Mistress of Life and Death Quotes

“In the creation of a “culture of cruelty,” Waller describes extreme desensitization, which often leads to a perpetrator’s perverse enjoyment and sadistic pleasure in his or her activities. These activities become an addiction and contribute to a larger social milieu wherein evil is encouraged and rewarded.”
― Susan J. Eischeid, Mistress of Life and Death: The Dark Journey of Maria Mandl, Head Overseer of the Women's Camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau

“in which to do our work.”
― Susan J. Eischeid, Mistress of Life and Death: The Dark Journey of Maria Mandl, Head Overseer of the Women's Camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau

“beating us in anger gave her pleasure. After each execution she became more pretty.”
― Susan J. Eischeid, Mistress of Life and Death: The Dark Journey of Maria Mandl, Head Overseer of the Women's Camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau

“sand-covered paths near the front gate had been raked by prisoners into complicated designs, like a distorted and ghoulish Zen garden.”
― Susan J. Eischeid, Mistress of Life and Death: The Dark Journey of Maria Mandl, Head Overseer of the Women's Camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau

“If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart? —ALEKSANDR SOLZHENITSYN, THE GULAG ARCHIPELAGO”
― Susan J. Eischeid, Mistress of Life and Death: The Dark Journey of Maria Mandl, Head Overseer of the Women's Camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau

“If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?”
― Susan J. Eischeid, Mistress of Life and Death: The Dark Journey of Maria Mandl, Head Overseer of the Women's Camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau

“Executioners were hired and brought to Montelupich. Several accounts note that one of the executioners was a dwarf. “He had crossed eyes and because of his low self-esteem, he was doing the job—as executioner.” Hannah Wysocka remembered him well. “And there was a dwarf, a very disproportionate body, the head, the legs, you know, he was said to be for the removal of the stool from below the feet, so when he appeared there, it was known, not when, but that there will be a hanging.”
― Susan J. Eischeid, Mistress of Life and Death: The Dark Journey of Maria Mandl, Head Overseer of the Women's Camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau

“Executioners were hired and brought to Montelupich. Several accounts note that one of the executioners was a dwarf. “He had crossed eyes and because of his low self-esteem, he was doing the job—as executioner.” Hannah Wysocka remembered him well. “And there was a dwarf, a very disproportionate body, the head, the legs, you know, he was said to be for the removal of the stool from below the feet, so when he appeared there, it was known, not when, but that there will be a hanging.” Another”
― Susan J. Eischeid, Mistress of Life and Death: The Dark Journey of Maria Mandl, Head Overseer of the Women's Camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau

“How terrible is the silence of a crowd of women!” She later summarized that “words may be eloquent, but how much more so is silence, especially the silence of many thousands of people.”
― Susan J. Eischeid, Mistress of Life and Death: The Dark Journey of Maria Mandl, Head Overseer of the Women's Camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau

“Ultimately, Maria’s life journey encompasses the eternal questions of right versus wrong, good versus evil, and the paradox of how cruelty and compassion can exist in the same person. It reveals how easily even the most unlikely person among us can be influenced toward evil in a climate of hate and fear.”
― Susan J. Eischeid, Mistress of Life and Death: The Dark Journey of Maria Mandl, Head Overseer of the Women's Camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau