Seeing is not Always Believing
As they walked through Buchenwald many wept, refusing to look at the human carnage, gasping for breath amidst the stacks of corpses. Some cried, "we didn't know, we didn't know" and that has for that generation and the following been the cry of denial for the German citizens left in the aftermath of Hitler's "Final Solution" (endlosung). Historical Revisionists will assert that German and Polish citizens did not have knowledge because there was nothing to have knowledge of; it was afterall, wartime. Others will posit that the Germans at home knew everything: and they tend to stereotype all Germans as Nazis; but there were many citizens who although they said and did nothing, were not of the same heart (or lack of one) as the National Socialists, some even in the Party, Military and Government. The question however remains how much the German populace really knew about the extremity of atrocity that happened daily, often a short walk outside their communities. In this section, we will examine evidences showing that there was indeed general knowledge, there was much knowledge of the extreme cruelty, and there was a great deal of "looking away" because of fear. While the targeting of the German citizenry with responsibility is an unpopular European endeavor, there was most certainly a definitive responsibility and collective responsibility, and though it is an unpopular view, a need even 60 years later for a national repentance for real healing to occur. (see Repentance).The Trains
As the trains rolled by often deep into the German countryside, early in the war, they were paid little attention. As sons and fathers began to go to war, the trains took on a different significance: they meant separation and loss; fear and anxiety. As Jewish neighbors began to disappear along with others,
the trains held an even greater omnious
sound, as the destiny of the ill-treated passengers was wondered at but never directly discussed.How much did the Germans know about the trains? Early in the war, until the end of 1938, there was not much knowledge: trains were either used or in preparation for the "war effort" shipping supplies or carrying early troops. With the advent of "krystallnacht" the "November Jews" of 1938 became some of the first to be rounded up and deported via mass rail transports to the German, Austrian and Polish Killing Centers. The deportation of Grynspan's parents was the motivation behind the shooting of the Nazi official vom Rath which was reported across Germany and Poland as the impetus for 'acceptable" violence against Jews. Since both the violence and the news reports eminated from Germany and local police departments, there was no doubt that most Germans knew that there would be a serious retribution to the Jews at the hands of the Third Reich. Hitler's Speeches were replete with mention of taking care of the "Jewish Problem" and it was clearly understood that this would be by force, although the extent of the atrocity was not yet imagined.
There were other ways that the trains provided evidence of what was happening. One way that Goebbels notes in his conference notes, was that soldiers coming back to their families off the fronts, often brought back information that was deemed "illegal". Still, they often intimated to their families what was happening. Then, on occasion, German soldiers were given an extra week of leave: parents and friends were delighted. Goebbels gave strict orders to sequester information about the trains: the populace was told that transports of supplies and equipment were needed at the front, many asked few questions, happy for the reprieve. Still, the stations were often in observable places, and some had to have seen the human cargo forced brutally to enter not passenger trains, but cattle cars.
The Killing Centers
There had to be knowledge at least in part of the killing centers.
To begin with, Germans were the officers stationed at the Lagers, they were more often than not the
guards, they were involved in train schedules, provisions to the camps through IVB4 and they lived
with others in occupied territory in the vicinity of the camps. How much was known depended upon the
person and the community, but slave labor was readily rented out to local businesses and factories and
German supervision and involvement is a certainty. They saw the condition of the workers on a daily basis,
and with some camps, such as Mauthausen, they witnessed and even reported to police incidents of horrible
brutality and murders, although the police did mostly nothing. Germans were involved in the banking industry
which processed 'human products' and assets from lagers. It is inconceivable that there was no knowledge of
what went on in the lagers. Topf employees regularly repaired the 'ovens' in the Krema.
Back at Home
How much people knew on the German homefront was difficult to tell. Goebbels, Hitler's propaganda minister went to
extreme lengths to control every form of information on the homefront. Newspapers were severely censored, radio
broadcasts were controlled even to the point of what music was played on Sunday afternoon and what was said about
capital offenses. It was a crime, and considered treason, for example
to "demoralize" the Fuhrer, because it was assumed that it would affect the war effort. So, on the one hand, many
argue that the Germans did not know what was going on till later. However, even with all the controls there were
many avenues of information. The first was from the troops themselves: while many held as much as possible to
commands, human nature and the fact that at home they were family members probably contributed to alot of information
getting out. Also, there were Groups such as the White Rose and Edleweiss Pirates, and other resistance groups
which worked tirelessly and clandestinely to get out as much information as possible about the T-4 and Euthanasia
programs, they were marginally successful, most perhaps on University campuses. Germans could also get British
Broadcasts occasionally for 'the other side' of war information. Finally, as the war progressed, the effects of
Hitler's policies were so blatantly obvious, that denial was impossible: Dresdens, and Nurembergs, the Russian War
front, Children sent to the german countryside because of the bombings, war shortages, and the mounting deaths
of soldier-sons could not be hidden. The fairest appraisal is probably that there was progressive knowledge
as time passed.
The Troops
Troops brought home regular word about what was happening at
the front, although they were technically forbidden by law from doing so. Diaries, including that of
Hans Scholl mention the conditions of the camps and trains by Nazi personnel.
The humor of the day, both German domestic and Jewish indicates a knowledge of the camps.
BBC & Radio Broadcasts
While the Nazis had their own 'secret transmitters'
in Britain and a few other locations, which disguised themselves as British stations, the BBC, and other
organizations were able to broadcast uncensored news from around the world even into Germany. Travel was
very limited and by permission only as the war began, but radio and other transmitters, which were not German
in origin were a source of outside information the Nazis could not completely control, so some information via
this route did inform the German Public.
Commerce & Shoah: Supplying the needs of Genocide
One of the areas that is so overlooked in answering the question of whether the German people knew about the genocide of the Jews, is that of Commerce and Industry. Companies such as I.G. Farben, Mercedes-Benz, and others used slave labor during the War, so employees of the companies would have had to realize the conditions of the workers at least partially. Around Mauthausen, local industries employed slaves from the camps and subcamps, and also did business with the camps, supplying bedding, food and other supplies, which would have at least given rise to estimates of the numbers interred in the area. This was true for most camps, although the IVB4 which was responsible for procurement and supplies may have been able to mask some of the supplies. Crematoria [Krema] needed supplies and repairs, these were hired from without. Physicians occasionally needed helpers from the outside, or medical supplies. The Quarries, employing mostly persons associated with the camps still had outside persons, and even if that were not the case, townspeople saw the prisoners on their way to labor and there were multiple reports of abuse and even homocide of the prisoners made to local police to no avail.2Living Under the Shadow of Mauthausen
Underground/Resistance Resources.
Of any country, the most dangerous place to be a member of the Resistance movement in Europe was Germany. Berlin
has such tight surveillance over Germany, that virtually everyone was distrustful of everyone else, as loyal party members
ranged from the lowest to the highest in society. Furthermore, because even wrongful words were considered
treason, the price of resisting the Third Reich could be death. Several members of the White Rose
at the University of Munich, the Scholls, Huber and Probst discovered this as every letter they sent was scrutinized for espionage, every pamphlet
confiscated and their equipment broken, and as they were finally sentenced , imprisoned at Stadelheim and put to death
by guillotine for the great crime of telling the truth and opposing Hitler. Still, the resistance boldly hammered the
truth in as many ways possible to the German public, most effectively in the churches and universities, but met with such
violent opposition that its effect was limited.