000 01674cam a2200157 4500500
005 20250112063710.0
041 _afre
042 _adc
100 1 0 _aBrayard, Florent
_eauthor
245 0 0 _aHumanity vs. Zyklon B
260 _c2002.
500 _a68
520 _aWhile the concept of humanity was violently rejected by the Nazi theoreticians, there was a question of more humanity in the violence perpetrated, essentially for the torturers’ benefit. The issue of the suffering of the victims was broached concerning the killing of the Jews in the gas chambers in the choice between carbon monoxide and Zyklon B and between Zyklon B with or without an irritant. A study of the case of SS Lieutenant Kurt Gerstein, who witnessed the assassination by gas of convoys of Jews at the Belzec camp in August 1942, shows the ambiguity of a man’s choices faced with acts of negation of humanity. As one of the torturers, he was necessarily a party to it. However, horrified and determined to warn the religious authorities and allies of the crime of genocide, he showed himself possessed of humanity. The same ambiguity can be observed in the technical choice of trying to "humanize" the death of the victims in a context of absolute inhumanity by the change in Zyklon B’s composition for the Auschwitz and Maà¯danek camps. The question hovers around the actor’s choice when he is faced with an action in which he participates and has the power to influence it.
786 0 _nVingtième Siècle. Revue d’histoire | o 73 | 1 | 2002-03-01 | p. 15-25 | 0294-1759
856 4 1 _uhttps://shs.cairn.info/journal-vingtieme-siecle-revue-d-histoire-2002-1-page-15?lang=en
999 _c234935
_d234935