Cargo. They were cargo. I think it started the day I first saw the Totenlager in Treblinka. I remember Wirth standing there, next to the pits full of blue-black corpses. It had nothing to do with humanity-it couldn't have; it was a mass-a mass of rotting flesh. Wirth said, 'What shall we do with this garbage?' I think unconsciously that started me thinking of them as cargo.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- The speaker describes dehumanizing victims to cope with their murder.
- In plain terms
- He started viewing people as cargo to handle the horror.
- What can you take from it?
- Dehumanization helps perpetrators commit atrocities without emotional breakdown.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How do perpetrators rationalize mass murder?
- What role does language play in dehumanization?
Another view
This is a perpetrator's account and centers their psychology over victim experience.
More from Franz Stangl
No, no, no. This was the system. Wirth had invented it. It worked. And because it worked, it was irreversible.
Permalink to quote #3 He was a Dragoner (one of the imperial elite regiments). Our lives were run on regimental lines. I was scared to death of him.
Permalink to quote #5 I rarely saw them as individuals. It was always a huge mass...they were naked, packed together, running, being driven with whips.
Permalink to quote #2
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