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February 28, 2010
Sneaking into Hell
The Holocaust arguably represents the nadir of modern human history -- "arguably" because Josef Stalin and the Soviet Union murdered even more people than the Nazis, albeit in a less industrialized manner. The German pursuit of ever-greater efficiency and technical innovation gave us the concentration camps; factories of death. The German penchant-- or should I say mania? -- for record keeping gave us an irrefutable and detailed history of the slaughter.
There have been countless histories written in the years since the Thousand Year Reich disappeared in a hail of high explosives and steel, but even now new stories emerge from the carnage.
I've read many articles and books about the Holocaust, but must confess that, until I stumbled across this post, I'd never heard of the British prisoner of war who snuck into Auschwitz by trading identities with a Jewish inmate.
Denis Avey, even at the age of 91, cuts a formidable figure. More than 6ft tall, with a severe short back and sides and a piercing glare, he combines the pan-ache of Errol Flynn with the dignity of age. This is the former Desert Rat, who, in 1944, broke into — yes, into — Auschwitz, and he looks exactly as I expected. He removes his monocle for the camera, and one of his pupils slips sideways before realigning. It is a glass eye. I ask him about it. He tells me that in 1944, he cursed an SS officer who was beating a Jew in the camp. He received a blow with a pistol butt and his eye was knocked in.
[...]
“The Stripeys — that’s what we called the Jewish prisoners — were in a terrible state. Within months they were reduced to waifs and then they disappeared. The stench from the crematoria was appalling, civilians from as far away as Katowice were complaining. Everybody knew what was going on. Everybody knew.”
Remarkably, Avey was able to think beyond the war. “I knew in my gut that these swine would eventually be held to account,” he says. “Evidence would be vital. Of course, sneaking into the Jewish camp was a ludicrous idea. It was like breaking into Hell. But that’s the sort of chap I was. Reckless.”
[...]
The operation was planned meticulously. Avey found a Dutch Jew with a similar physique and persuaded him to exchange places for a day. Avey knew that they marched past each other at the same time every week. “The Nazis were rigid, you see,” he says. “To them orders were orders, to be carried out exactly. That was what allowed me to find a way round them.”
Avey shaved his head and blackened his face. At the allocated time, he and the Dutch Jew sneaked into a disused shed. There they swapped uniforms and exchanged places. Avey affected a slouch and a cough, so that his English accent would be disguised should he be required to speak.
“I joined the Stripeys and marched into Monowitz, a predominantly Jewish camp. As we passed beneath the Arbeit Macht Frei [work makes you free] sign, everyone stood up straight and tried to look as healthy as they could. There was an SS officer there, weeding out the weaklings for the gas. Overhead was a gallows, which had a corpse hanging from it, as a deterrent. An orchestra was playing Wagner to accompany our march. It was chilling.”
What a fascinating and courageous man.
Read the whole thing.
Posted by Mike Lief at February 28, 2010 08:54 PM
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