is there any suitable subject line for this, really?

[rm]

Another Nazi link. This one is infinitely more disturbing than yesterday's, about an album of daily life off-duty at Auschwitz for the guards, who are seem basically hanging out and being ordinary people.

If you know me at all, you know I have a fascination with certitude and the seeming ordinariness of monsters. It's chilling, really.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/19/arts/design/19photo.html

Comments

[rothko.livejournal.com]

i was a bit stunned by the end of the article: "[Höcker] was convicted of war crimes and served seven years before his release in 1970, after which he was rehired by the bank." wtf??

[rm.livejournal.com]

Seriously! I had that reaction too.

[marzipan-pig.livejournal.com]

Hah! Am I a horrible person for thinking that part was kind of funny? I think Germany had to kind of collectively pretend the whole thing Never Happened to function after the war.

[franny-glass.livejournal.com]

If you know me at all, you know I have a fascination with certitude and the seeming ordinariness of monsters. It's chilling, really.

Me too.

This was very interesting, thanks.

[coriander.livejournal.com]

I think your word "chilling" is right on. I want to think of the guards as monsters, but the fact that they danced and relaxed like any of us do makes it so much worse. Sickening and fascinating all at the same time.

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

Thanks for pointing out the article. You can view some of the photos
online at http://www.ushmm.org/research/collections/highlights/auschwitz/
I'm also fascinated by the idea that they could be doing something so
monstrous and yet do such normal, mundane things at the same time.