Europe's reflection on concentration camps did not erupt in the first place after World War II, but was forgotten. Even in Germany, it is only a limited number of people organized to enter the concentration camps in Germany to "study on the spot". As with many man-made or man-made disasters, "national reconstruction" quickly became an excuse for people to deliberately forget concentration camps. Many camps were either requisitioned by the government as warehouses or abandoned.
It wasn't until the 1960s that concentration camp memory was taken seriously, and Auschwitz became an important image of World War II. In the early 1990s, after German reunification, many historical truths were revealed one by one, and the memory of the concentration camps was once again broken, reversing the ideologization that had always been there, and other groups of victims, in addition to Jews and resisters, became part of the memorial.
In the post-60s wave of reflection, the first concept known to the world was the "evil of mediocrity."
In 1947, the Polish government tried officers at Auschwitz for the "first Auschwitz Trials." Between 20 December 1963 and 19 August 1965, the lower echelons of Auschwitz were tried in Germany for the "Second Auschwitz Trials". Prior to the second trial, Arendt followed up on the "Eichmann Trial" and raised the "evil of mediocrity." The second trial of those at the lower levels has raised concerns about evil within the system: Should these concentration camp undercover who have been coerced by the organization to commit evil be held accountable?
Eichmann Trials.▲
The answer is yes. The trial broadened the scope of reflection, and for this reason some argue that its greatest significance is "not a revenge-style reckoning, but a wake-up call to a German society intoxicated with post-war prosperity ... Torture the conscience of the Germans with a loud, clear, unquestionable voice and let the whole nation out of the labyrinth of silence. ”
The evil of mediocrity is not just a reflection of the lower echelons of the concentration camps; many victims and survivors were once participants. The legendary Polish Resistance member Pilecki once recorded the "Kaoposz" in the concentration camp:
"They attacked our comrades with sticks in their hands and laughed wildly, and they punched them in the head, knocked them to the ground, and then kicked them at the kidneys and other vulnerable parts, and even jumped on their chests and stomachs with boots, giggling and beating people to death."
Kapos is Kapos, referring to prisoners in concentration camps who are assigned as supervisors. To be Kaposh, you must first perform well and be recognized by the concentration camp officers, and to be recognized, you must join the ranks of evildoers. So Kaposh's job was to torture and even kill other prisoners.
Sadly, even Kauposh, who killed multiple inmates in a single day, could not really join the ranks of camp managers, who were still managed and equally precarious. The examples of several prisoners killed in the morning and their turn in the afternoon being locked up in gas chambers, in countless concentration camps, are in fact a moral dilemma in which Khoposh's cruelty is a moral dilemma with no exit. Similar moral dilemmas are the norm in concentration camps, and they contribute to the "self-management" of concentration camps— when someone escapes, other prisoners will spontaneously arrest and beat the escapees, because once someone escapes, everyone will be beaten or even killed.
In the narrow dungeon, there are often life-and-death fights, because everyone wants to seize the place by the crack of the door where they can breathe some fresh air. Because of the heavy labor and malnutrition, someone will die suddenly, and his flesh will often be shoveled down and eaten by his inmates with a shovel...
For every camp prisoner, surviving ("live a few more days, to be precise") is almost the only way out. They use their various strengths to compromise with the guards and fight for job opportunities. Because in the concentration camps, the first to be sent to the gas chambers are always the old, the sick and the disabled, the physically strong have a better chance to stay, and then there are the professionals who can help.
In Auschwitz, there was a "tooth extraction squad", mostly a dentist, responsible for extracting the gold teeth of the dead one by one for the Nazis to concentrate on melting and refining.
Of all the work, the prisoner in charge of food rations is perhaps the most powerful, already very limited food, a little more or less may mean whether life can continue. Driven by hunger, the prisoners not only fought for the job, but also took the initiative to maintain the authority of the post. If a prisoner offends the person responsible for the meal, other prisoners will even rush up and drown him alive by pressing his head in the soup bucket, which is nothing more than trying to curry favor with the person who divides the meal.
Such cruelty did not occur only in Nazi concentration camps, but in all similar systems. The aforementioned member of the Polish Resistance, Pirecki, confirms this.
Legendary, he was called "the only prisoner who voluntarily entered the concentration camp." In 1940, he was deliberately arrested and then formed a secret resistance group in a concentration camp. But he has not been able to receive weapons assistance from the outside world, and those in power have remained silent, making the planned rebellion impossible. In 1943, in desperation, Pirecki escaped from the concentration camp. Since then, he has written several reports of Auschwitz, which have become valuable materials.
Pilecki ▲
This hero, who had both martial courage, strategy and courage, took the initiative to enter the concentration camp and retreated, did not die at the hands of the Nazis, but suffered bad luck after World War II. For his loyalty to the Polish government-in-exile and his opposition to hegemony, he was executed in 1948. He once said in prison:
"Compared to here, Auschwitz is really a child's play, and the Poles trained by the Soviet Union are simply fierce."
Years later, Pleecki was finally rehabilitated, just as Auschwitz's memories became common memories.