short story i wrote.
i'm HORRIBLE with fiction. so i'm ashamed of it as a hole.
but... whatever the fuck.

It was yet another grey, humdrum day at Auschwitz-Birkenau. (1) Another grey dreary day for camp medical officer Josef Mengele. He sauntered up and down at the wrought iron gates, impatiently awaiting the first batch of jews to reach the camp. Jews? Nay. Vermin. It would do a great injustice to history if we portray our dear Josef as viewing them as merely jewish people. To our dear Josef they were not simply jews. They were utermensch. (2) Vermin. Filth. Unworthy of an existence, so as to speak.

The doctor stood up with anticipation as he saw a plume of smoke arising from the distance. It could only be another overstuffed cattle-car (3), packed to the brim with jews being euphemistically “resettled in the east”. (4)
He let slip a secret smile. What treasures would come along his personal silk road today? Maybe another set of twins for him to dissect? A pet dwarf, perhaps for him to lead around on a leash? Josef curled his lips in pleasure at the very thought.

It was hot in the cattle-car. The writhing throng of humanity seized 20-year old Hans Goldmann like a tar pit trap, even as he fought for a breath of fresh air. When would they reach the “east” they were being resettled to? And as the train stopped, Hans felt the metaphorical noose around his neck being loosened. Finally, he could get off the viselike deathtrap that was the train.

Auschwitz made a poor host for young Hans. Rather, it was a nightmare. Muddy puddles spangled the ice-caked road and the air was befouled with the rank of some odour. An odour that crept with the smoke from the chimneys in the background. Black, angry plumes of smoke hung around Auschwitz, ever belching from its smokestacks. They were an ever-present reminder of the true nature of Auschwitz (5), something our poor Hans was presently unaware of.

As the train arrived, Josef thrust his chest out in stoic pride, a display of strength and security in his position. The Schultstaffel (6) was the pride of Herr Hitler’s thousand year reich. The metaphorical crème de la crème of the entire Aryan race. He strode forth with an air of authority, riding crop (7) firmly brandished in hand.

The jews got off the train in a flurry of movement, eager for the rejuvenating elixir we know simply as air. They were then ushered into Indian file, much like would be done to lambs sent to slaughter

A branding iron of trepidation and fear seared the hearts of the jews as they pondered their future. What fate awaited them? Would they be torn from their families? Would they be sent to labour camps? Would they even live to midnight? Hans could conceal his emotion no more. He girded his metaphorical loins and summoned up a much-required shot of courage. “Where are we? What’s going to us?” Hans gave an audacious shout, one that could have crumbled the rock of Gibraltar. (8) “Whatever happened to the east? We’re nowhere near there.”

The crowd of jews gasped at this display of unrestrained defiance. Never in the past few years had the authority of a Nazi been questioned in this manner. The will of the Nazi party was the will of the Führer and also of the entire Aryan race. To question that could only mean an early death. Or worse. Indubitably, the scars etched by krystallnacht (9) still ran raw in the jewish psyche.

Dr. Mengele strode over, angry at this affront to his authority.
“Who are you? You will be punished for this!”
He then stopped, eyes wide in shock. He ran his eyes over the boy’s fine Germanic features. Indeed, the self-professed expert on heredity would have considered Hans a fine specimen of the Aryan race. That is, of course, had Hans not been in the camp.
“Why are you here? You are Aryan. You are not a filthy jew. Why are you in this camp?”


With that Hans replied, bristling with fury at this slur on his heritage.
“I am Hans Goldmann. My mother is a jew. But how does that matter? We are all proud, loyal Germans. Both my grandfathers fought in the Wehrmacht (10) in the Great War. (11) Did yours?”
Hans spat on the ground angrily, eyebrows furrowed in black rage.

Dr. Mengele smirked in sheer contempt.
“Blood traitor. Greedy jewish profiteer (12). Filthy crossbred scum. Dare you question the purity of my veins?”

The proud doctor smiled with the air of a shark leering at his prey.

“Impertinent, are we? Well I suppose this is what you get from your accursed jew blood, Goldmann. It will not matter much. I hope your fellow jews enjoy our new camp sausages.”

Hans’s eyes widened as he realized the meaning of that little speech. His knees gave way along with the broken hymen that was his spirit.

“Take him away!” And with those words Hans was led to his doom. We can but hope he is in a better place than the wretched hellhole that was Auschwitz.

Herr Mengele lit a pipe of the very finest tobacco. The blue-tinged smoke made lazy circles around his head. He chuckled to himself.

“Arbeit macht fleisch” (13)

Footnotes

1. Aushchwitz-Birkenau was a famous Nazi concentration camp during WW2. It was one of the bigger ones.

2. Utermensch is a term used in Nazi eugenics meaning “under-men” it referred to races that were judged as undeserving of life. This term included jews and gypsies, amongst others.

3. Cattle cars were used for transporting animals, but for economical reasons they were instead used by the Nazis to transport people to concentration camps.

4. This was a lie told to jews being deported to ensure their cooperation.

5. Though Auschwitz also held prisoners of war, it was primarily known as a liquidation camp for people the Nazis intended to kill.

6. The SS was a Nazi paramilitary organization that was selected from those who were considered most dedicated Nazis, as well as racially pure Aryans.

7. These were often associated with the aristocracy and culture as horse-riding was by then largely confined to the rich.

8. The rock of Gibraltar is known for being impregnable, and has become known as a metaphor for stability and strength.

9. A Nazi pogrom where many jewish businesses and synagogues were destroyed. Jews were also arrested and deported to concentration camps or killed.

10. German for army. It also more formally refers to the german army between 1935-1945, though not in this context.

11. World War 1. This term was commonly used until the end of World War 2.

12. One of the accusations leveled at jews by the Nazi party. This was especially poisonous considering that germany was still recovering from the great depression

13. Arbeit Macht Frei was a slogan commonly placed at gates to concentration camps, it means work will make you free. Arbeit Macht Fleisch is a pun on that; meaning work will makes you flesh. It is an indication that Hans was made into sausages to feed the other prisoners.

Negative Creep- Nirvana

I'm a negative creep.
I'm a negative creep.
I'm a negative creep.
and I'm stoned!