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| Dr Robert Jay Lifton |
THE NAZI DOCTORS:
Medical
Killing and
the
Psychology
of Genocide © |
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222 |
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| AUSCHWITZ: THE RACIAL CURE |
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they did this, but it had to do with a mixture of fear and
resentment of her superior (“[She had all the] advantages [of status and
authority]. She should do it [the selections] herself”) and with
frustration once more at being given this “responsibility” while her
own medical side was cruelly destroyed (“We were not doctors at all ....
We had no rights .... no drugs,... nothing.... We were like puppets”) When
the superior finally located her two subordinates, Dr. N. said, “She was
very angry ... [at] how we let her do this thing alone, and [she said]:
‘Do you think [it] is collegial to do such a thing?’”
Prisoner doctors used their connections with SS doctors to attempt
every possible ploy to save people from selections. One prisoner doctor
conveyed their combination of ingenious dedication (“We managed to conceal
essential records and told patients to go to the bathroom”) and something
close to futility (“In this way, even if we could not do very much, they
perhaps had a chance or at least could die a more or less natural death”).
Friendly relations could also be cultivated with certain SDG
noncommissioned officers, some of whom had been medical and theological
students. A prisoner doctor described one who was considered especially decent
and would say quietly, “It is likely that they will come [for selections]
tomorrow.” Others could be bribed so that requests that they help arrange
for numbers to be changed in life-saving ways would be accompanied by envelopes
with money.
Dr. Henri Q. stressed the importance of humor, telling of a
middle-aged French-Jewish dentist who kept “making jokes, laughing, and
telling us stories”: “I told myself he was completely crazy.” He
would say such things to Dr. Q. as “Dear Marquis, at five o’clock we
are to have tea together,” making Q. wonder whether the dentist “did
not realize what was going on here.” But, in retrospect, he helped the
prisoner doctors “by telling his stories” — that is, by creating
a consistent debunking alternative, however unreal, to the terrible actuality.
One cannot overemphasize the sea of death in which
prisoner doctors lived. In addition to constant selections, there were,
especially during the early days, punitive roll calls on medical blocks in
which everyone, no matter how sick, was forced outside to the front of the
block, either to stand at attention or, if unable to do so, to lie on the
ground. Even in cold weather they were dressed only in underwear and were
sometimes doused with cold water, resulting in many deaths. One had to carry on
as though life could be continued: “Strange how everybody knew and did not
know the everpresent proximity of death.”4 Together with the daily routine was constant talk
(and evidence) of “going up the chimney.” Even as they committed
themselves to the struggle to live, prisoner doctors could believe, as did
Gerda N., “that the death sentence was given to all of us . . .[whether
for] ... today or tomorrow.”
Threats and pressures from SS doctors
could make that death sentence |
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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 222 |
Forward |
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