The Private Lives of the Auschwitz SS

by Piotr Setkiewicz (editor), William R. Brand (translator)

A look at the perpetrators of the Auschwitz crimes from a new, little-known, and sometimes surprising perspective. The book contains selected accounts by Polish women who worked in the homes of officers and enlisted men from the Auschwitz SS garrison. Each text vividly describes the family life and domestic relations that prevailed in the homes of these SS men.

Genres: Nonfiction, Holocaust, World War II, History, Nazi Party

134 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Born in 1963, studied history at the Jagiellonian University in Cracow and earned his doctorate at the Silesian University in 1999 for a dissertation on IG Farben-Werk Auschwitz 1941-1945.

He began working for the research department at the Auschwitz Museum in 1988. Head of the archives from 2001-2007, he became head of the research department in 2008. His research interests include the employment of prisoners in German industry and the history of the Auschwitz sub-camps.

His hobby is music.

Reviews

[Lukasz Rogowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lakoniczne sylwetki - szczęśliwie bez redukcji i ambicji tworzenia ogólnego portretu. Po lekturze więcej pytań niż odpowiedzi.

[Annie O'Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Went to Auschwitz several years ago and picked up this book from the museum. I read most of it then, but hadn’t finished it. Recently picked it up again and blew through it in a few days.

I’ve always been a bit curious about the Nazi side of WWII—SS mindset, etc. This was an interesting look into the domestic lives and family dynamics of several SS officers, through the accounts of young female Polish workers, and some prisoners as well.

Some families were rather cold to their workers, while some provided their workers with meals and even gifts and hand-me-down clothing/items Very interesting read and has presented me with further topics to explore.

[Anna Gibson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A series of collected accounts by women who were hired to work in the homes of SS officials working at Auschwitz. Most of these accounts were written by Polish women who, as young teenage girls, were forced by occupying Germans into working for their occupiers; but a few near the end were written by older women of other backgrounds, also forced into working in the homes of SS stationed at Auschwitz.

The experiences by these women varied. Some were treated warmly, and they reported that the wives of the SS officers even tried to occasionally feed the prisoners hired to work in their gardens or labor in their house (it appears these were almost always non-Jewish prisoners); one worker even received a letter from her so-called "employer" after they fled Auschwitz towards the end of the war, inquiring about her mother and how she was doing.

Others were treated poorly, threatened, or fired if they were discovered hiding food for others. One SS man told a young Polish teenager who wrote a letter home to her mother in which she called him a bandit that, if he'd been any other SS man, she would have "gone up in smoke."

Another account recalls how the child of the people she was forced to work for was not theirs--it was a young Polish boy "adopted" by the family, possibly under the Nazi policy of kidnapping so-called "racially valuable" Polish children and giving them to German families.

From the recollections of these women, the horrific goings-ons at the camp were not unknown. Multiple women reference seeing prisoners being beaten, hearing gunshots, the smell of burning bodies, as well as references to people going "up in smoke."

An essential collection of accounts that reminds one of how mundane the horrific people behind the Holocaust often were once they were home; as one woman later recalled, she was genuinely shocked to learn from visiting prisoners how feared the husband she worked for was in the camp because, as soon as he crossed the threshold of the home, he was kind to everyone inside, including her.

There are some footnotes at the end, but I wish we had information on the many people referenced by the women whose fates are not known...

[Nicholas Holloway · Rating 5 out of 5]

A series of accounts from young Polish girls essentially forced into domestic service for the married SS assigned to Auschwitz. What is striking, amongst other aspects, was the attempt by the SS wives to create a 'normal' home in the vicinity of mass murder.

What was also of significance was the apparent ignorance of or at least no indication given, by the SS wives of the true nature of Auschwitz.

Many of the Polish girls comment on the reasonably good treatment they recieved but not all. They also said that the SS men were quite often well disposed towards them to the extent they were not abusive or took advantage of the situation.

Many of the accountees note their efforts to help prisoners assigned to work where they worked, some of whom got into trouble when caught.

Overall, very interesting to read from this perspective. What is, again, of note was that the men did not match up with their roles in Auschwitz when at home. Quite a few other interesting points raised by these girls, such as looted wealth seen in some SS homes and the 'jolly' time Many of the SS and their families enjoyed - despite what they could not pretend wasn't happening in Auschwitz 1 or further at Birkenau.

[Iñaki Tofiño · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting testimonies of Polish girls and German Jehovah witnesses who were forced to work as house maids at the homes of prominent SS officials in Auschwitz; they got to know their families, their characters, the way they behaved with their families and with the camp inmates...

[Alexandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is meant to teach us about the private lives of those who contributed to a mass genocide. Interesting to read about their families and daily lives, it almost makes them human, although what they did proves us they weren't.

[Dana Hess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since this book is a translation from Polish, at times some information can be confusing; however, the perspective of the women working for SS Officers was extremely interesting and gave me a perspective I have not read about before.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

fascinating firsthand material

[Simon Benx · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mostly told through the eyes of 14 year old girls working for the officers family's.

[Oksana Naumchuk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Дуже неповна картинка, щоби назвати її повноцінним описом приватного життя

[D S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bardzo ciekawa, jednak oczekiwałabym nieco szerszego spojrzenia i wgłębienia się bardziej w szczegóły. Dosyć lakonicznie przestawione poszczególne historie

[Patryk]

„Życie prywatne esesmanów w Auschwitz” to wydana nakładem Państwowego Muzeum Auschwitz-Birkenau publikacja przedstawiająca oficerów SS oczami pracujących w ich domach Polek i więźniów. Publikacja to zbiór spisanych w latach 70. przez pracującą w Muzeum Marię Jędrysik wywiadów z młodymi dziewczynami, które w czasie wojny zostały skierowane do pracy w domach oficerów przez istniejący Arbeitsamt. Łącznie jest to 19 relacji, uzupełnionych o przypisy Muzeum.

Brak jedynie konkretnych opracowań pod koniec każdej z relacji kobiet.

[Roney Lundell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting perspective but could have benn more made out of this. A combination of the stories of the private lives combined with more info on th SS-men that the girls worked for would broaden the understanding.

[catie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5
very insightful

[Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Happy good read

[Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting