Auschwitz Alphabet

Jonathan Blumen, a World War II survivor, wrote the Auschwitz Alphabet. In this book he writes about the result of many years of what we know as the Holocaust. Through the English letter a through the letter b, he describes the horror of the Nazi Concentration Camp, Auschwitz.

The letter a stands for Arbeit Macht Frei. This means “Work Brings Freedom”. It was a sign that hung over the gates of Auschwitz. Rudolph Hoss commander of the camp put it there. To him this meant that if you worked to exhaustion then you will be released, “in the form of endless labor does in itself bring a kind of spiritual freedom” (Jonathan Blumen).

The letter b stands for block 10. It was the medical experimentation block in Auschwitz. It was a balance of horrors. To be an experimental subject could prolong life, or could quickly end it. Block 10 was in the men’s camp, but most people who were confined where women (Dr. Clauberg).

The letter q stands for question. The Frankfurt judge, who had heard endless protestations about irresistible orders from higher authorities, was astonished by Dr. Lingens’ testimony. “Do you wish to stay,” he asked, “that everyone could decide for himself to be either good or evil in Auschwitz?”

The letter i stands for injections. The most medical of Auschwitz killing methods was the phenol injection, which was institutionalized during the relatively early phases of Auschwitz. A patient was brought to a treatment room and there was executed a drug by a physician.

The letter u stands for The United States. Jews living in The United States even today get paranoid about anti-Semitism and fast to believe that any country they live in can turn on them. “Job said to God: You will look for me in the morning and I shall not be late (Hilberg).”

The letter p stands for perpetrators. “ I myself found in Katowitz, found in liberation, innumerable packages of forms by which the heads of German families where authorized to draw clothes and shoes for adults and for children from Auschwitz ware houses; did no-one ask himself where so many children’s clothes were coming from (Levi)?”

The letter y stands for yesterday and today. How often do we talk about World War II? Do we acknowledge that our country was founded on genocide?

The letter x stands for x-rays. Among the experiments carried out on block 10 one was involving the sterilization of unknowing prisoners, x-rays. They were conducted by Horst Schumann, a Nazi doctor. He came to Auschwitz in 1941.

The letter d is for doctors. The doctors of Auschwitz played a crucial role. They participated in virtually all selections. They decided who should die and who shouldn’t. Even though they saved the lives of many prisoner doctors, to enlist them as

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