The Compass

I have just finished reading a book for the fourth time. It is a dis­turbing work, to say the least. It is The Commandant of Auschwitz by Rudolf Höss. If you recall, Auschwitz has been in the news of late, when it was reported that the sign over the main gate had been stolen. The sign read “Arbeit Macht Frei,” which translated from German means “Work Makes You Free.” This, of course, was an extremely cynical slogan, as Auschwitz was a death camp and by its very nature was an institution that no inmate would ever survive, let alone leave as a free person. Much has been written since World War II about how a nation such as Germany could have fallen under the spell of someone like Adolf Hitler and then follow him into the horrors of the Second World War and then follow his orders and attempt to eliminate the Jewish race in Europe by rounding them up and murdering them. The Germans are a well-educated people, innovative, industrious, and hard working, and yet they fell under Hitler’s spell and moved to the dark side.

The reasons that enabled Hitler to come to power are easily explained. Following Germany’s defeat in World War I, the allied powers assigned Germany reparations for what the allies deter­mined was Germany’s fault for starting the war. The allies dictat­ed a new form of government, the Weimar Republic, which was distrusted and despised by most Germans. Germany experienced runaway inflation and high unemployment, then the Great Depres­sion. The country also experienced constant unrest caused by the Communists and other, smaller groups. Germany was a mess and was ready for a strong leader, and Hitler was that man. But that doesn’t explain away all the excesses that were to come. so perhaps we need to examine the career of Rudolf Höss. He was born to a typical German family. His father wanted him to study for the priesthood. Höss, however, joined the military and served in World War I at the young age of fifteen. After the war he was ac­tive in paramilitary groups, joining the Freikorps. These were vol­unteer outfits which defended the shaky borders of Germany and were also used by the government to quell internal disturbances.

Höss was captured by the police and charged with murder, found guilty, and sentenced to ten years. He served six years and was released in a general amnesty. He married, had three children, and, fiveyears later, he accepted Heinrich Himmler’s call to join the SS (secret police) as a guard at the infamous Dachau concen­tration

camp near Munich. He performed his duties well, and was promoted and assigned to the Sachsenhausen camp.

With the invasion of Poland in 1939, the functions of the con­centration camps changed. Theretofore, they had functioned as prisons where criminals and political prisoners alike were kept. Now, since the SS was charged with protecting Germany from its enemies, the job of executing the “enemies” fell to the concentra­tion

camps, and it was to be carried out immediately upon receipt of the prisoner. Höss contends he was taken aback by this change in mission but rationalized it by reasoning that if the Führer (Hit­ler) decided this was the correct thing to do and gave the orders it must be the right thing to do, and he obeyed with blind loyalty. With the conquest of Poland, and subsequently large amounts of Russia, Hitler had a new problem, and he put into motion “The Final Solution” for dealing with the large amount of Jews living in these conquered areas. The Germans would build death camps and eliminate (murder) them all. Because of Höss’s good record and accomplishments, Himmler chose Höss to build the death camp of Auschwitz in the small Polish town of Oswiecim. He became the death camp’s first commandant.

Höss speaks in emotionless terms of how he and his deputy, Karl Fritzch, first used the gas Cyclon B, an insecticide, on one of the first shipments of Jews to be executed. It was a complete suc­cess

and became standard procedure at not only Auschwitz but at the other camps as well.

Höss then goes on to tell of building the crematoriums to in­cinerate the bodies and coldly describes technical problems and how he found ways around them to increase production. It was as though he was describing a shopping trip to Roche Brothers. By 1944 Höss reckoned he had eliminated more than two million Jews. This he described in a matter-of-fact manner as though he was talking about Monopoly money. For his good work he was promoted and left Auschwitz. At war’s end he blended in with the other nine million men in uni­form and by using a false ID he was assigned to work on a farm. He was finally identified by the British, taken into custody, and subsequently turned over to the Polish authorities, where he was tried, convicted, and sentenced to hang. He was given a reprieve of several months to write his autobiography for future generations to study. He was hanged in 1947. To the end Höss maintained that while the extermination of the Jews was “fundamentally wrong” he never for a moment thought of refusing to take part in murdering more than two million souls. So how do I sum this up? By writing this article I want to make two points. First: the Holocaust happened and we cannot forget it. The second point let me try to explain thusly. The compass is an interesting device that has saved countless lives. When pointed in the proper direction it indicates north and by doing so tells us where east, west, and south are, also. When we are lost it shows us the proper direction, which enables us to findour way.

I believe we all have the equivalent of a moral compass, and when we ignore the reading, we end up in trouble. Of course, God is the moral compass I refer to, and when we lose His direction is when the trouble begins; and there is no better example of that than Adolf Hitler’s godless Nazi Germany. Look at the other two monsters of the 20th century also, Josef Stalin and Pol Pot — God­less also.