Show to 69 0 Concentration Camps CampsA r L A t d Turned Men Into Brutes t f it v J Ij Ity It 2 Prisoners Who Survived Cruelties Eventually Eventually y ally Adopted Ways of Their r Sadistic Guardians y i 1 9 I t By BAUKHAGE r News Analyst nai y st and Commentator This Is the Uie second article on postwar Germany explaining how the Nazi is 1 planned punned terror methodically applied to the older Germans has produced a st state h hf f of mind among the antl anti Nazis which vastly complicates American rule of Germany Service Union Trust Building Washington D D. D C. C In my preceding column I described described de de- scribed the state of mind of the middle mid mid- dle aged dle-aged aged German who had been Nazi anti-Nazi or qt lit least had no connections conI connections con con- I with the Nazi party A study of the gestapo m methods has revealed that it was planned definitely definitely definitely to destroy initiative and individuality indi indi- This has greatly compU- compU complicated Gated the work of the American administration administration administration ad ad- ministration of occupied Germany As I said the gestapo made use usei i of a definite system of planned terror It will I realize be somewhat difficult difficult difficult dif dif- dif dif- for a person living In a democratic democratic democratic demo demo- cratic country to grasp the extent to which such methods could be ap ap- ap- ap plied First we must realize that a totalitarian government is the absolute absolute absolute lute antithesis of a democracy In a democracy the individual is the unit The state exists for the ual Under Nazi-Fascist Nazi totalitarianism totalitarian totalItarian- ism it is not enough to say that the Individual exists for the state The Individual as a concept does not exist at all The Fascist conception conception- of the state said Mussolini is all- all embracing outside of it no human or spiritual values can exist It was wal he e first task of the Nazis to destroy this concept of Indi indi- The terror was a part of the method employed Purpose Was to Break Will to Resist Bruno Bettelheim author of My Rife Ife ue In Nazi Concentration Camps stifles to the purpose of the camps nd md the achievement of this purpose jy y the gestapo from his own He says that among the aims were pere these 1 To break the prisoners as individuals individuals individuals indi indi- and convert them into docile masses from which no individual or I group act of resistance could arise 2 To spread terror among the rest of the population tion by R a a. a Using the prisoners as hostages hostages hos hos- b. b Demonstrating to them what happened to those who oppose Nazi rulers 3 S. To provide gestapo members with a training ground so they could a a. a Lose all human attitudes and andi I i cal emotions b. b Learn the most effective ways of breaking civilian reI re re- re- re s I s ta nce f f 4 4 To provide a laboratory in which the gestapo could study the effectiveness of torture minimum nourishment and medical care and I normal activities plus hard labor The general purpose of course was to create a civilian population of maximum benefit to the Nazi state The authors author's study of prisoners conducted under the camp regime supplemented by a careful self self- analysis leads him to believe that the he camp treatment resulted In either death or an adaptation to tamp lamp life lite The prisoner finally ac- ac his position and even came cameto to 10 Imitate the gestapo in manner end and conduct This seems a logical progression when we know that the gestapo themselves in their training were submitted to tortures almost equal to those inflicted on the prisoners One ne of the gestapo games the author author author au au- au- au thor relates was for two of them to stand up and beat each oth other r. r The rhe one ho stood the longest won Old rt who were thoroughly thoroughly thor thor- changed were were said to in- in in the same sport among themselves 1 Many wany Were Killed Or Dr Were Suicides Bettelheim describes the three h stages through which the prisoners prison prIson- ers passed The first is the arrest the second is transportation to the tamp Camp which is the hardest to bear bearbe be- be ae says The last is prison life titer after a period of transition during which unless the prisoner either re re- lists lists' physically and is murdered or resists introspectively and commits suicide he Is gradually changed until he reaches the old prisoner stage Then his previous nature is eradicated his bis Individuality lost and end his subjection complete The initial shock was devastating especially to a G German accustomed I as he was to processes logically con corn controlled I trolled by law and order To be deprived de do I suddenly of ones one's civil right with no recourse came as a severe blow to the prisoners prisoner's mentality The transportation to the camp and the initiation into it frequently is the first experience of physical and psychological torture which the I prisoner has ever experienced Corporal punishment says Bettel Bettel- helm heim describing his own observations observations consisted of whipping kicking kick ing jag slapping intermingled with shooting and wounding with the bayonet Then there were tortures the obvious goal of which was extreme extreme ex exhaustion For instance he says the prisoners were forced to stare for hours into glaring lights to kneel for hours and so on From time to time a prisoner got killed I Ino no prisoner was permitted to take I Icare care of his or another's wounds The I purpose of the tortures was to to break the resistance of the prisoners prisoners pris and to assure the guard that they were really superior to them Many were killed In this process But those who lived according to the author were conditioned to the point where what followed more followed more beatings more indignities little food exposure and brutally hard work work was was not as bad as the initial experience For the rest it was a slow but sure process of degeneration of body mind and soul One thing which has surprised the Americans in occupied Germany Is the tendency of the German people to deny that they knew the extent of at the atrocities which were perpetrated perpetrated perpetrated In the camps or to appear to ignore their existence This Is a result of a planned effect effect effect ef ef- of the camp Dread Fear Hung Over Everyone According to statements concerning concerning concern concern- ing conditions In Germany as early as 1930 most of the Germans who had committed actual offenses against the Nazi regime had already already already al al- al- al ready been imprisoned murdered or had died in the camps Then the Nazis found it necessary to go out outI I and arrest members of various groups indiscriminately say a few lawyers a few doctors a few from one organization or another This was done as a threat against that whole particular group The effect on a group was somewhat somewhat somewhat some some- what the same though in a lesser degree as the effect on a family The effect on the families of the prisoners of course was marked At first a great deal of money was spent in attempting to get the prisoner pris pris- prisoner oner released The gestapo always replied that it was the prisoners prisoner's own fault that he was imprisoned Then members of the family began to find it hard bard to get jobs children had trouble at school poor relief was denied Always the terror hung over them The friends and relatives of a prisoner were considered sus sus- So the influence of the camp reached out over the whole group As the Nazi regime became more harsh and especially latterly when world resentment increased against it even before the war many more Germ Germans ms passive before became openly dissatisfied and critical It was impossible to imprison them all without Interfering with the functioning functioning functioning of f the country's economy Then group arrests increased People in lots of a hundred or so sofrom sofrom sofrom from one profession or trade or affiliated affiliated affiliated af af- body would be jailed Thus the effect of the terror was multi multi- plied This was the manner in which the entire population of the country was enchained General McClure recognizes how crushing has been the effect of planned terror but I doubt i if the general public has any realization of its magnitude We shall often have to go far out of our way says the general to help certain individuals individuals individuals in in- who have not had an easy life these last 12 years and more men whose broken spirits may well need our support and guidance to return to the ways of active personal personal personal per per- democratic initiative It took centuries to develop human dignity but it took only a few months In ina a a Nazi concentration camp to destroy it |