The Commandant of Lubizec: A Novel of the Holocaust and Operation Reinhard by Patrick Hicks

Author:Patrick Hicks [Hicks, Patrick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical
ISBN: 1586422200
Google: AqmAAgAAQBAJ
Amazon: B00FIMWID2
Barnesnoble: B00FIMWID2
Goodreads: 18594850
Publisher: Steerforth
Published: 2014-03-25T04:00:00+00:00

*Other death camps had similar such stockpiles. These heartbreaking warehouses become inevitable when you murder thousands of people a day (final possessions have to be stored somewhere). Auschwitz, of course, was the largest and most infamous. The huge barracks there were called “Canada.” They were the size of several football fields.

13

THE VISIT

It was early October and he threaded his way through the woods because it centered him. It calmed him. Leaves fluttered down in slow flipping twists of burnt color and he enjoyed the side-to-side motion of his horse moving through the cold light. It was peaceful, like a painting. Occasionally he stood up in his stirrups and took in a lungful of fresh air. Every now and then he ducked to avoid a branch while, all around him, leaves swam down in dark, beautiful colors. When he arrived at Lubizec he hopped off and led his horse to a little stable. Puddles of water were everywhere—they reflected the sky above. Guth handed the reins to a prisoner and made his way to the office.

There was much to do with an SS judge coming to investigate the camp and he spent most of his time following Birdie around with a clipboard. They spent many hours sifting through silverware and weddings rings, and during one of these long sessions of cataloguing and counting, he reminded Birdie that everything in the barracks belonged to the Third Reich. They stopped before a pile of enamel pots and Guth nudged one with his foot. It rolled and wobbled to a stop.

“If you need things for the black market, take these. No one’s going to miss a few pots. As for gold and silver though … well, that’s off limits. Understand?”

Birdie nodded.

“Good. Good.”

We might wonder why Guth covered for Birdie at all. Why protect him? Why not send him packing for the Battle of Stalingrad that was raging in Russia? These are excellent questions and although we cannot answer them with historical documents, we can certainly hypothesize why Guth chose to shield Birdie in the first place. After all, it would have been far easier to step aside and point the finger of blame at him, but that’s not what Guth did. Instead, he used his power to protect this guard, which is rather telling, if not downright intriguing. Why do such a thing?

Guth was a perfectionist, so it could be that he didn’t want others to see any flaws in his camp, and to admit that one of his own henchmen was skimming off the top would mean he didn’t have total control over his deathdom. It might have been better to cover such things up rather than to lose face. We should also remember that Birdie was very good at what he did. He was ruthless and murderous—he kept Lubizec ticking along smoothly—and for Guth this would have been paramount. For all of his bluster about sending his guards to Russia if they misbehaved (a rich word in its own right: “misbehave”), there isn’t a single report of this ever happening.

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