Auschwitz-Birkenau: Some Thoughts

Auschwitz-Birkenau, #4, Poland, 2023

“Monsters exist, but they are too few in number to be truly dangerous. More dangerous are the common men [and women], the functionaries ready to believe and to act without asking questions.”
― Primo Levi, 1919-1987; Italian-Jewish chemist, writer, and survivor of the Auschwitz camp complex

Re the above quote: just how many such functionaries, bureaucrats, politicians–and general citizens at large–exist today in the governments of the world… even in our own country? People willing to to act without asking questions… willing to believe without critical thought… willing to kick down at the less fortunate because it makes them feel good???

It is so easy to hate and to destroy, and so difficult to bring together and to build.

My Thoughts

Yes, history is replete with genocides, mass killings. Nihil novum sub sole. Just in our own country we have the African slave trade and our so grandly-labeled “Manifest Destiny” (near erasure of the indigenous cultures)–neither of which have we completely dealt with as a society. Then, of course, we have Carthage, the Dzungars, the Mongols, Australia/New Zealand, Armenia, Stalin, Pol Pot, Bosnia, Rwanda, Sudan… ad f-ing nauseam.

What was so different about the Nazis, then?

Well, it was the first time a supposedly “modern and enlightened” culture (notable achievements in art, music, science, philosophy!), deliberately and with malice aforethought, created an enormous state-sponsored and state-operated industrial killing machine with the intent of eliminating all so-called “undesireables” from society (Jews very specifically, but also, the mentally ill, the physically handicapped, communists, homosexuals, gypsies, and others).

What are the lessons for us today?

Here they are as I see them:

You may be tempted to point the finger and say, “It was just a German thing. An anomaly.” But it wasn’t just a “German thing”. It was a HUMAN thing. There is a dark side to all of us humans, unfortunately.
It could happen anywhere–yes, even here in the United States (we have already done a bit of minor rehearsal with the Japanese during WWII and more recently with our “illegal” immigrants).
There are folks in the USA who, in the name of patriotism, would gladly go along with some sort of “final solution” to our “problem” of immigration, cultural diversity, and “wokeness”. See the growth of neo-Nazi and white nationalist groups.
There are now active and popular politicians in the USA who are currently and continually fanning the flames of intolerance with barely-concealed violent and racist rhetoric. The scapegoating is blatant–just like Germany of the 1930s.
There is an unusually large sector of the American population (low information citizens, I would call them) who are primed and receptive to easy manipulation by today’s mass of misinformation and propaganda–just like Germany of the 1930s.
So, the stage is set and the curtain is ready to open in this country… all that remains is that good people stand by and do nothing–as in Germany of the 1930s and 1940s.

The Solution?

–Vote in EVERY election–even for your local school board. (Don’t vote? You are part of the problem.)

–Take a friend with you to vote.

–Contribute to candidates and campaigns that support science, truth, democracy, diversity, and tolerance.

–Write letters to your representatives, to your newspapers.

–Attend (peacefully) demonstrations and protests.

–Set an example with your words and behavior.

–Engage, in a friendly and respectful manner, friends and neighbors who may be tempted by the lurking fascist rabbit hole.

Consider this a minimum.

I almost didn’t photograph Auschwitz at all out of respect for those who suffered there. In the end, I decided to use my iPhone in a just few places with the idea of communicating the darkness of this infamous camp… and to spread the word that, yes, it DID happen, and it CAN happen again–today, where you live.

[NOTE: Colorado photographer Cole Thompson also struggled with how to capture the enormity of it all on his camera’s sensor, but managed to find a very unique way. The result was one of the most respectful and moving collection of photographs of this place I have ever seen, called The Ghosts of Auschwitz. I urge you to visit that link and see this portfolio. I can’t imagine anyone else capturing the soul of this place much better than he did.]