SS career Oskar Gröning

1 ss career

1.1 auschwitz

1.1.1 arrival
1.1.2 tasks

ss career

gröning wanted join elite army unit , set sights on joining schutzstaffel. without father s knowledge, did in 1940 @ hotel ss recruiting. gröning says father disappointed learn when came home after having joined.

gröning describes himself desk person , content role in ss salary administration, granted him both administrative , military aspects wanted career.

auschwitz
arrival

gröning worked bookkeeper year until 1942, when ss ordered desk jobs reserved injured veterans, , fit members in administrative roles subjected more challenging duties. gröning , 22 of colleagues travelled berlin reported 1 of ss economic offices. given lecture several high-ranking officers reminded them of oath of loyalty took, prove doing difficult task. task top secret – gröning , comrades had sign declaration not disclose family or friends, or people not in unit. once had concluded, split smaller groups , taken various berlin stations boarded train in direction of katowice orders report commandant of auschwitz, place gröning had not heard of before.

upon arrival @ main camp, given provisional bunks in ss barracks, warmly greeted fellow ss men , provided food. gröning surprised @ myriad food items available in addition basic ss rations. new arrivals curious function auschwitz served. told should find out because auschwitz special kind of concentration camp. opened door , shouted transport! , causing 3 or 4 people leave room.

the next day, gröning , other arrivals reported central ss administrative building , asked background before war. 1 of officers said gröning s bank clerk skills useful, , took him barracks prisoners money kept. gröning told when prisoners registered camp, money stored here , later returned them when left.

it became clear auschwitz not normal internment camp above-average ss rations, served additional function. gröning informed money taken interned jews not returned them. when inquired further, colleagues confirmed jews being systematically exterminated , had included transport of prisoners had arrived previous night.

tasks

an aerial photo of auschwitz concentration camp shows arrived transport on rail spur terminated in camp, built in may 1944. selection process has been completed , selected gassed being led crematorium ii, shown open gate grounds of complex.

gröning s responsibilities included sorting , counting multitude of currencies taken arriving deportees, sending berlin, , guarding belongings of arrivals until sorted. said astonished learn of extermination process, later accepted part in it, stating work became routine after several months.

his bureaucratic job did not shield him physical acts of extermination process: first day, gröning saw children hidden on train , people unable walk had remained among rubbish , debris after selection process had been completed, being shot. gröning heard:

...a baby crying. child lying on ramp, wrapped in rags. mother had left behind, perhaps because knew women infants sent gas chambers immediately. saw ss soldier grab baby legs. crying had bothered him. smashed baby s head against iron side of truck until silent.

after witnessing this, gröning claims went boss , told him not work @ auschwitz anymore, stating if extermination of jews necessary, @ least should done within framework . gröning claims superior officer denied request citing document had signed before being posted, forcing him continue work.

one night towards end of 1942, gröning , comrades in ss barracks on outskirts of birkenau awakened alarm. told number of jews being taken gas chambers had escaped , hidden in woods. ordered take pistols , search woods. when group arrived @ extermination area of camp saw farmhouse, in front of ss men , bodies of 7 or 8 prisoners had been caught , shot. ss men told gröning , comrades go home decided hang around in shadows of woods.

they watched ss man put on gas mask , emptied tin of zyklon b hatch in cottage wall. gröning said humming noise inside turned screaming minute, silence. comrade later showed him bodies being burnt in pit. kapo there told him details of burning, such how gases developed in body , made burning corpses move.

gröning claims disrupted relative tranquility job gave him , claims yet again complained superior. boss, ss-untersturmführer, listened reminded him of pledge , comrades made. gröning returned work. has declared manipulated life @ auschwitz avoid witnessing camp s unpalatable aspects.