Exploration of Nazi Captivity - Essay Example

Exploration of Nazi Captivity Commenting or giving ones views on a historical event is always a challenge as one sees things as they are now and can never imagine the extremity of any past situation. The undertaken topic for discussion has been previously addressed in a brief account on “Slavery - Nazi vs American chattel”. Human history is full of books and records that are painted in bloodshed related to violence of the worst kind in the name of race, ethnicity and religion. Amongst the most brutal of these killing and blood shed was recorded in the time of World War II under the regime of Adolf Hitler. It is undoubtedly true that Adolf Hitler and slave owners exploited the unfortunates, using tragic inhumane methods. Before Hitler’s death he uttered, “Brutal force has not won anything durable.” Nazi slavery, or American chattel slavery were alternative beats of the same wicked heart, against the races that were at a highly disadvantageous position. Were the captives taken by the Nazi’s slaves? As far as history can retell the tales of these camps that were established to keep thousands of Jews in prison, one finds horrific tales of people who were brutally killed and the massacres; if we may use the term; to eliminate them. What happened in those camps will be discussed in the following text as we move step by step through articles found related to this topic. Amongst these articles are tales of eyewitnesses as well as som survival stories which shed light on the activities that went on in those prison camps. Before we set on to discover what and how the people or prisoners were treated and humiliated in the German camps set up under Hitler’s command, let’s go down the road of history to the time that Romans ruled one can see how they treated their slaves. Watching the slaves being tortured and killed was a game that the rulers of the Roman Empire enjoyed the most. (Femi Akomolafe, 1994) A review of a book on the survival of a captive from the Auschwitz in 1945 describes how the slaves were being treated. It fore tells how the slaves entered the gates where the sign read “Arbeit Macht Frei”. They were made to stay in cold rooms for hours, while the rooms were filled with freezing water that reached the ankles. Completely undressed and asked to remain naked even the shoes were not allowed. While in that condition the barbers were sent in to shave the heads of all the captives. The men were kept for hours in the same condition and they kept on thinking about their families and what was happening to the females and the babies. “A man enters and offers some concise information— Buna, a work camp of about 10,000 prisoners, near Auschwitz in Upper Silesia.” (Primo Livo, 1961) It is interesting to note that people who had influence or authority over another nation has always managed to impose themselves on the not so lucky natives. In many cases you find wars leading to vast imprisonment of innocent civilians who did not have any participation in the war at all. To take these people who were of all ages and sex and then lock them up and gas them to their deaths is highly cruel and similar to what our past shows too. Slavery has always been considered a curse whether it was with the black slaves or the people in the Nazi camps they have been mistreated to the extent where humanity has been dropped to nil. The slavery of the Nazis was about a particular race, Jews. Germans were captivated about the superiority of their race and developed the mindset that Jews were responsible for all their problems. Nazi Germany was evil and satanic. American slave trade lasted for centuries, as a system, and it had a psychological bearing on both the races. Whereas American chattel slavery was purely for the economic exploitation, Nazi slavery was directed at both economic exploitation and territorial enlargement. Nazis extensively applied the system of forced labor on prisoners of war and then sent them to extermination camps, which were the killing fields. The American chattel slavery were less brutal. Germany wanted to rule over the world in a unique method not known in history. Slave labor was one of the tools used for the destruction of those conquered by Hitler. In the Nazi slave camps, human beings were treated like animals. Forced migration and massacre was brutally practiced in the territories conquered. Physical and moral degradation was thoroughly pursued. Any forms of happiness to these slaves were things of the past. Everything happened in their lives so suddenly. The world is shocked and appalled at the mad dream of Nazis. They murdered the rule of law. As the focus of this article is only on the captivity of people under the Nazi’s we will further dwell by reviewing articles found related to this. In his article on “Jewish Holocaust or German Holocaust? Auschwitz Gas Chambers Myth”, Kollerstrom explains the “Arithmetic of Annihilation”. Some 5 hundred thousand captivates were enrolled or registered up for the so called labour-camps that were set up in Auschwitz, Poland, out which almost a hundred and thirty thousand died. Their bodies were disposed of through cremation, individually. Interestingly however, the accounts for the fuel that had been consumed within the time frame of “February 1942 – October 1943” for the burning ovens show that about “five thousand bodies” were cremated at that time. “That accords with the number of registered, deceased inmates, visa those who had died from natural causes, who had to be cremated rather than buried because of the great typhoid epidemics.” (Nicholas Kollerstrom, 2008) Although few but there are survivors from these deadly camps that were set in Auschwitz in Poland and in other places as well. A newspaper article written by such a survivor was published in “The Lewiston Daily Sun” in 1945. The story is narrated by the person himself as he was taken a prisoner. He was captured in Libya and then after 2 years was rescued by the Americans who had been able to scan the area near the camp where he was kept and how he swam to their side and they saved him. There are a number of other similar accounts and some that have not been brought to the light which tell the sufferings of the captives of the Nazi’s. What went through the minds of those prisoners and the effects that it may have had on the survivors are hard for any normal person living in normal circumstances to understand and relate to. However, take a close look at the autobiographies that have been written or the accounts recorded and one feels linked to those who had suffered nearly half a century ago. “The mechanism of repression of traumatic memories surrounded and silenced the survivors and those close to them, and the agony and grief began to dissolve only many years after the end of World War II. Almost a full generation passed by before we dared to fully acknowledge and actually mourn the loss of 6 million Jews.” (Eliezer Witztum; Ruth Malkinson, 2009) this was stated in an article that has been published in the Journal of Trauma and Loss by the title of “Examining Traumatic Grief and Loss Among Holocaust Survivors” “Disregarding the aspect of collective working through of trauma and loss, it is not surprising that for a long period of time survivors’ inability to mourn (Volkan, 1988) was regarded as pathological grief.” Conclusion In an article published on the net “Inside a Nazi Death Camp, 1944” (www.eyewitnesstohistory.com; 2004) an account of how the slaves were taken to their death has been described at best leaving a lot of thoughts in ones mind. The article explains how the camp, that was built by Hitler, had several rooms or chambers made in which in one go nearly 2000 men, women or children could be disposed of or sent to their deaths. These chambers had no light and each box could accommodate around 200 – 250 people. The procedure that has been explained is quite horrifying as it entails the group to be put in these chambers without any clothes. Standing naked with each other without any light or anyone to tell them what was happening only; fear and thoughts of one’s family and children would be passing through their minds. Amidst the hues and cries the sudden feeling that there was something in the air that was making people faint around them and supposedly dying too. Within minutes the room goes silent as all the people in it have been GASSED! They die leaving the next lot to come in and the same thing to happen again. What can be crueler? The people who have survived these horrors, and whose luck saved them from this horrible death still bear the marks on their souls and even after years have passed they still remember what it was like; the horrible nightmare that they luckily survived from. Works Cited Douglass, Frederick(Author) Fulkerson,Gerald(Editor), Blassingame,John W(Editor)McKivigan(Editor), Hinks, Peter P(Editor).Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave Written By Himself;Yale University Press,February 8, 2001. Chattel slavery - Hutchinson encyclopedia article about Chattel ... – Retrieved on February 28,2010. Journal of Loss and Trauma, 14:129–143, 2009 Examining Traumatic Grief And Loss Among Holocaust Survivors; Eliezer Witztum, Ruth Malkinson Book by Author: Primo Levi - Survival in Auschwitz Jewish Holocaust or German Holocaust? Auschwitz Gas Chambers Myth; by Nicholas Kollerstrom; http://jewsvszionists.wordpress.com/2008/05/13/jewish-holocaust-or-german-holocaust-auschwitz-gas-chambers-myth/ http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=19288dat=1945033&id=; viewed on March 17, 2010, “Rescued Writer tells Story of Nazi Captivity” “Inside a Nazi Death Camp, 1944" EyeWitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (2004). Read More