The Power of Hate

On the second night of our visit to Poland, we were privileged to hear the first of three lectures by Father Manfred. He, a German Holocaust scholar, spoke of Rudolf Hoess, the Commander of Auschwitz. Hoess was the subject of Father Manfred’s dissertation, which developed into the book, “And Your Conscience Never Haunted You?” I spent a few days mulling over this title. The question itself is so important in trying to dissect the mind of one of the most savage people that orchestrated the Holocaust, but the question itself does not seem complete. The “And” indicates that it was part of a much larger question, but this piece seemed like the latter part which was odd to me because it seems like such an important piece.

Father Manfred's book on Hoess

My utter fascination with this question stems from my lack of understanding in how a man can demand the slaughter of millions of people. I find it hard to even comprehend how a man like this can even have a conscience much less one that bothered him. The article “How Grandson of Auschwitz Boss Is Trying to Remake Family Name” by Naftali Bendavid and Harriet Torry, follows the life of Rainer Hoess, the grandson of Rudolf Hoess. Rainer, disgusted with the actions of his grandfather, spends his life desperately trying to reconcile with his lineage. He even has tattoos of the Star of David and the Auschwitz numbers of survivors he has met. Included in this article is a quote from the autobiography of the Commander of Auschwitz himself. In regards to the horrors he committed, Rudolf Hoess said, “‘The reasons behind the extermination program seemed to me right,’ he wrote. ‘I did not reflect on it at the time: I had been given an order, and I had to carry it out’” (Course Pack II, p. 38). This quote indicates, to me, that he did not feel regret for his actions. His duty to the Third Reich overtook any sort of conscience he might have possessed. But, how did this ‘duty’ arise? How can his ‘cause’ make him forget that the Jews were people? Did he not know that the Jewish have not only the right to live their lives as much as anyone else, but that they deserved life more than him, a ruthless murderer?

Rainer Hoess, grandson of Rudolf Hoess

Father Manfred spoke much about the Nazi power to overcome their consciences. The Nazis used hate to power them. This pure, irrational hatred fueled their actions and not only allowed them to forget how to treat people, but also annihilated their consciences. In one of the bunkers at Auschwitz, a video played and in the video, a young Jewish girl’s diary was being read aloud. In it, she described an event in which a Nazi soldier took a Jewish baby out of a stroller and killed it by bashing it against a lamppost. I cannot even imagine witnessing that. I cannot even imagine how that Nazi soldier justified taking the life of an innocent baby who had done absolutely nothing to warrant a death as horrific as that. Did this man have no morals? No heart? No feeling? If we assume that this man possessed or once possessed a conscience and a moral code, then this horrific incident demonstrates how incredibly deep the Nazi hatred ran.

Nazi soldier stepping on the body of a child

It is important to prevent the future people of this earth from feeling this hatred ever again. It is important for all people to realize that an action fueled by hatred is irrational and will continue to let evil prevail over the earth. In “Immunizing pupils against extremism’ with Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf,” Josef Kraus argues that “excerpts (of Mein Kampf) should be read in sixth forms in hopes that young people can become immunized and resistant to extreme notions” (Course Pack II, p. 14). Kraus proposes that the ideology and intense hatred taught and practiced by the Nazis can and should be expelled from this earth through education. It is important that young people be exposed to ‘extremist’ ideologies in a setting that can not only be moderated by an educator, but one in which young people can examine the effects of these ideologies such as ‘12 years of mass murder’ (“Immunizing Pupils…”, Course Pack II, p. 14). Without such education, the potential for future generations to relapse into this mindset remains possible thus allowing for another catastrophe rooted in hate to occur once again.

Photo 1: http://www.books.e-oswiecim.pl/manfred-deselaers-and-your-conscience-never-haunted-you-the-life-of-rudolf-hoss-commander-of-auschwitz-and-the-question-of-his-responsibility-before-god-and-human-beings.html, Accessed Mar. 23

Photo 2: http://www.tlz.de/web/zgt/politik/detail/-/specific/Enkel-des-Auschwitz-Kommandanten-Wir-muessen-den-braunen-Mob-stoppen-1464232450, Accessed Mar. 23

Photo 3: Taken at Auschwitz, Mar. 16