU friends in Germany. It's my weakness.

[Beerboy]

70. I followed the link when you posted it the other day,

those are some pretty damning pictures. The one picture I really wondered about was the one where the SS adjutant hosted the Helferinnen, SS females, and one brought along her baby. To Auschwitz, June 21, 1944.
Can you imagine the stench of rotting/burning corpses that must've permeated everything around it for at least 50 miles?
The juxtaposition of the proof of the merriment of the perpetrators makes the bestiality of the atrocities so much more grim.
It's not pleasant to contemplate, but thank you for posting it.
edited to correct date 21.6.44