More Than Just A Number

It was during our first trip to Auschwitz (I) that I realized that such a large part of the Holocaust relates to the dehumanization of its victims. One of the first concepts we discussed in this class was the Teaching of Contempt – a Christian curriculum designed to shame followers of the Jewish faith through classifying them as degenerative murderers of God Himself. During this lesson, we were asked to analyze various influential Early-Christian texts, one of which being John Chrysostom’s Homily 1: Against the Jews. It is in this text that the Archbishop preaches to his followers the dangers of the Jews, referring to their religion as a disease and to them as demons and beasts. Flash forward a millennium and such dehumanizing tactics are still being used today, albeit in a less harsh manner. This time in the form of numbers, the victims of the Holocaust are constantly being associated with/referred to as statistics, rather than humans.

Barracks at Auschwitz I

Whether it is the dates that events began or ended, the amount of calories consumed per day, the death toll, or even the prisoners of the concentration and extermination camps themselves, numbers play a vital role in the understanding of the Holocaust. In fact, statistics are used as a means of putting this tragedy into a somewhat more fathomable perspective. However, numbers and the Holocaust an adverse history as well. The Nazis would be given a certain number of people kill, and they would achieve that goal by any means necessary. Prisoners would be assigned a number upon arriving at the Auschwitz camps, and would thenceforth be referred to solely by those digits. At roll call, S.S. Guards would count to make sure that the proper number of prisoners were in attendance. In the mind of the Holocaust perpetrators, there were no people, just quotas – or rather, numbers. Unfortunately, a similar mindset can be found today. With the Holocaust curriculum being comprised largely of the numbers associated with it, many are finding it increasingly more difficult to differentiate these statistics from the people they are being applied to, as they are being taught to look at the numbers, rather than the people themselves.

Prisoner Uniforms Lined Up

Prior to attending this trip, almost everything I knew about the Holocaust was in the form of a number. When my education of the Holocaust first began, I was taught that the years 1933-1945 were filled with unimaginable horrors, that during this time millions of lives were ruthlessly taken. While a day or two was spent discussing who these lives once belonged to (Jews, homosexuals, Gypsies, etc.), a greater emphasis was still being placed on the number of people killed rather than the people themselves. My teacher did not say “Jews were murdered,” but rather “six million Jews were murdered.” Every fact we learned either started in or ended with some arrangement of digits. Did this prevent me from being able to see that this was a horrible period in time? Of course not. However, it did inhibit my understanding of the significance of the Holocaust and the importance behind studying it. As a result, I never considered to look past the numbers, or to even consider why the numbers were what they were. I simply accepted them.

Assorted Cookware Brought by Prisoners to Auschwitz I

It was only after taking this class and traveling to Poland that I began to view the Holocaust and its victims through a different perspective. During our first night in Poland, we were lectured by Father Manfred – an established scholar of the Holocaust. It was during this lecture that Father Manfred discussed the importance of the victims of the Holocaust, and how by connecting with them – by putting ourselves in their mind – we are able to get a glimpse at what the Holocaust was, as well as how such a tragedy could occur. In other words, in order to understand the Holocaust, we must first care about the victims. In order to do that, however, it is essential that we saw them as human beings, not just statistics. This idea is something that I kept in the back of my mind when we visited the camps. Being brought through the barracks that once contained prisoners, seeing what their living conditions were like, and learning about how they all brought their possessions from home under the impression that they would someday return, made something click. Statistics did not live in these prison cells. Numbers did not starve. It was humans who were hanged by their hands just inches above the ground, humans who were forced to walk to the gas chambers, humans whose ashes once covered this camp. Only by making this connection were my eyes finally opened to the Holocaust in its entirety.

Guard Tower and Warning Sign at Auschwitz I

To discuss the events that took place during the Holocaust without numbers, would be a gross injustice. However, while it is incredibly important to learn about these numbers, it is also essential to differentiate them from the people they are associated with. If this distinction fails to be made, we risk dehumanizing those who were murdered, therefore distancing ourselves from the severity of the Holocaust and preventing the magnitude of this event from fully being recognized.