Politics Activities
history_assignments_and_questions (2)
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The ‘selection’, which decided which Jews were to be worked and which ones immediately gassed, took place at the railroad siding as soon as the victims had been unloaded from the freight cars in which they had been locked without food or water for as much as a week – for many came from such distant parts as France, Holland and Greece. Though there were heart rending scenes from parents, none of the captives, as Hoess (see Representation 1) and survivors agree, realised just what was in store for them. In fact some of them were given pretty picture postcards marked ‘Waldsee’ to be signed and sent back home to their relatives with a printed inscription saying: ‘We are doing very well here. We have work and we are well treated. We await your arrival.’ The gas chambers themselves and the adjoining crematoria (the ovens where the bodies were cremated), viewed from a short distance, were not sinister-looking places at all; it was impossible to make them out for what they were. Over them were well-kept lawns with flower borders; the signs at the entrance merely said ‘BATHS’. The unsuspecting Jews thought they were simply being taken to the baths for delousing which was customary at all camps. And taken to the accompaniment of sweet music! For there was light music.An orchestra of ‘young and pretty girls all dressed in white blouses and
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