The Meeting: An Auschwitz Survivor Confronts an SS PhysicianBernhard Frankfurter Fifty years after the war Dagmar Ostermann, a former prisoner at Auschwitz-Birkenau, and Hans Wilhelm Münch, former Nazi and SS physician, talk face to face. In this rare interview Münch—the only SS member acquitted during the 1947 Cracow war crimes trial refers to himself as a "victim," claiming that because he had to follow orders he was "no less a victim than his prisoners." The Meeting grew out of a documentary film in which Münch was first interviewed by Viennese filmmaker Bernhard Frankfurter. As head of the Waffen SS Hygiene Institute Münch had controlled hundreds of lives. Intrigued by Münch's responses, Frankfurter arranged for Ostermann, whose mother was German and her father Jewish, to conduct a book-length interview, for which he provided a concluding essay. The dramatic structure of the discussion follows the events of the Nazi occupation chronologically. As Ostermann initiates questions regarding reasons for Münch's involvement (Was it a conscious endeavor? Did he participate willingly?), the book adds important new information to the testimonial literature of the Holocaust. |
Contents
The Meeting | 3 |
Wiping the Slate Clean? | 97 |
We Are Still Here | 131 |
Thoughts on the Totality of National Socialism | 151 |
A Biographical Data | 169 |
Rank Comparisons of the WaffenSS | 177 |
Glossary | 183 |
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Common terms and phrases
actually already anti-Semitism anymore arrived Aryan asked Auschwitz Auschwitz-Birkenau Austrian barrack believe Bernhard Frankfurter Birkenau block cope corpses course crematorium Dagmar Ostermann death Delmotte doctor Dresden emotions everything experience extermination extermination camp fact father feel front gas chambers Gaschamber gassed German Gestapo guard gypsies happened Hitler Holocaust hospital human Hungarian transports Hygiene Institute inmates JAHN Jewish Jews Kapo kind knew later live look marched men's camp Mengele military mother Munich Muselmann national socialist Nazi never normal Oberscharführer penal commando perhaps perpetrators Polish Political Section possible question Rajsko ramp Ravensbrück remember roll call RSHA selections sent simply situation so-called spotted fever stay survived talk tell Theresienstadt things Third Reich thought tion told took totally tried uncle Unterscharführer Untersturmführer victims Vienna Waffen-SS Weber Wilhelm Münch women word Zyklon-B