The Education of the SS soldiers.
One thing that we did not reflect much on during the discussions of the book Night, was the education and training of the SS soldiers. In this website, I will uncover how the mystery of how SS soldiers were educated and trained.
How the SS Soldiers were created Many Many articles about the Holocaust focus on the cruelty and dehumanization of the SS soldiers, disregarding the Nazi's parties' actual efficiency as soldiers. The SS soldiers' training had very intensive military and academic instruction. But what set part the SS soldiers from other armies was there rigorous physical training. The reason why the SS soldiers performed extraordinarily in the Russian fronts. However, there was not only physical training, but there was also ideological training. The SS soldiers were taught their purpose of fighting, how Germany would be resurrected. One reason why the SS soldiers disregarded human dignity in the concentration camps was because their view on the Jews were indoctrinated by Adolf Hitler, the notorious tyrant of that era, who viewed the Jews as parasites that were trying to destroy his country. He also referred to them as a plague, an epidemic, germ carriers, a harmful bacillus, and a cancer and as maggots. Clearly, killing one Jew was no more than slapping an irritating mosquito on his hand. The SS soldiers, having a barbaric leader like Hitler, were inevitably influenced by his ideology. The obvious exposure of Hitler's extreme loathing towards the Jews created the SS soldiers.
SS soldiers that live today.
Oskar Gröning:
Born in 1921, Oskar Gröning is one of the few SS soldiers that live today. You may have jumped to the conclusion of him being a mass murderer as well as the others. Gröning wasn't. In fact, he did not kill a single Jew. However, Gröning was apathetic towards the horrific acts that his comrades were preforming.
In a interview of his, Oskar Gröning said that when he arrived in Auschwitz, he was assigned to "Inmate Money Administration". His job was to collect the money from the Jews when they arrived at the camps. After 2 months with the job, he was given an additional job to protect the luggage from theft. There he witnesses another SS soldier smashing a babies' head into a truck because the baby's cry was irritating. After the shocking incident, he goes to his commanding officer for a transfer. But the officer replied by saying "What you saw the other day certainly was out of the ordinary. But you signed a letter of commitment. Everyone serves where he is assigned." After this, Gröning repeatedly sees gassing and people burnt, and at the end he is emotionless. In the interview, he was asked how he felt when he found out that Jews were being gassed in Auschwtiz? He replied, "That it was a tool of waging war. A war with advanced methods." and "If you are convinced that the destruction of Judaism is necessary, then it no longer matters how the killing takes place. As early as 1939, Hitler said in speech that if the Jews were to force a new war on the Germans, it would mean the end of Judaism in Europe." This was simply, because he believed in Hitler, his leader.
Born in 1921, Oskar Gröning is one of the few SS soldiers that live today. You may have jumped to the conclusion of him being a mass murderer as well as the others. Gröning wasn't. In fact, he did not kill a single Jew. However, Gröning was apathetic towards the horrific acts that his comrades were preforming.
In a interview of his, Oskar Gröning said that when he arrived in Auschwitz, he was assigned to "Inmate Money Administration". His job was to collect the money from the Jews when they arrived at the camps. After 2 months with the job, he was given an additional job to protect the luggage from theft. There he witnesses another SS soldier smashing a babies' head into a truck because the baby's cry was irritating. After the shocking incident, he goes to his commanding officer for a transfer. But the officer replied by saying "What you saw the other day certainly was out of the ordinary. But you signed a letter of commitment. Everyone serves where he is assigned." After this, Gröning repeatedly sees gassing and people burnt, and at the end he is emotionless. In the interview, he was asked how he felt when he found out that Jews were being gassed in Auschwtiz? He replied, "That it was a tool of waging war. A war with advanced methods." and "If you are convinced that the destruction of Judaism is necessary, then it no longer matters how the killing takes place. As early as 1939, Hitler said in speech that if the Jews were to force a new war on the Germans, it would mean the end of Judaism in Europe." This was simply, because he believed in Hitler, his leader.
Alexander Huryn:
"I was told to take the job or die." Alexander Huryn, Nazi concentration camp guard, insisted that he was had to take the job or join the camp himself. Huryn served as a guard in Trawniki labour camp in occupied Poland, where thousands of Jews died. However Huryn denies that he was part of the war crime during the time he spent in the concentration camp, despite the number of people who died. He told the interviewers that he was set apart from the prisoner, away from murder, and that his main job was to train horses for the German officers. During the interview, Huryn said, 'I don't like what the Nazis did. I feel bad about what happened at Trawniki. It was terrible - but I had nothing to do with it.
'I never volunteered to join. 'We had to go or they would have confiscated our farm and put my whole family in a concentration camp.'
"I was told to take the job or die." Alexander Huryn, Nazi concentration camp guard, insisted that he was had to take the job or join the camp himself. Huryn served as a guard in Trawniki labour camp in occupied Poland, where thousands of Jews died. However Huryn denies that he was part of the war crime during the time he spent in the concentration camp, despite the number of people who died. He told the interviewers that he was set apart from the prisoner, away from murder, and that his main job was to train horses for the German officers. During the interview, Huryn said, 'I don't like what the Nazis did. I feel bad about what happened at Trawniki. It was terrible - but I had nothing to do with it.
'I never volunteered to join. 'We had to go or they would have confiscated our farm and put my whole family in a concentration camp.'