Category Archives: Auschwitz
When the International Committee of the Red Cross was Fooled
Although the Red Cross does important work, it often got it wrong in the past, and arguably in the present, when it’s about political positions. They appear to take one side—usually the side that controls the data.
One infamous example is the visit by the International Red Cross to Theresienstadt Concentration Camp in 1944. The Nazis orchestrated a deceptive façade, presenting the camp as a model settlement to the Red Cross inspectors, who were not allowed to speak with the inmates freely. This visit resulted in a misleading report that downplayed the true nature of the camp and the Holocaust.
An inspection was demanded by the King of Denmark, following the deportation of 466 Danish Jews to Terezin in 1943.
In February 1944, the SS embarked on a “beautification” (German: Verschönerung) campaign to prepare the ghetto for the Red Cross visit. Many “prominent” prisoners and Danish Jews were re-housed in private, superior quarters. The streets were renamed and cleaned; sham shops and a school were set up; the SS encouraged the prisoners to perform an increasing number of cultural activities, which exceeded that of an ordinary town in peacetime. As part of the preparations, 7,503 people were sent to the family camp at Auschwitz in May; the transports targeted sick, elderly, and disabled people who had no place in the ideal Jewish settlement.
Maurice Rossel was a Swiss delegate of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) who visited Theresienstadt Concentration Camp in June 1944. His report on Theresienstadt has been a subject of controversy and criticism. Rossel’s report portrayed Theresienstadt as a “model ghetto” where Jews were supposedly well-treated, with adequate housing, food, and cultural activities. However, this depiction was highly misleading and failed to capture the true horrors of the Holocaust. Rossel admitted that he gave Theresienstadt a clean bill of health and would probably have done so again and that he was also given a tour of Auschwitz, which he did not realize was a death camp despite the sullen, haunted looks he received from the inmates.
Two delegates—from the International Red Cross and one from the Danish Red Cross—visited the ghetto, accompanied by Theresienstadt commandant SS First Lieutenant Karl Rahm and one of his deputies. The facility had been “cleaned up” and rearranged as a model village. Hints that all was not well included a bruise under the eye of the “mayor” of the “town,” a part played by Paul Eppstein, the Elders’ Council member representing German Jews. Despite these hints, the International Red Cross inspectors were taken in. This was in part because they expected to see ghetto conditions like those in occupied Poland with people starving in the streets and armed policemen on the perimeter.
For the Red Cross visit, even the SS Scharfuhrer [squad leader] Rudolph Haindl was nice to the children for the benefit of the camera…he posed for the camera, smiling, and not insisting that he be greeted by Jews from a distance of three steps, as he had demanded just the day before.
The visitors were suitably impressed, and the reports after the visit were positive. Pleased with their success, the Nazis decided to create a “documentary-style” film about Terezín in the summer of 1944. Kurt Gerron, an inmate who had been a well-known actor and director, was put in charge of the filming of The Führer Gives a City to the Jews, but he was not allowed to edit the film or even view the developed footage.
Two weeks after the movie was completed, he and other participants were sent to Auschwitz. Gerron was gassed soon after his arrival.
On December 19, 1996, the International Committee of the Red Cross today released copies of its World War II files, some of which provided verification that it knew of the persecution of Jews in Nazi concentration camps but felt powerless to speak out.
The files, 25,000 microfilmed pages, were donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
The Red Cross said its knowledge about the treatment of Jews during World War II had been written about by Jean-Claude Favez in his book ”Une Mission Impossible.” The book was published in France in 1988 and later translated into German but never appeared in English. Some American scholars and Holocaust survivors in the United States were also aware of the Red Cross’s knowledge, but generally, it was not known more widely.
The Red Cross has long acknowledged its awareness of the treatment of Jews during World War II, maintaining that if it had disclosed what it knew, it would have lost its ability to inspect prisoner-of-war camps on both sides of the front.
No one at the museum has had the opportunity to study the material, said Radu Ioanid, the museum’s specialist on Holocaust survivors. But Mr. Ioanid said documents that he had briefly seen disclosed that the Red Cross, which is supposed to maintain neutrality, had rescued thousands of Jews in Hungary and Romania and had assisted Jews at a concentration camp in Ravensbruck, Germany.
For the most part, however, the Red Cross’s assistance came late in the war and beneficiaries were relatively few compared with the millions of people who died in the camps.
”The International Committee of the Red Cross has shared responsibility for the silence of the world community,” Georges Willemin, the organization’s archivist, said today. ”Could we have gone further? Could we have done more? I don’t know.”
The documents are in two groups, one dealing with Jewish prisoners and the other with hostages and political detainees. Mr. Willemin said both groups of files contained many first-hand accounts and reports on the persecution of Jews and political prisoners from 1939 to 1945.
Asked why it had taken more than 50 years for the organization’s information to be released, Mr. Willemin replied, ”Because it takes time to face your own history.”
Miles Lerman, chairman of the Holocaust Museum, said lives could have been saved if the Red Cross had spoken out during the war, but Mr. Lerman also cautioned against condemning the organization.
”There is no question about it,” he said. ”People, good people, decided to look the other way, including people in the Red Cross in Britain and the United States.
”Always when people speak out, lives are saved. ”I wouldn’t describe them as villains but as part of the world that found it more convenient to remain silent.”
Another scholar at the museum, Randolph L. Braham, Distinguished Professor Emeritus in Political Science at the City University of New York, wrote in his book, ”The Politics of Genocide” (Columbia University Press, 1994): ”The International Red Cross feared that intervention in support of the Jews might jeopardize its traditional activities on behalf of prisoners of war.”
Mr. Ioanid said, ”There is no doubt that the Red Cross let itself be used by the Nazis.”
He gave as an example the ”positive reports” that Red Cross inspectors wrote about the concentration camp at Terezin, Czechoslovakia, and said the organization had been ”clearly manipulated.”
To all outward appearances, Terezin, also known as Theresienstadt, was an unthreatening, model camp that even had its own symphony orchestra. In reality, it was a way station for Jews and other prisoners headed to the death camp at Auschwitz.
To its credit, Mr. Ioanid said, the Red Cross took 3,000 to 3,500 Jewish orphans from Romania to Palestine on ships in 1944 when the Romanians realized their German allies were going to lose the war and relaxed their anti-Jewish campaign. By then, however, half of Romania’s 760,000 Jews had already been killed.
Mr. Willemin said the Red Cross’s decision to release its wartime records ”was an important change for an organization that through its history has been inclined to protect the privacy of its records so as not to run any risk of impairing its humanitarian work and its reputation for impartiality and neutrality.”
The camp became a model city for six hours while International Red Cross delegates visited on June 23, 1944. Unfortunately, the International Red Cross seems not to have learned from the past.
Sources
https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/terezin-site-deception
https://www.hmd.org.uk/resource/23-june-1944-the-red-cross-visits-terezin-concentration-camp/
https://www.icrc.org/en/document/icrc-wwii-holocaust
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/theresienstadt-red-cross-visit
Donation
I am passionate about my site and I know you all like reading my blogs. I have been doing this at no cost and will continue to do so. All I ask is for a voluntary donation of $2, however if you are not in a position to do so I can fully understand, maybe next time then. Thank you. To donate click on the credit/debit card icon of the card you will use. If you want to donate more then $2 just add a higher number in the box left from the PayPal link. Many thanks.
$2.00
Auschwitz Birkenau
In the shadows of history’s darkest hour,
Lies a place where hope lost its power.
Auschwitz-Birkenau, silent and stark,
Bears witness to humanity’s deepest mark.
Within its fences, anguish did reign,
As innocent souls felt the tormenting pain.
Their cries echoing through the chilling air,
Beseeching a world that seemed not to care.
In barracks cramped, they huddled in fear,
Their dreams shattered, their future unclear.
Families torn apart, their bonds severed,
In the grip of hatred, they endured forever.
Yet amidst the despair, a flicker of light,
As they clung to memories, holding them tight.
Love transcending barbed wire and hate’s decree,
A testament to the strength of humanity.
Though they may be gone, their voices still rise,
A haunting reminder of the ultimate price.
We vow to remember, to honor and mourn,
The souls of Auschwitz, forever reborn.
Let their stories be told, let their names be heard,
May their legacy inspire, their memory preserved.
For in our remembrance, they shall never be lost,
The victims of Auschwitz, forever embossed.
These are just a few.
Ester Wouthuijsen-Ricardo, born in Amsterdam, on 8 August 1887—was murdered in Auschwitz Birkenau, on 14 August 1942. Reached the age of 55 years.
Alexander Waterman was born in Amsterdam on 20 March 1937. Murdered in Auschwitz Birkenau on 2 August 1942. He reached the age of 5.
Esther Eveline Werkenda was born in Borgerhout on 13 September 1933. Murdered in Auschwitz Birkenau on 2 August 1942. She was 8 years old.
Abraham Schuit was born in Amsterdam on 19 September 1907. Murdered in Auschwitz Birkenau, on 30 September 1942. He reached the age of 35 years. Occupation: Diamond polisher
Sara Mol-Pam was born in Amsterdam on 23 June 1904. Murdered in Auschwitz Birkenau on 26 August 1943 at the age of 39.
Sources
https://www.joodsmonument.nl/nl/page/218806/ester-wouthuijsen-ricardo
https://www.joodsmonument.nl/nl/page/177238/alexander-waterman
https://www.joodsmonument.nl/nl/page/32143/esther-eveline-werkendam
Holocaust—A Solemn Cry
“In shadows deep where nightmares dwell,
A chapter etched in history’s spell.
Holocaust, your bitter tale,
Of anguish, loss, and skies so pale.
From ghettos choked with sorrow’s breath,
To camps where darkness met with death,
The human spirit, tested, tried,
Yet hope, a flicker, never died.
In ashes rose a solemn vow,
To never forget, to honor how
The brave souls fought, the martyrs bled,
Their legacy, a light ahead.
Though time may blur the lines of pain,
Their stories echo, clear, remain.
For in their memory, we find
The strength to heal, the will to bind.
Holocaust, a solemn cry,
A testament to those who lie
In fields of silence, never rest,
Their voices echo, we attest.
So let us stand, and let us vow,
To keep alive their sacred now.
In remembrance, let us strive
For peace, for justice, to revive.”
The photograph adorning the beginning of the blog captures a poignant moment in the life of Herman David Santcroos. He was born in Amsterdam on 10 June 1943, and tragically passed away in Meerlo, the Netherlands, on 19 October 1944, just reaching the age of one.
Under the care of Mr. and Mrs. Nabben, he was one of the Jewish foster children during a tumultuous period in history. Herman’s mother, a survivor of the Holocaust, endured unspeakable suffering, only to return from Auschwitz in search of her beloved child. Her heart-wrenching anguish persisted as she learned of her son’s passing, and the anguish of the Holocaust haunted her every waking moment. Each new day began without her precious son by her side, a reminder that for her, the scars of the Holocaust would never truly heal. Every breath was a testament to the enduring pain and loss that no passage of time could ever erase.
“Where horrors scarred both heart and hand,
Amidst the shadows, dark and deep,
A fragile bloom dared rise from sleep.
In soil stained with tears of pain,
Where memories of loss remain,
A flower bloomed, a symbol bright,
Defiant ‘gainst the endless night.
Its petals, soft, a whispering grace,
A tender touch in desolate space,
A beacon of hope, though frail it seemed,
In a landscape haunted, where nightmares teemed.
With each petal unfurled, a silent plea,
For remembrance, for humanity,
To never forget the lives once lost,
Nor the innocence at such a cost.
For in that flower, Auschwitz’s bloom,
Lies a story of resilience in gloom,
A testament to the human will,
To endure, to survive, against all ill.
So let us cherish this Auschwitz flower,
A symbol of hope, of strength, of power,
And vow to keep its memory bright,
In the darkest of days, in the blackest of night.”
Sources
https://www.joodsmonument.nl/en/page/181236/herman-david-santcroos
Holocaust Art by David Olère—A Survivor
David Olère was a Polish-French artist known primarily for his powerful and haunting artworks depicting the Holocaust. Born in Warsaw, Poland, in 1902, Olère survived internment in several concentration camps during World War II, including Auschwitz and Buchenwald.
After the war, Olère settled in France and began creating art that bore witness to the atrocities he had experienced. His works often depicted scenes from the camps, capturing the brutality and inhumanity of the Holocaust. Olère’s art served as a form of testimony and remembrance, ensuring that the horrors of the Holocaust would not be forgotten.
One of his most well-known works is a series of paintings and drawings depicting the gas chambers and crematoria of Auschwitz, based on his firsthand experiences. These works are particularly striking in their stark portrayal of the grim realities of the Holocaust.
Olère’s art continues to be a significant contribution to Holocaust remembrance, offering a unique perspective from someone who survived the horrors of the camps and felt compelled to document them through his art.
I did post some of his works before, the painting at the top is titled, “The Food of the Dead for the Living,” and below are more.
Admission in Mauthausen by David Olère.
The Experimental Injection by David Olère
The Oven Room by David Olère
Gassing by David Olère.
On 20 February 1943, due to his Jewish origin, he was arrested by the French police and placed in the Drancy Camp. On 2 March, he was deported from Drancy to the German Nazi Auschwitz Camp, where he was registered with number 106144. Throughout his entire stay at the camp, he worked in the Sonderkommando, a special work unit forced by the Germans to aid in the operation of the crematoriums and gas chambers.
“David Olère is the only prisoner of Sonderkommando who transferred his traumatic experiences from the shadow of the crematorium chimneys on paper and canvas.” — Dr. Piotr M. A. Cywiński
Sources
https://fcit.usf.edu/Holocaust/resource/gallery/olere.htm#D54
Music and Holocaust
From Zero to 102
I was reluctant to use the title, From Zero to 102 as the title, I didn’t want it to look like a review for a car. However, I couldn’t think of a more suitable title either. The 0 and the 102 are the ages of two victims of the Holocaust.
This is how evil the Nazi regime really was. It is also why their industrialized way of murder was so effective. It is in human nature to always find the good in our fellow human beings, even animals. No one could really fathom the level of cruelty by the Nazis. It was unprecedented.
Suzanne Kaminski was born on 11 March 1943, in Brussels, Belgium. On 19 April 1943, she was deported from Mechelen to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Upon arrival on 22 April, she was murdered by the Nazis that same day. She was only 45 days old and considered the youngest Jewish child to be deported from Belgium.
Klara Engelsman was born on 30 April 1842 in Amsterdam as the daughter of Salomon “Samuel” Abraham Engelsman and Saartje Hartog Cosman. Klara Engelsman married Daniel Brush on 24 May 1865. As far as we know, the couple had no children. Daniel Brush died at 76 years old on 9 July 1918 in Amsterdam.
At the time of her 100th birthday, Mrs. Klara Brush-Engelsman lived at the home of the Morpurgo family. Later she stayed in the Jewish care home. In March 1944 she arrived in Camp Westerbork, where she was nursed in the camp hospital. There she still experienced her 102th birthday. She was taken on a stretcher to the train on 4 September 1944, which went to Theresienstadt, where she was murdered on 12 October 1944.
The murder of a 45 days old baby and a 102-year-old lady, is the clearest indication that the Nazis’ ideology was based on hate and hate only. Anyone who condoned this or still condones it, subscribes to that same ideology.
Sources
https://www.joodsmonument.nl/nl/page/228136/klara-borstel-engelsman
A Sparrow in Auschwitz
In Auschwitz, where shadows fall like heavy stones,
And darkness reigns in the heart of despair,
Amidst the echoes of silent groans,
A solitary sparrow dared to share.
Through barbed wire and sorrow, it flew,
A fragile beacon of hope untamed,
Its wings of freedom, a whispered clue,
In a world where humanity was maimed.
In the midst of anguish, it found a song,
A melody of resilience, pure and clear,
A flutter of wings against all that’s wrong,
A symbol of life in the face of fear.
In the bleakness of Auschwitz’s embrace,
The sparrow danced with the dawn’s first light,
A fleeting moment of beauty and grace,
A symbol of defiance against the night.
Though tyranny sought to crush its flight,
The sparrow soared on wings of grace,
A testament to the power of light,
In the darkest corners of this place.
For even in Auschwitz’s depths of woe,
Where cruelty ruled with an iron hand,
The sparrow’s spirit refused to bow,
A symbol of hope in a desolate land.
So let us remember the sparrow’s flight,
In the shadows of Auschwitz’s sorrow,
A symbol of courage, burning bright,
In the darkest night, a ray of tomorrow.
The New Apostolic Church and the Holocaust
Some people think I am Jewish, others think I am an atheist. In fact, I am neither, I am a New Apostolic Christian. But before I go into the main story, firstly a brief history and explanation of the church because it is not a well-known Christian faith.
The church has existed since 1863 in Germany and since 1897 in the Netherlands. It came about from the schism in Hamburg in 1863, when it separated from the Catholic Apostolic Church, which itself started in the 1830s as a renewal movement in, among others, the Anglican Church and Church of Scotland. The church ministers have no formal theological training. In addition to their family, professional, and social obligations, they perform their pastoral duties in an honorary capacity
However, this blog is not about the church but its situation during the Nazi era and also about one of its members who was murdered in Auschwitz.
It faced a complex relationship with the Nazi regime of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. Like many religious groups in Germany at the time, the New Apostolic Church had to navigate a precarious balance between adherence to its religious principles and the demands of the Nazi government.
The New Apostolic Church originated in the early 19th century as part of the larger Pentecostal movement, emphasizing the restoration of apostolic practices and spiritual gifts. By the time the Third Reich rose to power in the 1930s, the New Apostolic Church had established a presence in Germany and elsewhere.
Initially, the New Apostolic Church did not pose a significant challenge to the Nazi regime, and it did not draw the same level of attention or persecution as some other Christian denominations, such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses or the Confessing Church, which actively opposed Nazi policies. However, the New Apostolic Church did not fully align itself with the Nazi ideology either.
One key area of conflict between the New Apostolic Church and the Third Reich was the issue of allegiance. The Nazi regime sought to centralize power and control all aspects of German society, including religious institutions. This often led to conflicts with churches that refused to prioritize allegiance to the state over their religious beliefs.
The New Apostolic Church faced pressure to conform to the Nazi regime’s demands, including the incorporation of Nazi symbols and ideology into its practices. However, the church leadership generally avoided direct confrontation with the regime and sought to maintain a degree of independence.
While some members of the New Apostolic Church may have supported the Nazi regime, others resisted its influence or remained neutral. Individual experiences varied widely, with some facing persecution for their refusal to comply with Nazi demands, while others managed to coexist with the regime relatively peacefully.
Despite the challenges posed by the Third Reich, the New Apostolic Church survived the Nazi era and continued to exist after the fall of the regime. In the post-war period, the church, like many other religious organizations in Germany, grappled with questions of complicity, resistance, and reconciliation in the face of the horrors of the Holocaust and the crimes of the Nazi regime.
Harry Fränkel
Harry Fränkel was born on 27 April 1882 near Bremen in northern Germany. His parents, Salomon and Eliese Fränkel were Jewish. He converted and became the New Apostolic on 23 July 1908. In 1909 already he was a Sunday School teacher in Dortmund. In 1911 he was ordained as a Deacon and then, around 1922, as a Priest.
He was a successful textile merchant. He could afford to send his three children to college. And the family could afford domestic help. And then the year 1933 dawned—the year in which the Nazis seized power in Germany.
Under Persecution
Fränkel, a so-called full Jew because both parents were Jews, lost his job as managing director of the company Mayer & Günther. He started his own business. Advertisements in the German-language magazine Unsere Familie, for example, document this. In 1938, however, legislation forbade him from running his own business. His son Erich took over. Before long, he too was forbidden from carrying on with the business.
Meanwhile, Priest Fränkel was asked to suspend his ministerial activity—to protect the Church. Reprints of the choir folder omitted his name as a hymn writer. His son Harry Jr., a graphic designer and illustrator, was refused admission to the Academy of Arts. It was becoming harder and harder to find work for him. This is when Fränkel Sr. decided to emigrate.
On the Run
A first attempt was to take him to South Africa. Harry Fränkel wrote to Assistant Chief Apostle Heinrich Franz Schlaphoff, but he was unable to help. By decree, South Africa closed itself off to European Jews. The Apostle, however, gave him the address of a contact in Argentina.
Belgium was the gateway to the free world at the time. The country was more liberal in terms of refugees than its European neighbours. For 17 months, Harry Fränkel lived in Brussels in five different locations—separated from his family, friends, and congregation. While he fought for permission to be able to stay in Brussels, the Gestapo, the secret police of the Nazi regime, knew of his whereabouts. And then came 10 May 1940, the day Germany invaded Belgium.
Deported and interned
Some 10,000 men were arrested in Belgium on that day because they were suddenly labelled as enemy foreigners and were considered a threat to the country. In a mass deportation, they were carted off to France by rail. There was hardly anything to drink in the overheated and overcrowded wagons, nothing to sit on or lie down on, no toilets…
This brought Harry Fränkel close to the French-Spanish border. First, he was taken to the Saint-Cyprien camp, Block 1, Barrack No I 42, and then to a place called Gurs, which was considered the most horrifying concentration camp in France. It was rife with hunger, cold, vermin, disease, and death. And then came the day when France surrendered to Germany, on 22 June 1940.
The armistice was followed by an extradition treaty. Harry Fränkel set out on his final journey. It took him via pre-trial confinement in Frankfurt (Germany) and the notorious Steinwache (a prison used by the Gestapo) in Dortmund—barely two kilometres away from his home and family—to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp near Berlin and finally to Auschwitz.
Where he was murdered on 5 November 1942 at 8 a.m.: as per the International Holocaust Remembrance Center Yad Vashem. However, his name lives on, as the writer of the New Apostolic hymn, “Take off your shoes, for the place where you stand is holy.”
Sources
https://nac.today/en/a/1041771
https://nak.org/en/church/history
Donation
I am passionate about my site and I know you all like reading my blogs. I have been doing this at no cost and will continue to do so. All I ask is for a voluntary donation of $2, however if you are not in a position to do so I can fully understand, maybe next time then. Thank you. To donate click on the credit/debit card icon of the card you will use. If you want to donate more then $2 just add a higher number in the box left from the PayPal link. Many thanks.
$2.00
Kapo
This blog is not meant to pass judgment, I am not in a position to do so, simply because I was never put in that situation. All I know is I would do anything for survival, and especially for the survival of my family. I leave the judgment to those who survived the Holocaust, it is their prerogative.
This article is meant to explain the roles of the Kapos in the concentration camps and the ghettos.
The term “Kapo” refers to a prisoner within Nazi concentration camps who were assigned by the SS (Schutzstaffel) to oversee forced labor, maintain order, and enforce discipline among fellow inmates. The Kapos wielded significant power over other prisoners, and their roles were complex and morally fraught.
Initially, Kapos were often chosen from among the prisoner population based on perceived leadership qualities, physical strength, or skills useful to the SS. They were tasked with managing work details, distributing food, and maintaining order within the brutal and dehumanizing environment of the camps.
For some prisoners, becoming a Kapo offered a means of survival—in situations of extreme adversity. By cooperating with the SS, they could secure slightly better living conditions, extra rations, or protection from harsh punishments. However, this collaboration came at a heavy cost, as Kapos were often viewed with suspicion and contempt by their fellow inmates, who saw them as traitors collaborating with their oppressors.
The position of Kapo was rife with ethical dilemmas. Some Kapos exploited their power ruthlessly, engaging in acts of violence and cruelty against their fellow prisoners to curry favor with the SS or to assert their dominance. Others, however, tried to mitigate the suffering of their fellow inmates to the extent possible within the confines of the camp’s brutal regime. It is essential to recognize that while some Kapos abused their authority, others found themselves caught in an impossible situation, forced to make unthinkable choices in order to survive.
After World War II, many Kapos faced repercussions for their actions during the Holocaust. Some were prosecuted for collaboration or war crimes, while others faced ostracism and condemnation from their communities. The legacy of the Kapos remains a complex and controversial aspect of the history of the Holocaust, embodying the moral compromises and extreme conditions faced by those who endured one of the darkest chapters of human history.
Eliezer Gruenbaum, the communist son of Yitzhak Gruenbaum, who was a prominent leader of Polish Jewry between the two world wars and Israel’s first interior minister, was a kapo in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Eliezer survived only to die fighting in the war for Israeli independence. His story is captivating not only for its biographical appeal but also for the unique “statement of defense” memoir he has left behind.
In 1942 he was arrested for being a communist and not as a Jew and sent to Auschwitz concentration camp. In Auschwitz, he became a Kapo. He survived the camp, and after the war, he was accused of collaboration with Nazi Germany, and of “mercilessly beating inmates”. He was also accused of murdering “tens of thousands of Jewish prisoners”. He defended himself claiming that he only accepted the position at the request of other Jews, who wanted one of their own in the position, which was otherwise often filled by anti-Semitic non-Jewish people, including German criminals.[6] Research-based on analysis of his memoirs, however, concluded that he became a kapo due to “intervention by communists”. At the end of 1943, Gruenbaum was moved from the concentration camps to work in coal mines in Jawiszowice and finally ended up in the Buchenwald concentration camp. After the war, in 1945, he was tried by a communist tribunal on charges of participating in violent beatings but was shortly acquitted. He resumed his political activities, advocating for the communist takeover of Poland, but he was soon arrested again, in France, accused by fellow Jews of having been the “head of the Birkenau death camp.” In a trial that lasted eight months, he was acquitted again, because the French court concluded that “neither the accused nor the victims were French”.
Sources
Goss, Jennifer L. “Role of Kapos in Nazi Concentration Camps.” ThoughtCo, Apr. 5, 2023, thoughtco.com/kapos-prisoner-supervisors-1779685.
https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/J/bo43632429.htm
https://www.thoughtco.com/kapos-prisoner-supervisors-1779685
Donation
I am passionate about my site and I know you all like reading my blogs. I have been doing this at no cost and will continue to do so. All I ask is for a voluntary donation of $2, however if you are not in a position to do so I can fully understand, maybe next time then. Thank you. To donate click on the credit/debit card icon of the card you will use. If you want to donate more then $2 just add a higher number in the box left from the PayPal link. Many thanks.
$2.00
History of Sorts 
You must be logged in to post a comment.