Greetings from Auschwitz
The "Secret Factory of Death" allowed its inmates to send official
Auschwitz-Postcards and to receive letters twice a month. How does this match with the story that the purpose of the Auschwitz camp was to kill its inmates?
Can anybody here explain to me why a 'death camp' would allow its inmates to send and receive mail twice a month? So where are the postcards in Russian or French describing all the horrors in coded language?
Answer: there are none.
Now here is how a German 'deat camp' looks like:
* A camp hospital to which
expert surgeons even from the famous Berlin "Charité" Surgical Clinic were dispatched to deal with difficult cases -
* Camp sick barracks, attended by camp inmate doctors and nurses to deal with the inmates' health problems - much like the now common walk-in clinics in modern US communities -
* A
Camp diet kitchen, one of the largest service buildings in Auschwitz, with state-of-the-art cooking facilities. (This building had 12 chimneys and can be visited today...)
* The caloric content of the diet was carefully monitored by camp and Red Cross delegates. It only deteriorated in Auschwitz and other camps towards the end of the war when German railroads and the entire transport system collapsed under constant aerial attacks -
* Up to
16 Camp orchestras, with every conceivable instrument available -
* Camp Post Office with twice weekly pick-ups and deliveries.
* A
Camp theater, where live plays could be performed by camp inmate actors -
*
Camp sculpture classes conducted for interested, talented inmates by professional sculptors
* Camp art classes for inmates
*
Camp University with lectures on every topic under the sun, from health, the arts, philosophy, science, economic issues etc.
* A
Camp cinema - where every week different, mainly cultural and non-political films were shown -
* A
Camp Brothel, in which 12-15 women were paid between RM 2.- to RM 4.- for their services, The Women and customers were given a medical checks BEFORE each visit.
*
Camp religious facilities made available on a rotating basis to every denomination for religious services -
* A
Camp library, where inmates could borrow books from Fourty -five thousand volumes available -
* A
Camp swimming pool for use by the inmates on Birkenallee, where there were walkways with comfortable benches for inmates to relax in the shade of the trees -
*
Camp sports facilities, like soccer fields, handball areas, fencing classes and other exercise facilities -
* A Camp coupon incentive system, where through extra work inmates could obtain coupons redeemable for cake or ice cream in the Camp Cantina, which also had extra toiletries etc.
* A
Camp Complaints Office, where inmates could register complaints or make suggestions. Camp Commander Hoess had a standing order that any inmate could approach him personally to register a complaint about other inmates such as "Kapos" and even guards.
* A system of strict discipline for guards and also for inmates, with severe punishment being handed out against those found guilty (for even slapping an inmate)
* An Auschwitz "In-Camp COURT & Jail". (!) Since the camp was a large, open facility, transgressors could be arrested, tried and jailed right in Auschwitz. (This jail was opposite the gynecological facility.)
* An
Auschwitz Maternity Ward - Over
3,000 live births were registered there, with not a single infant death while Auschwitz was in operation under German rule -
* Child day care center where working mothers could leave their children.
* Auschwitz crematoria - These structures were hastily built by inmate labor after the first typhus epidemic caused thousands of deaths. (Burial of epidemic victims had caused the ground water to be contaminated causing infections among the German staff. Amongst the victims was an early camp commandant's wife. Polish peasants from the surrounding district were also cremated here.)
* Auschwitz pregnancies took place because of the open nature of the facility.
Auschwitz marriages took place because worker inmates fell in love and married their inmate partners.
Some death camp!