Language:
German
Year of publication:
2014
Titel der Quelle:
Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft
Angaben zur Quelle:
62,9 (2014) 726-748
Keywords:
Treblinka (Concentration camp)
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
;
Nazi concentration camps
Abstract:
Between July 1942-August 1943, ca. 900,000 Jews, together with thousands of gypsies, were murdered in Treblinka by a small group of 30-40 Germans and Austrians, and 90-130 foreign willing collaborators. In trials held in Düsseldorf during 1964-65 and in 1970 against some of the Nazi criminals who ran the camp, the accused described the mass killing as the process of an efficient extermination apparatus, playing down their own actions and denying personal responsibility. Based on testimonies given at the trials by 60 Jewish survivors, describes different stages of these processes, from the arrival of the prisoners until their annihilation in the gas chambers, and the deception strategies employed by the guards. The testimonies bear witness to innumerable atrocities which were not always useful in organizing the extermination; in fact, they often impeded its implementation. The extreme cruelty of the guards was an expression of individual and also generalized sadism, which became part of the camp system and denied the prisoners any human quality or character.
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