Table Of Contentpeople in auschwitz
HermannLangbein.Photograph©AlisaDouer;reprintedwithpermission.
hermann langbein
n n n
People in Auschwitz
translated by harry zohn
foreword by henry friedlander
TheUniversityof NorthCarolinaPress ChapelHill&London
Publishedinassociationwiththe
UnitedStatesHolocaustMemorialMuseum
©2004TheUniversityofNorthCarolinaPress
Allrightsreserved
OriginallypublishedinGermanasMenscheninAuschwitz,
©1995EuropaVerlagGmbHWienMünchen
PublishedinassociationwiththeUnitedStatesHolocaustMemorialMuseum.
Theassertions,arguments,andconclusionscontainedhereinarethoseoftheauthor
orothercontributors.Theydonotnecessarilyreflecttheopinionsofthe
UnitedStatesHolocaustMemorialMuseum.
TheUniversityofNorthCarolinaPressgratefullyacknowledgesthe
supportoftheFederalMinistryforEducation,Science,andCulture,Vienna,Austria;
theLuciusN.LittauerFoundation;andtheL.J.SkaggsandMaryC.SkaggsFoundation
inthepublicationofthisbook.
ManufacturedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
SetinQuadraattypesbyTsengInformationSystems,Inc.
Thepaperinthisbookmeetstheguidelinesforpermanenceanddurability
oftheCommitteeonProductionGuidelinesforBookLongevityoftheCouncilon
LibraryResources.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Langbein,Hermann,1912–
[MenscheninAuschwitz.English]
PeopleinAuschwitz/HermannLangbein;translatedbyHarryZohn;
forewordbyHenryFriedlander.
p.cm.
‘‘PublishedinassociationwiththeUnitedStatesHolocaustMemorialMuseum.’’
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn0-8078-2816-5(cloth:alk.paper)
1.Auschwitz(Concentrationcamp) 2.WorldWar,1939–1945—Prisonersandprisons,
German. 3.Holocaust,Jewish(1939–1945) I.Title.
d805.5.a96l36132004
940.53'1853858—dc22 2003020485
08 07 06 05 04 5 4 3 2 1
Ihavefeltobligatedtowritethisbook
forthesakeofthecountlesspeoplewho
carriedonastruggleagainstinhumanity
eveninAuschwitzandlosttheirlives—
especiallyinmemoryof
ErnstlBurgerandZbyszekRaynoch.
contents
n n n
ForewordbyHenryFriedlander,ix the jailers
TheGuards,273
introduction
People,NotDevils,294
Author’sRationale,3
TheCommandant,302
TheCampandItsJargon,11
ssLeaders,316
TheHistoryoftheExtermination
Physiciansinthess,333
Camp,18
Dr.Wirths,365
Numbers,51
SubordinatesofthessLeaders,386
the prisoners
Sexuality,402
UnderthePoweroftheCamp,63
ReactionsofHumanNature,414
TheMuselmann,89
FrankandPestek,438
TheInmateandDeath,106
CiviliansinAuschwitz,449
MusicandGames,125
afterward
Canada,133
InmatesafterLiberation,471
Thevips,143
ssMembersaftertheWar,502
Jewishvips,169
ConclusionandWarning,518
CreatingAccomplices,178
TheSonderkommando,191 Bibliography,523
TheInmateInfirmary,203 Index,537
ThoseBorninAuschwitz,233
Resistance,240
foreword
Henry Friedlander
n n n
ThenameAuschwitzhascometosymbolizethecriminalityofNaziGermany.
It not only was Germany’s largest concentration camp but also housed its
largestkillingcenter.Intheend,combiningassembly-linemassmurderand
the exploitation of slave labor, Auschwitz was the premier Nazi installation
oftheHolocaust.
But Auschwitz did not launch the wholesale extermination of people
deemed undesirable by the regime. In September 1939, at the beginning of
WorldWarII,beforeAuschwitzevenexistedasaplaceof incarcerationand
murder, the German concentration camp system was already firmly estab-
lished.Theindividualcampsofthatsystem—Dachau,Sachsenhausen,Buch-
enwald,Flossenbürg,Mauthausen,andRavensbrück—hadbecomeinfamous.
After the conquest of Poland, the Germans needed a new concentration
camptoholdthelargenumberof Poleswhohadbeenarrestedaspotential
opponentstoGermanrule.ThesearchforthebestsitefocusedonAuschwitz,
whosePolishnamewasOswiecim.ItslocationatthejunctureoftheVistula
and Sola rivers made possible a large measure of isolation from the outside
world.Inaddition,itprovidedessentialrailroadconnections,beingsituated
at the crossroads of Silesia, the General Government of Poland, the incor-
poratedWartheland,andtheformerstatesofCzechoslovakiaandAustria.In
earlyMay1940,AuschwitzwasofficiallydesignatedaGermanconcentration
camp,andssCaptainRudolfHöß,whohadservedonthessstaffatDachau
and Sachsenhausen,was appointed commandant. About 1,200 Poles whose
dwellingswereonorneartheproposedcampsitewererelocated,andsoon
thirtyprisoners,allordinaryGermancriminals,arrivedfromSachsenhausen,
receivingAuschwitzprisonernumbers1through30.InJune,thefirstPolish
politicalprisoners,includingPolishJews,werereceivedatAuschwitzandwere
givenprisonernumbers31through758.
During1940andearly1941,theAuschwitzcampheldmostlyPolishpris-
oners;theremainderwereGerman.Thiscampwouldeventuallybecomethe
centerofasystemofcamps,whileitsinmatepopulationwouldbeaugmented
withprisonersfromallcountriesoccupiedbyGermany.Knownasthe‘‘main
camp,’’itwouldhousetheadministrationoftheAuschwitzcomplex.
In January 1941, officials of IG Farben, the large German chemical con-
cern,visited the Kattowitz region as the possible site for the production of
Description:Hermann Langbein was allowed to know and see extraordinary things forbidden to other Auschwitz inmates. Interned at Auschwitz in 1942 and classified as a non-Jewish political prisoner, he was assigned as clerk to the chief SS physician of the extermination camp complex, which gave him access to docu
