What does the KL stand for in KL Auschwitz?
One of the merits of “KL” (a common abbreviation of Konzentrationslager, or concentration camp) is the way it captures the inexorable slide, over a 12-year arc, from fierce repression and cruelty to systematic murder and industrialized extermination.
Who is Nikolaus Wachsmann?
Nikolaus Wachsmann is a professor of Modern German History at the University of London and the author of Hitler’s Prisons: Legal Terror in Nazi Germany.
What is Birkenau famous for?
Auschwitz
Birkenau was the largest camp in the Auschwitz complex. It became primarily a centre for the mass murder of Jews brought there for extermination, and of Roma and Sinti prisoners during its final period.
What broke Mrs Schachter?
What had “broken” Mme. Schachter? That she had been separated from her husband and children, all but one.
How was everyone disinfected overnight?
In the barracks, the Jews are stripped and shaved, disinfected with gasoline, showered, and clothed in prison uniforms. They are lectured by a Nazi officer and told that they have two options: hard work or the crematorium.
What did Mme Schachter scream about?
Madame Schächter, a middle-aged woman who is on the train with her ten-year-old son, soon cracks under the oppressive treatment to which the Jews are subjected. On the third night, she begins to scream that she sees a fire in the darkness outside the car.
What was Juliek’s last act before he died?
Juliek’s last act was to play his violin “to an audience of dying and dead men”. After the grueling march from the camp at Buna, the prisoners finally arrive at their destination, Gleiwitz.
What happened to the rabbi’s son night?
Rabbi Eliahou’s son abandons him during the death march from Buna, and a nameless son, in the cattle cars from Gleiwitz to Buchenwald, beats his father to death for a crust of bread.