'the Good Old Days': The Holocaust as Seen by Its Perpetrators and Bystanders Chapter Summary & Analysis - 'Food in the officers' mess excellent'—Auschwitz Summary

'Food in the officers' mess excellent'—Auschwitz Summary and Analysis

Chapter 13 includes five sections. Section 1, "'I only took part in the murder of some three million people out of consideration for my family'—Statement of Maximilian Grabner, head of the Political Department" offers Grabner's utterly fantastic self-defense. Section 2, "'Grabner ordered me to pour Zyklon B into the opening'—Statement of Hans Stark, registrar of new arrivals" explains some of the methodologies Grabner used to demonstrate consideration for his family by overseeing and ordering the murder of thousands of Jews. The lengthy section 3, "'There was Bulgarian red wine and Croatian plum brandy'—From the diary of SS-Dr Kremer" provides extracts from Kremer's diary from August through November, 1942. Kremer makes daily notes about attending mass murder, worries about mundane things in life, and richly enjoys the copious and varied diet of a medical doctor at Auschwitz. After Kremer has been at Auschwitz for a few...
(read more)