Reitlinger’s source. In conclusion Reitlinger is supported, by Source 2,
about rumours being spread and that people had seen Jews disappear.
Source three is a very neutral source to the credibility of
Reitlinger’s as it says “Workers at an extermination centre in Austria
were told ‘Keep quiet about this or face the death penalty’” this almost
contradicts what Reitlinger says about people knowing about the
camps. If the workers in the camps were threatened with their lives
then would the hardly gossip to neighbours? Also in source three is
says that when the crematoria were turned on it caused a power-
outage outside Dachau, the people would obviously notice if their
power was turned off so this supports Reitlinger’s claims.
Source 6 contains much information and it supports Reitlinger’s
claims as it contains information concerning an SS man declaring on a
train that “2000 Jews were being murdered every week at Auschwitz”
if this SS man was concerned about secrecy would he have said it on a
busy train? Source 6 also goes into some detail about the BBC
laughing a broadcast campaign on the extermination of the Jews which
provided information for any Germans that held a radio and it also
says that “The leaflets dropped by Allied planes also relayed
information on the annihilation policy” I think that the German people
would have had enough information to confirm the rumours they might
have heard.
Source 8 contradicts Reitlinger as it says “All swore that during
the past few years they had no idea what had been going on in the
camp outside their town” this is important to note as the people
themselves are saying they hadn’t heart anything. There is a
possibility that they could have been lying or faking their knowledge of
the situation as evidence shows the general knowledge of people living
around the camps.
Source 10 supports Reitlinger as the author says “The Jews are
disappearing in throngs” this matches with Source 5’s “…not know
most of the Jews had disappeared…”
I would have to conclude that Reitlinger was probably correct in
his estimate of German knowledge of the concentration camps as a
good portion of the evidence in the sources tells us that it is plausible
to estimate figures as grand as a hundred thousand people. I think
many of the Germans did in fact know about the camps either by the
rumours or by radio or by information pamphlets and therefore it begs
the question as to why they didn’t do anything to help the suffering
Jews. Were they afraid of the strict penalties? Some had put their lives
on the line by telling people about the camps why didn’t they do
anything? The answer to this is that although the people may have
known there was nothing that they could have done to stop it
completely and therefore could not be really held responsible for not
helping.
