These sources tell us, to some extent, how some people would
have reacted to seeing the concentration camps and the full horror of
the Nazi atrocities. It would be safe to assume that many people would
cry, faint, scream, have a nervous breakdown or simply be indifferent
to the suffering but to categorize the entire population of Germany to
these limited reactions is highly inaccurate. First of all the reaction the
people would have would be probably related to the amount of
knowledge they had prior to seeing the camps. There are certain ways
the ordinary Germans could have discovered this, obviously the people
who knew first hand about the camps (railway personnel, workers at
the camps or local people) would react differently than those who
knew absolutely nothing about the camps. There were also those that
were told directly by someone who had seen it first hand or else heard
rumours. These people would probably be extremely shocked to see
rumours confirmed in such a brutal fashion.
The reaction of the people when presented with the knowledge is
also relevant to how accurate these sources are. Source 8 says “…men
and women screamed and fainted. Others were led away crying
hysterically” There is a possibility that they could have faked these
reactions or in fact when shown proof of what they already knew could
be overwhelming enough to create these reactions. Source 9 is much
more interesting as this woman had been convinced that “everything
the Nazis did was right and essential” when presented with actual
evidence of what they had done she had a nervous breakdown. The
woman’s beliefs had been dashed as she realised that she had been
lied to for so long.
Overall these two sources only show a reaction of a select group
of people, not the entire population of Germany. People react
differently to the same things just depending on their personality and
beliefs. Therefore these sources are relevant to some extent but just
apply to the particular people they mention as it’s safe to assume that
people who did not see the camps would have reacted in a completely
different way.