Five Chimneys: The Story of Auschwitz

“The dead, the contagiously ill, those suffering from organic diseases, the parched, the famished, and the mad must all travel together in this wooden gehenna.”

Lengyel describes the intolerable and terrifying conditions aboard the train car. She details the family’s journey to reach the camp, where they must endure thirst, starvation, and the cruel indifference of guards along the way, foreshadowing the Cruel and Degrading Treatment at Auschwitz-Birkenau. She also alludes to The Mass Genocide Committed by the Nazis, noting how conditions are so poor as to kill as many people as possible before they even reach the camp.

“How could we know that all this was window-dressing to maintain order among the deportees with a minimum of armed force? We could not possibly have guessed that the ambulances would cart the sick directly to the gas chambers, whose existence I had doubted; and thence to the crematories! Quieted by such cunning subterfuges, we allowed ourselves to be stripped of our belongings and marched docilely to the slaughterhouses.”

Lengyel describes the intentional manipulation by Nazi guards, including through the misleadingly reasonable and gentle treatment of deportees and the ambulances allegedly taking the sick to hospitals. Such measures allowed the Nazis to commit mass murder with as little fuss or disruption as possible.

“A cool wind carried to us a peculiar, sweetish odor, much like that of burning flesh, although we did not identify it as that.”

Lengyel uses dramatic irony here, alluding to the fact that she is smelling the burning remains of those who have been killed in the gas chambers. Later, she will learn that her parents and children were immediately killed and cremated in this manner.

“In each cage, which measured twelve by five feet, seventeen to twenty persons huddled together. There was little comfort to be had in these ‘bunks.’”

Lengyel illustrates the depravity and overcrowding of the camp in the women’s sleeping conditions, for which they had wooden bunks called koias. The conditions of the koias speak to the Cruel and Degrading Treatment at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

“So the trickery of the postcards had had a triple effect. It had deceived the families of the internees, often candidates for deportation themselves; it revealed the whereabouts of persons the Gestapo were seeking; and, thanks to the fake geographical indication, it had misled public opinion in the homeland of the internees and in foreign countries in general.”

Lengyel continues to condemn the manipulation of the Nazi guards through her description of the postcard scheme, which encouraged future deportees to submit to their fate, as well as giving the Nazis the addresses where they could find other “undesirables,” such as Jews. In many cases, the recipients of the postcards also sent packages to the condemned individuals, which the Nazis took for their own material gain.

“First they burn those they cannot use: the children and the old people. All those whom they put on the left side of the station are sent directly to the crematory.”

Irka, a long-time resident of the camp, tells Lengyel the truth about the fate of her parents and children. The dehumanization of the deportees is evident in the way the Nazis see them merely in terms of their usefulness to their own cause, rather than having any respect for them in terms of their humanity.

“Though I had lost my sensitivity after the first experiences in the camp, I still was painfully shocked when I saw my husband again. He who had always been so fastidious and correct in his grooming—Dr Miklos Lengyel, head of a sanatorium, surgeon, splendid human being—was dirty, ragged, and emaciated. His head was shaven, and he was clad in the uniform of a criminal.”

Lengyel contrasts Miklos’s bedraggled appearance with his neat and pressed appearance before the ordeal; his meticulous presentation before their deportation denoted his status as a respected and wealthy doctor, whereas now he is demeaned and dehumanized as merely another prisoner, devoid of status or value in the eyes of the Nazis because he is Jewish. Lengyel elucidates the Cruel and Degrading Treatment at Auschwitz-Birkenau in describing Miklos’s experience.

“At the garbage dump, by a wonderful stroke of luck, I found three fragments of twine which could be pieced together for the purpose. I also found a flat piece of wood, which I could sharpen into a knife. The same day fortune smiled on me again. One of my koia companions gave me a royal gift: two fragments of rag. It took no study to decide what I would do with them. One would serve me as a toothbrush, the other as a handkerchief.”

Even the positive moments in Lengyel’s daily life illustrate her extreme deprivation. With these rags, Lengyel is thrilled to have materials to blow her nose and brush her teeth; the relief and excitement at being able to have tools for these simple tasks reveals the extent of Lengyel’s poverty at this point.

“Above each rose a high chimney, which was usually fed by nine fires. The four ovens at Birkenau were heated by a total of thirty fires. Each oven had large openings. That is, there were 120 openings, into each of which three corpses could be placed at one time. That meant they could dispose of 360 corpses per operation. That was only the beginning of the Nazi ‘Production Schedule.’

Three hundred and sixty corpses every half hour, which was all the time it took to reduce human flesh to ashes, made 720 per hour, or 17,280 corpses per twenty-four hour shift. And the ovens, with murderous efficiency, functioned day and night.

However, one must also take into account the death pits, which could destroy another 8,000 cadavers a day. In round numbers, about 24,000 corpses were handled each day. An admirable production record—one that speaks well for German industry.”

Underscoring the Nazi dehumanization of mass murdered deportees, Lengyel uses pragmatic, industrial terms to discusses the humans the Nazis murdered and burned. Through this tone, Lengyel condemns The Mass Genocide Committed by the Nazis, highlighting the innate humanity and right to life of the murdered victims.

“While the deportees were being disembarked, the camp orchestra, inmates in striped pajamas, played swing tunes to welcome the new arrivals. The gas chamber waited, but the victims must be soothed first. Indeed, the selections at the station were usually made to the tune of languorous tangos, jazz numbers, and popular ballads.”

Lengyel emphasizes the manipulation of the guards on the train platform at Auschwitz, who want to lull the condemned into a false sense of security to make their execution run as smoothly as possible. The cheerful tunes are jarringly juxtaposed with the fate of the deportees.

“I had then two reasons to live: one, to work with the resistance movement and help as long as I could stand upon my feet; two, to dream and pray for the day to come when I could go free and tell the world, ‘This is what I saw with my own eyes. It must never be allowed to happen again!’”

The resistance movement plays an important role in giving Lengyel hope and purpose. She feels a responsibility to bear witness and to share with the world the horrific experiences she and others underwent, an indication of her belief in Empowerment Through Resistance and Hope.

“Had they not announced in many occupied cities that it was ‘not against the rules’ to take personal objects along? This indirect invitation proved much more effective than if they had suggested that their victims bring their jewelry.”

Lengyel condemns the Nazis’ intentional strategies to enrich themselves through the stolen items of their murdered victims. Lengyel highlights the Nazis’ deceptive tactics, noting how to maximize the goods they could steal, they intentionally chose language that conveyed that the deportees were allowed to bring personal items rather than actively encouraging them to do so.

“Among the items in ‘Canada’ that impressed me painfully was the row of baby carriages, which brought to mind all the unfortunate infants the Germans had murdered. The children’s shoes and toy section, always well stocked, was another heartrending place.”

The discarded baby carriages and children’s toys are a stark symbol of the hundreds of thousands of murdered children during the Holocaust. Lengyel uses this example as a concrete depiction of the Cruel and Degrading Treatment at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

“Many of the prisoners looked like skeletons. They had lost from fifty to sixty percent of their original weight and had shrunken in height. It was unbelievable, but they actually weighed about sixty or seventy pounds. The same cause, malnutrition, caused other bodies to become abnormally swollen.”

The state of the corpses of Auschwitz-Birkenau speaks to the extreme deprivation of the camp; the victims’ bodies were immensely shrunken, or, in other cases, swollen with malnutrition. Lengyel refers to The Mass Genocide Committed by the Nazis, as starvation was merely another tool through which Nazis could exterminate “undesirables.”

“The barrack doctors, whose duty it was to report pregnant women, received strict orders. Nevertheless, I more than once saw the doctors defy every danger and certify that a woman was not pregnant when they positively knew that she was. Dr G. stood up to the infamous Dr Mengele, the medical director of the camp, and denied every case of pregnancy that could possibly be contested. Later, the camp infirmary somehow secured a drug which, through injection, brought about premature births. What could we do? Wherever possible, the doctors resorted to this procedure, which was certainly the lesser horror for the mother.”

Dr. G’s brave decision to stand up to Dr. Mengele saved the lives of pregnant mothers. This, as well as the abortion of babies, is one of many examples of underground resistance within the camp as well as Empowerment Through Resistance and Hope.

“The couples were separated by an electrically charged fence, the slightest contact with which was fatal. They stood knee deep in the snow in the shadow of the crematory ovens, and made ‘plans’ for the future, and traded the latest gossip.”

Lengyel describes how couples fell in love across the electric fences of Auschwitz-Birkenau. She highlights how these couples managed to dream up a brighter future even amid squalid, cruel, and terrifying conditions. This serves as an example of Empowerment Through Resistance and Hope, given the fact that the camp intended to instill hopelessness and despondence in its victims.

“These 400 demonstrated that in spite of the barbed wire and the lash, they were not slaves but human beings. With rare dignity, the Greeks refused to kill the Hungarians! They declared that they preferred to die themselves first. Sadly enough, they did. The Germans saw to that. But what a demonstration of courage and character these Greek peasants had given.”

Lengyel highlights the theme of Empowerment Through Resistance and Hope in the example of the Greek Sonderkommandos, who refused to kill the unknown Hungarians. She states that they demonstrated immense courage and integrity in incredibly trying conditions and even under threat of death. This serves as a subtle critique of the argument that the Nazis’ cruel behavior was justified because they themselves might be under threat of severe consequences should they refuse to cooperate.

“But for Irma there was never any shortage of material, even English textiles. The gas chambers supplied an abundance of shoes and clothing, and all the martyred countries of Europe contributed to her collection. Her closets were crammed with clothing from the finest houses of Paris, Vienna, Prague, Amsterdam, and Bucharest.”

Dispossessed of all of their clothing and luggage when they arrive at the camp, the victims of the gas chambers and the inmates of the camps supply Irma’s beautiful wardrobe. Lengyel description underscores how conspicuously Irma benefited from the Nazi program of mass murder.

“A few of the little parcels did fall into the hands of the S.S. That was almost unavoidable, and it provoked a brutal reaction. The gallows were put into use and bodies hung from them every day. Whenever the Germans suspected anything, a frenzied order was given: “Search the place!” and a group of S.S. rushed into our barracks.”

Lengyel emphasizes the bravery of the underground resistance in the harsh reprisals suffered en masse whenever Nazi officials discovered packages, such as those containing explosives. She cites this example to elucidate the possibilities of Empowerment Through Resistance and Hope.

“In another mad experiment they laid hundreds of sick out in the blazing sun. The Germans wanted to know how long it would take a sick person to die under the sun without water.”

Lengyel demonstrates the callous indifference of the doctors involved in the experimentation on inmates through the example of an experiment where inmates are left to die of thirst in the hot sun. She thereby underscores both the Cruel and Degrading Treatment at Auschwitz-Birkenau and The Mass Genocide Committed by the Nazis.

“The Germans had a geopolitical reason for these experiments. If they could sterilize all non-German people still alive after their victorious war, there would be no danger of new generations of ‘inferior’ peoples. At the same time, the living populations would be able to serve as laborers for about thirty years. After that time, the German surplus population would need all the space in these countries, and the ‘inferiors’ would perish without descendants.”

The Nazis program of mass genocide motivated the focus on sterilization, castration, and other experiments on genitalia. Lengyel shows how these experiments were not simply driven by the Nazis’ senseless cruelty. In fact, Lengyel suggests they conducted these experiments as part of a comprehensive plan to exterminate all non-Aryan people and realize the ideal German state.

“Their orders were, that in the event of a Russian surprise, the six thousand prisoners were to be killed at once so the Russians could not liberate any of them.”

Even as the Russian liberating troops advanced toward Auschwitz-Birkenau, the guards remained fixated on ensuring the deaths of as many inmates as possible. The Nazis conceived of the death marches as a simple and portable way to cause more mass death among the prisoners.

“Only the sights I saw along the march saved me from losing my mind. The roads were crowded with the fleeing Germans and their collaborators, who, after years of robbing and looting, could hardly take their spoils with them. The retreating soldiers fled in dismay and panic: trucks carrying guns and machine guns; frightened, riderless horses stampeded; whole villages of people were driven before the German horses; and the Red Cross trucks, so feared in Auschwitz, now carried German wounded to a safer area. Everything indicated chaos. Total capitulation could be but a matter of days.”

After years of being enslaved to her captors, Lengyel conveys her joy in the chaotic scenes of the retreating German army, which foreshadows their impending surrender. Tension builds toward the moment of Lengyel’s freedom.