By far I think this was the most disturbing, stomach-churning and fascinating reading we’ve had so far this semester. Overall, I was astonished by the rhetoric used by commandeers and witnesses in reporting the atrocities committed by the police forces. I found myself feeling physically ill at certain sections, such as any time the term “liquidation” was used, as well as when an officer called Carl wrote that “I was not present at the shootings outside the city. Thus I can say nothing about the brutality. But it suffices when I emphasize that long after being thrown in the grave, some of those shot worked their way out again” (22). The imagery that emanates from this passage of injured men, women and infants attempting to escape brought tears to my eyes. I found it telling that while surely there were children killed (as records of infants wandering around did not seem to surface) none of policemen admitted to killing infants themselves.
The idea that these executions were so quick and terrifying that officers found themselves missing on purpose and having to be given lessons on the proper place to shoot tells quite a bit about how new and uncomfortable such a task was even to the men we’ve come to demonize. One important point that I noticed was that in the massacre at Jozefow men were permitted to abandon the firing squads without punishment. For some reason I assumed that such behavior would be judged harshly (although they said only one of the commanding officers responded this way). I’ve also come to notice how important it was to justify actions and propagandize the Jewish victims, at least at the very beginning. While the reasons for this were at least hypothesized, I don’t feel like I found answers (at least in this first half of the book): “These men were not desk murderers who could take refuge in distance, routine, and bureaucratic euphemisms that veiled the reality of mass murder. These men saw their victims face to face… No one participating in the events described in this report could have had the slightest doubt about what he was involved in, namely a mass murder program to exterminate the Jews of Galicia… But how did these men first become mass murderers? What happened in the unit when they first killed?“(36-7). It was difficult for me to measure up the explanations of moral aversion felt by soldiers with the images shown of men smiling in front of kneeling Jews about to be killed (between pages 40-41).
Like Alexa, I was also intrigued by the fact that men were allowed to desert the firing squads without punishment in massacre at Jozefow. I too assumed that such behavior would be severely punished because it seemed illogical for Nazi authorities to undermine their authority and the ultimate goal of the regime by endorsing such a demoralizing act, given so many men clearly already have unsettling qualms about participating in this genocide. This would only cast doubts on those who claimed to be “proud in participating in the defeat of the world enemy, Bolshevism” (13). Perhaps such tolerance could be partly explained by sympathy? In any case, this sheds more light on the tormenting mental struggles that these men must have felt at the time, torn over the conflict of abiding by one’s moral conscious for the sake of sanity and consolation or the orders from above for the benefit of the German nation.
ReplyDeleteIf I remember correctly (I don't have the book on me), the comfort level of the soldiers increased with time. The first time, they were given an an opportunity to opt-out (which few took), and there seemed to be discomfort and disgust with the murders.
ReplyDeleteBy the massacre with the mass grave and the police drunkenly shooting, there seemed to be much more belief in the Holocaust. Obviously, this can partly be explained by the alcohol, the Nazis were thinking less clearly and were much more relaxed in their actions as they became increasingly drunk. But, I also think that this comfort was partly derived from the fact that this wasn't the first massacre, and the lack of an opt-out. It was an order, not a request or 'if you have time,' there was clear instruction and clear purpose int he soldier's directions. With that, it became their superior's responsibility, they were just following orders.