Language:
German
Year of publication:
2002
Titel der Quelle:
Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte
Angaben zur Quelle:
50,1 (2002) 41-69
Keywords:
Auschwitz (Concentration camp)
;
Nazi concentration camps
Abstract:
Asserts that the decision to build a camp at Birkenau, originally as a labor camp for Soviet prisoners of war, was taken only in September 1941 and not in March, as recalled by Höss. At the same time, similar labor camps for POWs were established in Lublin and Stutthof; they were to build the enormous projects envisioned by the SS for resettlement of the area by ethnic Germans according to Generalplan Ost. Since the starved Soviet prisoners died by the tens of thousands, it was decided to replace them with Jewish forced labor from western and southeastern Europe. Most of these, however, also died within a few months. Historians disagree about the date of the first selection and gassing of laborers who became ill and unfit for work. Selections on arrival began later, apparently in July when, through a change of policy by Himmler, whole families were being deported. Only a few of those arriving were selected for labor; the rest were sent to the gas chambers. Exploitation of Jews for labor had become secondary to their murder. A response by Michael Thad Allen, "Anfänge der Menschenvernichtung in Auschwitz, Oktober 1941: Eine Erwiderung auf Jan Erik Schulte" [Ibid. 51, 4 (Oct 2003) 565-573], criticizes Schulte's "neo-functionalist" thesis, arguing that extermination was a central purpose of Auschwitz from the start, parallel to the exploitation of slave labor, and not a gradual development. See Schulte's reply in the same journal: 52, 3 (July 2004) 569-572.
Description / Table of Contents:
Allen, Michael Thad. Anfänge der Menschenvernichtung in Auschwitz, Oktober 1941; eine Erwiderung an Jan Erik Schulte. Ibid. 51,4 (2003) 565-573.
Description / Table of Contents:
Schulte, Jan Erik. Auschwitz und der Holocaust 1941/42; eine kurze Antwort. Ibid. 52,3 (2004) 569-572.
URL:
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