If you are expecting either a piece of "holocaust denial" or a rant against "holocaust deniers" - I should invite you straight away to look elsewhere.
I should also state quite clearly that I don't know what exactly happened or did not happen in Auschwitz. I wasn't around. And having studied history (among other things), I know how treacherous historiography is, almost inevitably. The truth of history - any history - is, as the saying goes, seldom simple and never pure.
A friend of a friend dragged me into a discussion about WW II the other day; specifically, a discussion of what is usually called (thanks to Spielberg) "the Holocaust".
The discussion went nowhere very fast, because he was insisting I look at some of his sources - which turned out to be internet postings. Forum postings, with a link or two to websites that appear to be too sure of their own truth for my taste.
Featuring prominently was a series of discussions about what appears to be a swimming pool located in Oswiecim, better known by its German name, Auschwitz.
Apparently the existence of this swimming pool had been denied in the past; or, more accurately, it was called a "cistern", a water tank, for the Auschwitz fire brigade.
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| Taken from here. |
It certainly has an unusual shape for such a purpose; to me, it appears to be a perfectly fine and elegant Art Deco-era swimming pool, especially considering the place and circumstances.
And I told him so.
Then I expected to be told the gist of the story that the picture seemed to promise. Yes, it was a swimming pool - a nice swimming pool.
At Auschwitz, yes. ... And...?
And that was that.
Apparently the fact that there was a swimming pool at Auschwitz was highly significant.
But, I objected, it is well known that the German authorities took reasonably good care of their Lager-Kommandanten and their families as well as the personnel whenever possible. They had all sorts of amenities; why not a swimming pool?
In my obtuseness apparently I had misunderstood the whole point of the "discussion". The point being that if there was a swimming pool at Auschwitz it must have been used by the prisoners; which in its turn signifies that Auschwitz was not a sinister extermination camp but rather a summer camp... well, of sorts.
How did you come to the conclusion that it was used by the prisoners?, I asked.
Apparently the fact that the swimming pool's existence had been "covered up" by the local museum guides and book guides about Auschwitz, either by flat denial of its existence or by presenting it as a water tank for other purposes is incriminatory enough to allow such a leap of logic.
As I said before, I do not know what happened or did not happen at Auschwitz, or wherever I was not present.
But to me, the denial of the existence of said swimming pool at Auschwitz signals atrociously bad judgment and extremely poor scholarship on the part of whoever trained the guides (and of the guides themselves) and/or wrote the guidebooks that do not mention the swimming pool or that present it as something else. It does not follow from this stupidity that the pool was used by the prisoners. It may have been, for all I know; but if it was, that certainly does not follow from the "evidence" presented.
The reason I chose to pen this little post today is that this issue - or rather "issue" - appears to be less of a historical mystery/conspiracy/cover-up/whatever than a rather typical example of the ignorance that the internet has revealed and is now actively spreading itself.
By ignorance I mean just that: lack of proper education, of proper schooling, and - much more worryingly - of proper critical thinking skills (which are, after all, one of the goals of proper education).
This (non)issue could be the symbol of the new world that has emerged since the beginning of the internet era: an era of easily accessible information, where mere ease and speed of information is mistaken for quality of information.
Even worse, books - proper books, historical and other, and the painstakingly researched information they offer - appear to be almost devalued among a considerable number of netizens, if we are to judge from numerous forum postings and other means of public expression.
Does truth not matter? Since when?
Just because many people seem to prefer indulging in assorted conspiracy theories - because they are, to put it bluntly, unhappy with the real world of their own daily life but lack the intellectual wherewithal to change it - it does not follow that anything and everything can be relativised into an "alternative" story - and still hold water.
To read a more uplifting story, about the glory of the human mind (and good education!), see this delightful text (p. 29 of the PDF; or through a link found here).
The best part of it is that the critical thinker featured in it was twelve years old.
The bad, really bad news is that it happened 200 years ago.
9 comments:
Finally
:)
Thank you... I hope. :)
The problem with the swimming pool is that it paint a picture which is a little bit different than the hell-on-Earth we were educated to believe as children. Auschwitz was painted as among the most vile places in existence with an extermination program and responsible for the majority of the deaths of all death camps. Now it seems like Alcatraz was worse.
The death toll has significantly declined at this particular camp. Not just on its plaque, but also in the books. Officially they are reluctant to lower it past one million as there were at least one million detainees but not all of them were killed. Some official sources are now saying that 300,000 were exterminated there. If that figure is true, I am hesitant to believe that the extermination program was even policy. Does that make me a denier? Is it wrong to really want to know what went on?
I've spent two decades feeling sympathy and sorrow for a group of people on account of this horrific event. As time goes on it is beginning to seem that an interest group is exploiting this for financial purposes and also to deflect criticism on Israel and the ruling class. In any case, I feel violated. If I never even knew about this or if it was included among the other Nazi atrocities amounting to 40 million deaths including many Poles (which is were much of the atrocities were committed) and not just a single group singled out, I would have lived my life differently and that's a fact.
I feel violated, but I only blame the corporations responsible and the ruling class who benefits the most.
"The point being that if there was a swimming pool at Auschwitz it must have been used by the prisoners; which in its turn signifies that Auschwitz was not a sinister extermination camp but rather a summer camp... "
It's not just the swimming pool alone, it's the shops, cinema, brothel, dentist offices, inmate hospital, the inmate "barracks" that look like modern apartment buildings, etc.
Whatever else Auschwitz was or wasn't, it was hardly the grim place the holocaust lobby and Hollywood movies have led us to believe.
I want to thank both of you for stopping by and taking the time to comment.
Clearly it is a contentious issue - and how could it not be?
Personally I am a little pressed for time right now to indulge in a discussion, but maybe in the near future...
Anyway, thank you for commenting.
PS. In case there appear to be additional comments "deleted" - there weren't any. It was two of my own comments that I deleted because of faulty spelling that I didn't bother to check before posting, as I should have.
It has been brought to our attention that this post apparently was unavailable for viewing a few days ago.
All we can say is that none of us had taken it offline at any time - why should we? - so we can only speculate that someone was offended by it. And Blogger perhaps reacted accordingly, if rashly.
It is also apparent that the post - or rather, article - did did not stay offline for long, though.
If this post, THIS post!, could offend someone, then we say, it is all the more reason for its continuous existence in the cyberworld.
Thanks for posting.
I am looking into the Holocaust in general and I am fast coming to the conclusion that this whole subject needs to be looked at a-fresh and with total impartiality. That people such as David Irving and Ernst Zundel can be jailed for questioning , quite rightly in my view , the holocaust narrative is an utter disgrace. By the way , like Irving and Zundel , I am NOT a holocaust denier , just someone with questions.
People with questions are the way forward; always have been.
Honest questioning - in whatever direction - should be welcome with open arms.
It is certainly welcome here.
Thank you for stopping by and posting.
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