Looking to the right as you walk in through the main gate of Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Oswiecim, Poland. This is the view standing directly beneath the sign that says ‘Arbeit macht frei’, or, ‘Work makes one free’. All the camps had one cynical statement or another posted above the main gate; it was a Nazi tradition. Nobody escaped Auschwitz, and except for some prisoners from the last group to arrive, nobody left alive: more than a million people perished inside these gates or those of Auschwitz ii – Birkenau, 15 minutes away. The phrase above the gate at Buchenwald was ‘Jeden das sein’, or ‘Every man for himself’. Photographed Sept. 27, 2006 by Eric Francis.
[Editor’s Note: This article was originally published Oct. 5, 2006. For a more detailed introduction to this series, please see this link. The approximately eight articles and 15 photos in this series will be published evenings at about 6 pm Eastern Time.]
WHEN THE NAZIS took control of Germany in February 1933, there was a fast seizure of, and concentration of, government power, and within eight days, the roundup of enemies of the Reich began.
Hitler was not initially elected. After many months of extremely complex political maneuvering, he was appointed to the office of chancellor by Paul von Hindenburg, then the president of Germany, and this was the transition to the Nazi state. Hitler had been an up-and-coming figure in Germany for decades, and was the leader of something called the National Socialist movement. It had nothing to do with socialism in the true sense of the word; it was fascism supported by business leaders.
Much of how power was concentrated involved a 9/11-like incident called the Reichstag Fire. This is an infamous event in 20th Century history that everyone should know about. Less than a month after Hitler assumed the chancellorship, the building where the German Parliament met in Berlin was burned down, and this was used as an excuse to give the government carte blanche to do anything it needed to “protect people.”
The fire was blamed on the Communists (enemies of the Nazis), but there is trial testimony from the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials that it was set by the Nazis, particularly Hermann GГ¶ring (who, according to court testimony, admitted to it). German notes, a page documenting the history of the Fire, stated: “it is generally believed the Nazi hierarchy was involved in order to reap political gain — and it obviously did.”
In the aftermath of the fire, all basic civil liberties were curtailed, including freedom of the press, and the state granted itself extra powers to stop its supposed enemies — which soon turned out to be everyone. Hindenburg, after signing these laws, died of lung cancer, after which Hitler declared the office of the president perpetually vacant, in effect merging it with the office of chancellor. He thus held both offices for the duration of his life, and the war: about 11 more years.
Initially, prisoners of the Reich were kept in makeshift or improvised facilities, such as the torture yard in Ilvers Gehoffen, now part of Erfurt, or a Roman Catholic citadel on a hill in central Erfurt. [Both of these are covered in my 1998 series on the Holocaust written in Germany.]