Upon arrival, the masses of Jews were immediately sorted for death or slave labor.

by Rabbi Eliahu Ellis & Rabbi Shmuel Silinsky

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Arrival At Auschwitz

Deportees Exiting The Trains At Auschwitz
photo courtesy of Yad Vashem

 

Those who survived the transport went to the famous "sorting" platforms. As soon as the people got off the trains, they would be divided up – women on one side, men on the other. One by one every person passed by a medical doctor.

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Transport On Arrival

Jewish Transport Arriving At Auschwitz
photo courtesy of Yad Vashem

 

 

 

 

 

The doctor made a split second decision: Can they wring a little bit of work out of this body?

There were over 123 of these monsters, including some of the finest doctors from the finest German clinics and hospitals. One was even a professor of medicine from Harvard. And all had sworn their medical oath to uphold and help humanity.

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Selection

Lining Up For Selection
photo courtesy of Yad Vashem

The doctor would decide: Life or death. If the decision was "death," then two or three hours after leaving the platform their ashes were going up the chimney.

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Before Selection

Children And Women Separated For Selection
photo courtesy of Yad Vashem

 

The alternative was going to "life." But it was not actually "life"; it was "slow death."

Published: Wednesday, December 31, 1969

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Visitor Comments: 7

  • (7) Brad Wilson , April 20, 2006

    great job on what you do.

    this is a good thing to show people who don't know what happened

  • (6) Miranda Angel , March 14, 2006

    wow

    this story or research was very wow. in some parts i had to just stop and say oh my gosh i cant beleive these people was treated like this.

  • (5) Jackie MSith , May 24, 2005

    It makes me so sad to see these things

    I can not even believe how many women, children and men were murdered....all because of one man and his radical and down right sick ideals and hate for others who were different than he.
    I cry each time i see a picture or read about the poor children, they really did not have even a fighting chance.

  • (4) Jannette , November 19, 2004

    I can't believe how much hate

    I'm 15 years old and i have studied the holocaust i have read "night" by Elie Wiesel i read this whole book in an hour and brust in tears i just can't believe that this happened how could people let this happen. I just hope i get to study more about this and i just want to say that this was a lesson for us and if we don't learn from the errors of the past we will do them again.

  • (3) Anonymous , October 31, 2004

    A Living Hell!!!

    Adolf Hitler is the cruilest man I can even imagine.The way he tortured, killed,beaten those inocent men, women,and children.I can not even imagine the pain and suffering he caused millions of human beings no different than hisself.

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