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| Dr Robert Jay Lifton |
THE NAZI DOCTORS:
Medical
Killing and
the
Psychology
of Genocide © |
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390 |
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| AUSCHWITZ: THE RACIAL CURE |
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Another prisoner doctor was aware of Wirths as a man
“from a decent family, who had some moral fiber,” and described his
having been given the nickname of “Dr. Unblutig” (Dr. Unbloody),
after the trademark of a corn-plaster product showing an old white-haired
doctor urging that corn plaster be used in place of surgery. The nickname could
imply killing without bloodying one’s own hands, but this prisoner doctor
felt that it had more to do with Wirths’s personal mildness and
constructive efforts in a “bloody” environment.
Wirths
cultivated friendly relationships with certain inmates. Dr. Tadeusz S. told of
appearing at Wirths’s office to bring some reports and of Wirths
continuing to dictate letters to family members in which he expressed sympathy
toward prisoners and unhappiness about the war: “He wanted me to listen to
those letters.” Dr. S. believed that, in addition to “wanting to be
liked,” Wirths was thinking ahead about what his personal situation would
be after Germany’s defeat.
Langbein described a power reversal in
these relationships during the last year of the war. In mid-1944, a BBC
broadcast, making use of information provided by the Auschwitz underground,
included Wirths’s name on a list of Nazi officers involved in the murder
apparatus and passed a death sentence on them. Aware from documents that it was
the time of his wife’s birthday, Langbein, after discussing the matter
with underground colleagues, arranged for flowers (acquired by inmates who did
gardening), as well as a painting of her and the children (done by a prisoner
artist from a photograph) to be delivered to the chief doctor. The next day,
Langbein explained to Wirths that the gift, and especially the family picture,
“s to show that the death sentence has been revoked,” and added,
“I'm not saying this on my own.” It was the underground's way of
declaring its presence to him at an appropriate time. Langbein later recalled
that he had written, “Now you are our tool, Chief physician!” But
beyond their wish to increase their final influence over him, Langbein and his
friends also wished to establish a process that could lead to actually saving
the lives of Wirths and his family.
In late 1944 or early 1945, Karl
Lill — a Czech Communist who, with Langbein, served as Wirths’s
prisoner secretary — sent a note to Wirths (which Lill later described in
a letter to Wirths’s father) asking the chief doctor to prevent a Nazi
plan (that Lill and others had heard of and that actually did exist),
originating in the Political Department, to kill all prisoners. Again with a
combination of threat and compassion, Lili declared that, if Wirths were to
stay and help, it could then be concluded that “in this unprecedented
morass one man, a German officer of the Waffen SS, acted like a human being
until the end”; he urged Wirths not to waiver: “For your and your
family’s and a far mightier One’s [meaning God’s] sake.” In
another letter Lill told how, at their last meeting, Wirths urged him
“with tearful eyes” to join the prisoners’ evacuation because he
was convinced that should Lill remain in Auschwitz the Russians would
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THE NAZI DOCTORS:
Medical Killing and the
Psychology of
Genocide
Robert J. Lifton
ISBN 0-465-09094
©
1986 |
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Back |
Page 390 |
Forward |
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