After Auschwitz Oskar Gröning

1 after auschwitz

1.1 great britain
1.2 return germany

1.2.1 views on holocaust denial

after auschwitz
great britain

gröning s application transfer unit on front-line successful, , in 1944 joined ss unit fighting in ardennes. wounded , sent field hospital before rejoining unit, surrendered british on 10 june 1945, birthday.

he realised declaring involvement in concentration camp of auschwitz have negative response , , tried not draw attention it, putting on form given him british worked ss-wirtschafts-verwaltungshauptamt instead. did because victor s right , , things happened @ auschwitz did not comply human rights .

gröning , rest of ss colleagues imprisoned in old nazi concentration camp. later sent uk forced labourer in 1946 had comfortable life . ate food , earned money, , travelled through midlands , scotland giving concerts 4 months, singing german hymns , traditional english folk songs appreciative british audiences.

return germany

gröning released , returned germany in 1947 or 1948. upon being reunited wife, said: girl, both of favour: don t ask. unable regain job @ bank due having been member of ss, got job @ glass factory, working way management position. became head of personnel, , made honorary judge of industrial tribunal cases.

upon return germany, gröning lived father-in-law. @ dinner table, once made silly remark auschwitz , implying potential or real murderer, gröning said enraged him, banging fist on table, demanding: word , connection never, ever, mentioned again in presence, otherwise ll move out! gröning said request respected.

views on holocaust denial

gröning led normal middle-class life after war. keen stamp collector, once @ local philately club s annual meeting, more 40 years after war, when fell conversation politics man next him. man told him terrible holocaust denial illegal in germany, , went on tell gröning how many bodies not have been burnt, , volume of gas supposed have been used have killed living things in vicinity.

gröning said little in response these statements, replying only: know little more that, should discuss time. man recommended pamphlet holocaust denier thies christophersen. gröning obtained copy , mailed christophersen, having written own commentary on it, included words:

saw everything, writes. gas chambers, cremations, selection process. 1 , half million jews murdered in auschwitz. there.

gröning began receiving phone calls , letters strangers tried tell him auschwitz not place exterminating human beings in gas chambers.

it became apparent comments condemning holocaust denial had been printed in neo-nazi magazine, , of anonymous calls , letters people tried prove had seen own eyes, had experienced in auschwitz big, big mistake, big hallucination on part because hadn t happened.

as result of such comments, gröning decided speak openly experiences, , publicly denounce people maintain events witnessed never happened. says message holocaust deniers is:

i believe me. saw gas chambers. saw crematoria. saw open fires. believe these atrocities happened, because there.

he wrote memoirs family, consisting of 87 pages.