As we have shown in Chapter I, the history of the concentration camp Majdanek was extraordinarily chaotic. There could be no sense of any clear and consistent development since the camp's function was continually changing. Majdanek remained a temporary measure to the end.

Alert observers had not failed to notice this. One 1943 report of the Polish Resistance movement, which we will quote later, stated that the lack of interest on the part of the German authorities showed that the situation in Majdanek was temporary. For the inmates, this circumstance had very definite consequences-some were positive, but significantly more were not.

One of the potential positive effects was that at times there was not enough work in Majdanek for all the inmates. For example, as we saw in the last chapter, on December 9, 1943, 537 of the 4,466 inmates of the "protective detention camp" were healthy but not assigned to any work.

Another advantage which the "lack of interest on the part of the German authorities", to use the Resistance movement's expression, had for the internees was the ease with which messages could be exchanged with the outside world.

At least part of the time, the inmates were able to correspond with their kin legally, though of course in a form censored by the camp authorities.[138] Aside from this, the exchange of letters and secret messages by illegal means flourished, and the camp authorities obviously made no attempts to stop it: it seems that they could not care less. Józef Marszałek comments:[139]

Marszałek demands a bit too much credulity from his readers: the SS were certainly not blind men in whose presence one could "distribute cleverly hidden secret materials" without their noticing. The only possible conclusion is that they did not care about the distribution of the "secret material".

But this obvious indifference of the administration to the activities in the camp had a fateful counterpart: they also behaved with indifference towards brutal excesses committed against the prisoners by the guards.

Accounts of cruel mistreatment of inmates, right up to casually committed murder, run like a red thread through the official literature on Majdanek. The basis for these accounts are statements of former camp inmates.

Now there are good reasons to assume that at least some of these accounts are greatly exaggerated. Anyone who had lived through Majdanek quite naturally felt a deep hatred of the SS who had deprived him of his freedom under the basest of circumstances, and was thus almost inevitably inclined to give the most lurid accounts of their brutality. Furthermore, the tendency to dramatize bad experiences is a general human trait.

Accordingly, the French Resistance fighter and Socialist Paul Rassinier, inmate of the Buchenwald and Dora-Mittelbau camps, titled a book about his camp experiences in which he critically examined his former fellow-prisoners' accounts, Le Mensonge d'Ulysse (The Lies of Ulysses),[140] referring to the self-deceiving hero Ulysses (Odysseus) who augmented a hundred torments he had really suffered with a thousand more of his own invention.

Therefore, the claims made by the eyewitnesses must be treated with some reservations. If, for example, former Majdanek inmates claim that the SS-man Arthur Gossberg had played 'William Tell' when drunk, placed apples on inmates' heads and then fired at them with his pistol, or that the SS-man Anton Thumann as well as the physician Heinrich Schmidt had fired shots through the windows into the Women's Hospital for fun,[141] this is no doubt pure atrocity propaganda. The legend of William Tell has also been imputed to the German Gottfried Weise, stationed in Auschwitz,[142] and the tale of SS-men taking shots into a hospital for fun is strikingly reminiscent of that scene in Steven Spielberg's Hollywood film Schindler's List where the director has Ammon Göth, the Commandant of the labor camp Płaszów, pass the time by shooting down inmates from his vantage point on the balcony of his villa. This kind of morbid fantasy has nothing to do with historiography.

In principle, the SS-men were strictly forbidden to mistreat inmates. In Auschwitz, all members of the SS had to sign an agreement that they would not harm inmates physically; severe punishment was threatened in cases of noncompliance.[143] Even though no similar documents are known to us for Majdanek we suspect that the rules were the same there.

Often enough, however, rules are on paper only. We do not doubt that mistreatment was in fact a widespread problem in Majdanek. One of many pieces of circumstantial evidence for this is provided by the memoirs of the Norwegian Erling Bauck, whose objective and matter-of-fact tone is a welcome contrast to other, entirely unbelievable witness accounts. Bauck worked in an outside labor detail in Majdanek. When a thoroughly down-to-earth witness such as Bauck, who always expressly identifies rumors as rumors, writes that one records officer constantly beat the inmates with a whip,[144] we really see no reason to take this as a figment of an excessively creative imagination.

Therefore, there are grounds to suspect that the camp administration's indifference resulted in frequent abuse of inmates in Majdanek, but that this did not reach the degree that is alleged. Due to the lack of documents, not much more can be said on this topic.

The lack of any and all documentary source materials also limits our observations about the number of executions carried out in the Lublin camp via shooting or hanging. We can only say that no doubt the number was great, particularly since inmates who were sentenced to death for actual or alleged crimes were not the only ones to be executed there, Resistance fighters sentenced to death outside the camp were also sent to Majdanek (or to the nearby forest of Krepiecki) to be executed.

The decisive factor which made Majdanek the worst of all the National Socialist concentration camps, at least part of the time, was probably neither the mistreatment of inmates-the scale and scope of which cannot be determined-nor the executions, which of course also took place in other camps. Rather it was the sanitary conditions, which were dreadful until early 1943 and still very bad from that time until autumn of the same year, and which inevitably triggered epidemics and thus the incredibly high mortality rate in the Lublin camp. This too was a result of the 'temporary nature' of this camp: as we have seen, Majdanek's connection to the municipal sewer system of Lublin was greatly delayed by squabbling among various authorities, and carried out at a snail's pace even once it had finally been decided upon.

Where people live closely crowded together, the danger of disease grows. Epidemics, particularly typhus transmitted by lice, were the main reason for the at times staggering mortality rate in the National Socialist concentration camps.

Admittedly, where sanitation and medical care were concerned, there were great differences between the camps. This is already shown by the mortality rates, which often differed greatly even for the same time period. Important information about these mortality rates is provided particularly by the September 30, 1943, report of SS-Obergruppenführer and WVHA Chief Oswald Pohl to Heinrich Himmler,[145] which discussed the measures taken to reduce mortality rates in the concentration camps, and the results achieved by them. Pohl informed his superior that by improving sanitary conditions as well as the rations and clothing of the inmates, the mortality rate in the camps had successfully been reduced from 10%(!) in December 1942 to 2.09% in August 1943.

As Document PS-1469 shows,[146] not one of the 2,500 inmates in the Dutch concentration camp Hertogenbosch died in August 1943, only one out of 3,000 in the Riga camp, and 40 out of 17,500 in Dachau (which corresponds to a death rate of 0.25%). The Lublin concentration camp had the highest death rate by far: 7.67% for the men and 4.41% for the women. (For the sake of comparison: in Auschwitz, the mortality rate for the men was 3% that month, and for the women it was 3.61%.)

As already pointed out, the catastrophic sanitary conditions were the main reason for the abnormally high death rates in the Lublin camp.

In the anthology Majdanek 1941-1944 Zofia Murawska devotes several pages to the sanitary conditions in the camp.[147] She sketches the following overview:

• - Until spring 1942 there were no sanitary facilities and no running water in Majdanek. The first two wells on the camp grounds were not finished until May 1942.

• - There were no laundry facilities until January 1943. Up to that time, the inmates had to do their laundry by hand, insofar as there was even any water available for this purpose. In the winter they obtained water by melting snow or ice.

• - As of spring 1942, new arrivals were given shower baths. The camp inmates had only very irregular access to the showers. Weekly showers were not scheduled until late autumn 1943.

• - Flush toilets were available only as of August 1943. Before that, the internees had to make do with primitive latrines in the form of pits with boards laid across. At night the prisoners were forbidden to leave the barracks and had to relieve themselves into boxes that were emptied in the morning.

• - Due to the lack of water, soap and disinfectants, lice and other vermin were everywhere.

• - In the second half of 1943 sanitary conditions improved noticeably. By autumn of that year, every barrack had faucets as well as stone wash basins.

Although these findings are based primarily on witness reports, they are probably quite realistic; they are also confirmed by German documents. We shall quote two of these documents-excerpts from one, and the other in its entirety.

On January 20, 1943, SS-Hauptsturmführer Krone traveled to Lublin on business and subsequently drew up a report in which he recorded the following:[148]

Two months later, on March 20, 1943, SS-Untersturmführer Birkigt followed up on an inspection conducted on February 23 and 24 by drawing up a report on the sanitary conditions in Majdanek. He wrote:[149]

"A) Current conditions (Population approximately 7,000 inmates)

1. At present, just under 10% of the camp population is ill. For the more than 600 patients, including some 200 surgical cases (frostbite, etc.), there are 3 infirmary barracks available on Compound I. This compound is described as a model compound. The infirmary barracks are separated from the housing barracks of Compound I by no more than an ordinary barbed-wire fence. In terms of laundry, rations etc., the infirmary barracks are supplied by the facilities of Compound I, i.e., they do not have their own kitchen, laundry, disinfection facility, etc. Currently each of the infirmary barracks houses more than 200 patients. Due to the triple-decker bunks, the barracks are overcrowded and lack adequate ventilation.

2. To date the only toilet facilities were dry (non-flush) toilets, located in a special barrack at the east end of each Compound. The feces were carted out onto the fields located towards the west. Since autumn last year, a sluice system has been set up, which joins the municipal sewers via a 60Ær canal. This sluice system still lacks two feeder pipes for Compound V, which could not be installed due to the onset of frost.
   The Building Administration and Command arranged for the construction of latrine pits with one or two seats at various points above the sluice feeders so as to be able to begin using the sluice system even prior to completion of the planned flush toilets. The final plan provides for eight fixed toilets with ring-flush system at one end of each housing barrack [illegible section follows].

3. To date there are no washing facilities in the barracks or washing barracks. The inmates are to wash themselves in wash bowls or buckets, using water brought in from the well. A new water pipe is in place and connected to the municipal water supply. Pressure is very low, since the municipal waterworks has a single functional pump said to manage only 8,000 cubic meters per day. A reserve pump exists, but is out of order.
   Plans provide for washing facilities with two washing barracks (approximately 20-24 places) or with washing channels (approximately 40-50 places) at one end of each accommodation. At the moment, to provide for the interim, the toilet barrack at the eastern end of each barracks compound is equipped with a washing facility with wooden channels which, however, will probably not have a sufficient lifespan even for the interim. These temporary washing facilities have been ordered completed by March 3, 1943. However, since there appears to be a shortage of equipment and skilled labor, it seems that all the work will not be finished by the end of March.

4. At present the only effective body cleansing for inmates consists of bathing (showering) in combination with body disinfection via an antiseptic bath in the two disinfection barracks. Each disinfection barrack has 40 showers. According to the camp physician and the SDG [medics] 240-520 inmates can be channeled through the disinfection facilities daily.

B) The concentration camp is to be enlarged to hold 25,000 prisoners.

These two documents clearly show that sanitary conditions continued to be unacceptable even after the camp's connection to the municipal water supply was complete, but also that SS authorities in charge strove earnestly to improve the situation. No doubt this was a result of Pohl's December 1942 order to improve the living conditions of concentration camp inmates.[150]

The sanitary conditions described perforce brought all sorts of diseases with them. The Polish historian Jolanta Gajowniczek wrote an article on this topic, stating:[151]

1.  The worst health problem in Majdanek was typhus. (In view of the utmost importance of this point we shall quote her subsection on typhus in Majdanek almost in its entirety, later on.)

2.  Tuberculosis claimed a very great number of lives. In the first months of 1944, the number of cases in the camp itself was further increased by the fact that many tuberculosis patients were brought to Majdanek from the Reich.

3.  Poor rations resulted in massive cases of dysentery.

4.  Scabies was very widespread due to inadequate personal hygiene resulting from the lack of water.

In her discussion of the men's and women's infirmary the author gives the following account of the medical care inmates received as of late 1941:[152]

• - On November 27, 1941, a little over one month after the arrival of the first transports of prisoners, eight inmate doctors (seven Poles and one Czech) were sent to the Lublin camp from the concentration camp Sachsenhausen. Three more doctors from Sachsenhausen followed in December 1941, as well as one each from Dachau and Buchenwald.

• - For the first months these doctors could not do anything for the patients since there was no medication and no bandages.

• - In early 1942, the first isolation compound for typhus victims was set up. In February of that year, one barrack (Block 1 on Compound I) was set aside to house the patients.

• - Also in February 1942, more inmate doctors arrived, this time from Auschwitz. In the second quarter of the same year they were followed by Jewish doctors from Slovakia and from the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. These doctors brought medical instruments, medications and bandages with them.

• - In March or April 1943 there were a total of 5 infirmary barracks. Barrack 1 included the quarters of the inmate doctors as well as the (German) camp physician's office, Barrack 2 contained the surgery, Barracks 3 and 4 served to accommodate bed-ridden patients, and Barrack 5 housed patients with infectious diseases. Another five barracks (numbers 6 through 10) were intended as emergency reserve, in other words probably for the case of an epidemic.

• - In addition to these barracks, every compound had small "sick huts".

For October 1943 the author gives an indication of the nationalities of the doctors. At that time 120 assistants as well as the doctors did duty in the infirmary. Most of the doctors were Polish political prisoners, whereas the vast majority of the assistants were Jews.

Between December 12, 1943, and March 22, 1944, transports of sick inmates arrived in Majdanek from various camps in the Reich. J. Gajowniczek writes that there are no documents that indicate whether these sick inmates had been sent to the Lublin camp for elimination or for treatment, but she considers the former to be likely. On the other hand, she also mentions an April 13, 1944, transport of patients, doctors and assistants leaving Majdanek for Auschwitz.

When the camp was closed down on July 22, 1944, the sick inmates who were unable to travel were released and the rest were sent to Auschwitz.

In the women's division of the camp, the medical conditions seem to have been better than in the men's division; in the women's section a medical service was set up relatively promptly, and it also had some of the requisite equipment.

The compulsion to respect the orthodox image of Majdanek as "extermination camp" prompts the author to make all sorts of comments about "selections for the gas chamber" and the like. For example, she writes:[153]

All this seems like a muddle of contradictory nonsense. If the infirmary was an "important way station for the selection of inmates to be sent to the gas chamber", then it would have been quite impossible to take refuge there from "selection in the barracks". If those inmates who were unfit to work were being culled for the gas chamber at such selections, then the "cripples", in other words those who were thoroughly unfit to work, could hardly have found a sanctuary from death in the infirmary. And patients "with high fever (e.g. with typhus)" would have been the last to report to the infirmary if there had been an "imminent danger of being selected for gassing" there.

Of course the author could not fail to see the contradictory nature of her own claims. She tries to explain these inconsistencies as follows:[154]

J. Gajowniczek mentions the transports of sick inmates who arrived from the Reich between December 1943 and March 1944. Danuta Czech's Kalendarium tells us of similar transports that had already arrived earlier.

For June 3, 1943, this Kalendarium states:[155]

and on November 25, 1943:[156]

On the other hand, two transports of sick inmates leaving Majdanek for Auschwitz are also recorded. According to the Kalendarium, 750 Jews and 750 Jewesses arrived in Auschwitz on July 8 of that year. Of these, the Auschwitz doctors admitted 49 men to the inmates' infirmary or the convalescent block for exhaustion, bacterial tissue inflammation and severe hernias, and declared 80 women unfit to work. Beyond that, it was "found that the overall condition of the transferred inmates prevents their being put to work without reservation in the concentration camp Auschwitz". And for July 11, 1943, the Kalendarium records the arrival of 763 male and 568 female prisoners from Majdanek, many of whom were ill and unable, or largely unable, to work.[157]

Now, if we ignore the extermination tales, which are not supported by so much as one single document, we arrive at the following picture of the sanitary conditions in Majdanek:

The camp administration-which was no doubt chiefly to blame for the scandalous conditions-did make a number of efforts, albeit belatedly, to improve health care in the camp and thus to reduce the mortality rate. Towards this goal it brought doctors from other camps to Majdanek, set up infirmary barracks, installed disinfection facilities. For this reason as well it let charitable organizations distribute vaccine against typhus. (The claim that this vaccine had to be smuggled into the camp by the Resistance movement is another one of the author's fairy-tales which, incidentally, contradicts her earlier statements: as she herself notes only a few pages earlier, in her subsection "Typhus", this vaccine was brought into the camp perfectly legally by the Polish Red Cross and other humanitarian organizations.)

J. Gajowniczek's expositions on the typhus epidemic seem to us to be so significant that we shall include them here in only slightly abbreviated form:[158]

In the next chapter we shall come back to the evidence for the extermination of the sick inmates in Majdanek. J. Gajowniczek is not alone in alleging this extermination; it is generally claimed by orthodox historians.

For the moment we shall make only a simple, logical objection: If "the desire for extermination was undoubtedly predominant" in Majdanek at least until autumn 1943, it would have been preposterous to build a hospital. It would have been preposterous to reassign inmate doctors from Sachsenhausen, Buchenwald, Dachau, and Auschwitz to Majdanek. It would have been preposterous to set up disinfection facilities and thus to protect the inmates to be exterminated from dying of typhus. It would have been preposterous to send inspectors to Majdanek and have them draw up lengthy reports about the sanitary conditions and about the measures to be taken for their improvement. Finally, it would have been preposterous to allow the Red Cross to distribute the typhus vaccine.

Notes