more than propaganda. The objective interpretation of these unspeakable events may be perverted, by those more mon strous than the criminals themselves, merely to satisfy esoteric tastes and tickle jaded palates. Or it may merely make a pleasant shudder run down the spines of the smug—and guiltiest of all are the smug, to whom the sufferings of others are no more than a foil for their own well-being. They are the rotten soil from which spring the argument and sophistry justifying any wrong done in the name of authority, any sup pression of the challenge of morality.
Sometimes, moreover, Kogon asked himself whether, in his efforts to dissect the system dispassionately, to point out its every strength and weakness, he was not actually rationalizing it, offering a ready-made blueprint for tyrants yet to come. On several occasions he was tempted to burn the whole manuscript. At other times he thought he might evade respon sibility by remaining anonymous.
But he found himself unable to take either way out. He feels that among the few who escaped the hellish system alive, he brings peculiar qualifications to the task in hand. He is a man of religion as well as of politics, a sociologist as well as a writer. For certain reasons he was able, even at the moment when he himself was the victim of utter degradation, to keep a sense of detachment, to remain a critical witness, to estimate the sphere and significance of events, to trace motivations and reactions in the perverted and violated minds about him, to
xvi INTRODUCTION
tell the general from the specific. One of the inexorable con sequences is that his name is likely to remain linked to this gloomy and controversial document.
It is his hope that this book may help to keep Germany from ever again surrendering to the powers of evil, that it may warn the rest of the world of the fate awaiting those who do surrender. The purge to which he offers this contribution is a necessary step toward victory, lest in the end the facts become so twisted that the gnawing sense of guilt be stilled, indeed, lest the unregenerate use the facts as a screen for renewed plotting. There is a duty to attempt clarification now, when facts and motives, already growing dim, are not yet obscured. The world, and above all Germany, must pause for self-analysis. A factual report, not of personal history or of atrocities, but covering every aspect of the German con centration camps may well serve to start this process of catharsis. What is needed is not merely a mosaic of many fragments, of individual experiences, but a picture of the system as a whole. This is the answer to the objection that too much has already been said and written about the German concentration camps. The truth alone can set usfree.
I
Chapter One THE AIMS
AND ORGANIZATION OF
THESSSUPER STATE
Late in the fall of 1937, in Frankfurt, I had occasion for an extended discussion with a leading SS man from Vogelsang Castle—a discussion that continued over several afternoons.
It should be noted that Vogelsang, in the Eiffel Mountains, was one of three castles —Ordensburg is the German term— where the new Nazi elite was to be incubated. Ordensburg really describes a castle belonging to a medieval order, such as the Knights Templar—and that is how the Nazis thought of their elite. At the Ordensburg , young men chosen with care were trained for several years under an austere regimen of consecration.
My discussion with the SS officer was very frank on both sides. It dealt with such questions as the meaning of German history, the role of the Third Reich, and the racial theories of the SS. The contrast between the views expressed was, of course, extreme and gave me a wealth of insight, confirming much that I had already suspected. The SS officer was by no means stupid, indeed he had a superior intellect, for all that he was a thoroughgoing fanatic. He made three remarkable statements:
1
2 EUGEN KOGON
' 'What we
Sometimes, moreover, Kogon asked himself whether, in his efforts to dissect the system dispassionately, to point out its every strength and weakness, he was not actually rationalizing it, offering a ready-made blueprint for tyrants yet to come. On several occasions he was tempted to burn the whole manuscript. At other times he thought he might evade respon sibility by remaining anonymous.
But he found himself unable to take either way out. He feels that among the few who escaped the hellish system alive, he brings peculiar qualifications to the task in hand. He is a man of religion as well as of politics, a sociologist as well as a writer. For certain reasons he was able, even at the moment when he himself was the victim of utter degradation, to keep a sense of detachment, to remain a critical witness, to estimate the sphere and significance of events, to trace motivations and reactions in the perverted and violated minds about him, to
xvi INTRODUCTION
tell the general from the specific. One of the inexorable con sequences is that his name is likely to remain linked to this gloomy and controversial document.
It is his hope that this book may help to keep Germany from ever again surrendering to the powers of evil, that it may warn the rest of the world of the fate awaiting those who do surrender. The purge to which he offers this contribution is a necessary step toward victory, lest in the end the facts become so twisted that the gnawing sense of guilt be stilled, indeed, lest the unregenerate use the facts as a screen for renewed plotting. There is a duty to attempt clarification now, when facts and motives, already growing dim, are not yet obscured. The world, and above all Germany, must pause for self-analysis. A factual report, not of personal history or of atrocities, but covering every aspect of the German con centration camps may well serve to start this process of catharsis. What is needed is not merely a mosaic of many fragments, of individual experiences, but a picture of the system as a whole. This is the answer to the objection that too much has already been said and written about the German concentration camps. The truth alone can set usfree.
I
Chapter One THE AIMS
AND ORGANIZATION OF
THESSSUPER STATE
Late in the fall of 1937, in Frankfurt, I had occasion for an extended discussion with a leading SS man from Vogelsang Castle—a discussion that continued over several afternoons.
It should be noted that Vogelsang, in the Eiffel Mountains, was one of three castles —Ordensburg is the German term— where the new Nazi elite was to be incubated. Ordensburg really describes a castle belonging to a medieval order, such as the Knights Templar—and that is how the Nazis thought of their elite. At the Ordensburg , young men chosen with care were trained for several years under an austere regimen of consecration.
My discussion with the SS officer was very frank on both sides. It dealt with such questions as the meaning of German history, the role of the Third Reich, and the racial theories of the SS. The contrast between the views expressed was, of course, extreme and gave me a wealth of insight, confirming much that I had already suspected. The SS officer was by no means stupid, indeed he had a superior intellect, for all that he was a thoroughgoing fanatic. He made three remarkable statements:
1
2 EUGEN KOGON
' 'What we
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