1942
At Auschwitz human beings lived and died
under conditions that defy our understanding
Hitler's Third Reich employed the latest technology available
in order to commit genocide quickly, quietly and efficiently
Many of the senior SS officers involved
were intelligent, well-educated and cultured individuals
The majority of those who escaped capture returned home
to live out respectable family lives
Anus Mundi
On my first day at Auschwitz
I witnessed the gassing operation.
An SS officer offered to show me the process
and to explain the procedure.
When we arrived at the building
a group of women were sitting outside.
They had not been allowed to enter
as their clothing was so filthy.
They were ordered to undress.
I could see by their reactions
that they knew what was coming.
They pleaded piteously with the guards.
Once they were naked
they were directed down some steps
then through underground changing-rooms
which led to the gas chamber.
An airtight door was bolted behind them.
In it there was a small round window
through which we could observe
what happened inside.
We had to wait for a while
for the temperature in the chamber to rise.
The operators had learned from past experience
that the heat increases the efficiency of the process.
Finally the lights were switched off.
and two SS Disinfectors on the roof above
emptied tins of Zyclon B crystals into metal tubes.
These metal tubes ran straight down into the gas chamber.
Screaming began
when the crystals started to vaporise
but due to the darkness inside the chamber
it wasn't possible for us to view the actual deaths.
Gradually the screaming died down
and after about twenty minutes all was quiet.
The extractor fans in the ceiling were switched on
and after another twenty minutes the airtight door was opened.
Smeared with their blood and excrement
the bodies were twisted together
forming a sort of pyramid,
the strongest on top.
Personnel wearing gas-masks and aprons entered the chamber.
They were Jewish prisoners called Sonderkommando
They prized the bodies apart with metal bars
and then hosed them down.
The metal bars had hooked ends
which were inserted into the mouths
so that the bodies could be dragged outside
where they were piled up in the corridor by the lifts.
From there they were loaded
onto the metal platforms of the lifts
which carried them up to the actual ovens
where first they would be searched for valuables.
Orifices were searched for hidden jewellery.
Dentists broke out the gold teeth,
dropping them into jars of acid
to dissolve the bone.
Finally the bodies were loaded onto trolleys
which ran directly up to the ovens,
where the crematorium staff
slid them into the flames.
Cremation took about twenty minutes.
When the ashes had cooled down
they were loaded onto lorries
for disposal in the Vistula.
It was a most disturbing experience.
I wrote in my diary that night
This must be the Anus Mundi.
The anal orifice of the world.