I'd like to say something about this last, about this last point of this terrible, terrible business. I mean Treblinka. I was given orders. I went to see Globocnik in Treblinka. That was the second time. The installations were now in operation, and I had to report to Muller. I expected to see a wooden house on the right side of the road and a few more wooden houses on the left; that's what I remembered. Instead, again with the same SturmbannFuhrer Hofle, I came to a railroad station with a sign saying Treblinka, looking exactly like a German railroad station - anywhere in Germany - a replica, with signboards, etc. There I hung back as far as I could. I didn't push closer to see it all. I saw a footbridge enclosed in barbed wire and over that footbridge a file of naked Jews was being driven into a house, a big... no, not a house, a big, one-room structure, to be gassed. As I was told, they were gassed with ...what's it called? ... Potassium cyanide... or cyanic acid. In acid form it's called cyanic acid. I didn't look to see what happened. I reported to Muller and as usual he listened in silence, without a word of comment. Just his facial expression said: 'There's nothing I can do about it.' I am convinced, Herr Hauptmann, I know it sounds odd coming from me, but I'm convinced that if it had been up to Muller it wouldn't have happened.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- The speaker describes visiting a site, observing conditions, and witnessing Jews being driven into a structure for gassing.
- In plain terms
- I saw a place where people were taken to be killed.
- What can you take from it?
- Witnessing events can confirm knowledge of atrocities.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What does seeing entail?
- How do witnesses respond?
Another view
Witnessing does not imply stopping the events.
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