A Small Town Near Auschwitz Ordinary Nazis And The Holocaust

The Silesian town of Be̜dzin lies a mere twenty-five miles from Auschwitz. Through its linked ghettos and that of its neighboring town, some 85,000 Jews passed on their way to slave labor or the gas chambers. The principal civilian administrator of Be̜dzin, Udo Klausa, was a happily married family man. He was also responsible for implementing Nazi policies towards the Jews in his area, inhumane processes that were the precursors of genocide. Yet he later claimed, like so many other Germans after the war, that he had 'known nothing about it.' This book re-creates Udo Klausa's story. Using personal letters, memoirs, testimonies, interviews and other sources, the author pieces together his role in the unfolding stigmatization and degradation of the Jews under his authority, as well as the heroic attempts at resistance on the part of some of his victims. Portrayed is a fascinating insight into the inner conflicts of a Nazi functionary who, throughout, considered himself a 'decent' man.^ She also explores the conflicting memories and evasions of his life after the war. But the book is much more than a portrayal of an individual man. Udo Klausa's case is so important because it is in man