That day we were awakened at three. The day of the execution was probably July 10, 1941. At first we were ordered to line up, armed with "98" rifles and ammunition. The task was to take all the males in the Jewish neighborhood out in the streets. The could get dressed and take as much luggage as they could carry. We were told that Jews were being sent to work in Germany...
The gathering of Jews and their arrangement in the streets inside the Jewish neighborhood went on until six in the morning. Part of our battalion was sent to the site of the execution in trucks. The rest guarded Jews on their way there.

The site was located to the south of Brest-Litovsk, outside the forts, and looked like dunes. A ride to this place from the downtown would take fifteen minutes.

When we arrived, i.e., at 6:30, we were met by an SS unit, obviously a company. The SS soldiers, armed with sub-machine guns surrounded an area (a circle) 600 meters in diameter. Besides the SS, there were SD soldiers in gray uniforms. Judging by what I heard later, these units, after the execution of the men, took care of the women and children who were brought by SS units to the site of the execution after noon. These soldiers were also armed with automatic weapons.

There were twelve ditches: ten meters in length, 2.5 meters in width, and three to four meters deep. I think one could fit 600 corpses in such a pit. To avoid a mistake concerning the number of Jews that were shot that day (since I gave the figure of 10,000 before), I want to emphasize that during the described action about 6,000 male Jews were shot. From later discussions I learned that the figure was 10,000.

We did not have chloride or lime or any other disinfectants. Shortly after we had arrived, a big column of Jews came from the town. It was stopped about 300 meters from the ditches. While the Jews were turning in their luggage, platoon commanders designated shooting soldiers. After this we were given instructions on how the execution should be conducted...

According to the instructions, groups of fifty people were taken to the ditches and laid down on both sides of them, face to the ground, so that their heads stuck out above the pits. Behind each Jew there was a designated soldier with a "98" rifle, bayonet attached. A shot was made as following: the tip of the bayonet was put to the back of a victim's head. After this, a rifle was to be moved to an angle of forty-five degrees, and a shot was to be fired. It often happened that a skull was torn off along a bullet path. From time to time, if an angle was too wide or a victim was holding his head too high during a shot, a bullet would go through the neck. In such cases an officer or a platoon commander would finish off victims, shooting them from hand guns.

We soldiers had to throw corpses into the ditches. No one was putting the corpses into stacks. In such fashion the execution went on until the afternoon. In the beginning, one of the long sides of a ditch would be approached by ten to twelve men to be shot. But later it became impossible to maintain such a uniform rate, and the shooting became sporadic.

The Jews were dressed when approaching the pits. They did not need to undress in advance. This action ended by 4 p.m. After it ended we were taken back to barracks in trucks. Our service for the day was over.

As far as I remember, we did not get any food and, this is for sure, alcoholic beverages during the day. There were no festivities.

We were not to keep the action secret. There were no discussions among us servicemen after the action. And if there were, then only condemning it.

Almost all of the Jews that I am describing accepted their fate with stoicism and heroic self-control. I personally lived throughout this in a state of trance and could not help being amazed by the Jews.

From the testimony of Heinrich, a serviceman in the 307 police battalion, concerning the massacre of the Brest-Litovsk Jews on July 10, 1941.

On the day specified, the gas van arrived from Cherkessk with a driver and his co-driver. An Untersturmfuhrer accompanied them in an automobile. He was to supervise the operation. On the mayor's orders, the Jews assembled in the freight shed of the railroad station. It is not true that I reassured the Jews by telling them they had to climb into the gas vans so that they could be taken to be deloused. That was the group's business.

I was standing next to the gas van. It was the first time I had seen one. It is not true that as the van drove off I reassured the Jews by telling them that those who got into the gas van would return. I did not even enter the freight shed where the Jews were waiting, and I do not remember that the van made several trips. The victims had to strip completely before getting into the vehicle. I drove ahead of it to the mass grave, where I had already stationed some of my men. All the Jews who had been assembled - forty to fifty men - had to get into the van. So far as I can remember, the exhaust was diverted into the interior as it approached the mass grave. Then we heard a muffled trampling sound coming from the inside . . . The van remained stationary, with its engine running, near the mass grave for about ten minutes. Then it backed up to the edge of the grace, the rear doors were opened, and the cargo compartment tipped up. This made the victims fall out into the grace. It was at night, by moonlight, that this operation took place.


Johannes Schlupper, Einsatzkommando 12 Cherkessk

One further incident I remember was a large-scale execution by firing-squad which took place at a well on the way to Kachowa. There was a hole in the steppe measuring about six to seven metres on the upper edge. Near by there were piles of grain in rows.

The grain may have been haystacks or rings of sheaves drying out or something else. We Schutzpolizisten were driven to this well in troop carriers. There was not a village in sight for miles. There was not even a barn in the vicinity. The victims - several hundred, or even a thousand, men and women - were transported in trucks. I cannot recall whether there were any children. These people were made to lie or kneel about a hundred metres from the well in a depression which had been hollowed out by the rain and remove their outer garments there. They were lined up ten at a time at the side of the well and were then shot by a ten-man execution squad, which included myself. When they were shot the people fell forwards into the well. Sometimes they were so frightened that they jumped in alive. The firing-squad was switched a great many times. Because of the psychological pressures to which I too was exposed during the shooting I can no longer say today, try as I might, how many times I stood by that hole and how many times I was relieved from that duty.

Obviously these shootings did not proceed in the clam manner in which one can discuss them today. The women screamed and wept and so did the men. Sometimes people tried to escape. The people whose job it was to get them to stand by the well yelled equally loudly. If the victims didn't do as they were told there were also beatings. I particularly remember a red-haired SD man who had a length of cable on him with which he used to beat people when the action was not going as it should. Many, however, came without resistance to the execution area. It is not as though they had any alternative...

The firing-squad at the well consisted of Schutzpolizisten, Waffen-SS personnel and members of the SD. We Schutzpolizisten used our own carbines, the SD men used sub-machine-guns and pistols. At any rate everyone used his own weapon. All the ammunition we needed was kept ready in boxes. The execution area was a terrible sight. The ground round the well was covered in blood; their was also bits of brain on the ground which the victims had to step in when they were brought over. But it wasn't at that point that they realized what lay ahead for them. They could already hear the shooting and screaming from the place where they were kept waiting...

It took barely an afternoon before the last victim was in the well. Something I still remember clearly about this execution is that afterwards the SD people got drunk, so they must have received a special ration of schnapps. We Schutzpolizisten did not receive anything and I remember that we were very angry about that.

Testimony of Schutzpolizist Togel, Einsatzkommando 10a

Blobel ordered me to have the children executed. I asked him, "By whom should the shooting be carried out?" He answered, "By the Waffen-SS." I raised an objection and said, "They are all young men. How are we going to answer them if we make them shoot small children?" To this he said, "Then use your men." I then said, "How can they do that? They have small children as we" This tug-of-war lasted about ten minutes....I suggested that the Ukrainian militia of the Feldkommandant
should shoot the children. There were no objections from either side to the suggestion....

I went to the woods alone. The Wehrmacht had already dug a grave. The children were brought along in a tractor. I had nothing to do with the technical procedure. The Ukrainians were standing around trembling. The children were taken down from the tractor. They were lined up along the top of the grave and shot so that they fell into it. The Ukrainians did not aim at any particular part of the body. They fell into the grave. The wailing was indescribable. I shall never forget the scene throughout my life. I find it very hard to bear. I particularly remember a small fair-haired girl who took me by the hand. She too was shot later....The grave was near some woods. It was not near the rifle range. The execution must have taken place in the afternoon at about 3:30 - 4:00. It took place the day after the discussions at the Feldkommandanten....Many children were hit four or five times before they died.

SS-Oberstrumfuhrer August Hafner description of Paul Blobels's order to kill of children

"aaaah Revenge. i love Revenge. my whole career is based on getting even with the world for giving me a father i couldn't stand. he made me play Football! so, now, as all great Nihilists, i am prepared to smother all scruples, thoughts of kinship, love, friendship, even honor, and commit to destruction alone."

Karl Otto Thane
the man with the Heckler&Koch VP70

COL. AMEN: "5. On 1 December 1943 1 became Chief of Amt 1 in Amt Group D of the WVHA, and in that office was responsible for co-ordinating all matters arising between RSHA and concentration camps under the administration of WVHA. I held this position until the end of the war. Pohl, as Chief of WVHA, and Kaltenbrunner, as Chief of RSHA, often conferred personally and frequently communicated orally and in writing concerning concentration camps. . . ."
You have already told us about the lengthy report which you took to Kaltenbrunner in Berlin, so I will omit the remainder of Paragraph 5.
"6. The 'final solution' of the Jewish question meant the complete extermination of all Jews in Europe. I was ordered to establish extermination facilities at Auschwitz in June 1941. At that time, there were already in the General Government three other extermination camps: Belzek, Treblinka, and Wolzek. These camps were under the Einsatzkommando of the Security Police and SD. I visited Treblinka to find out how they carried out their exterminations. The camp commandant at Treblinka told me that he had liquidated 80,000 in the course of one-half year. He was principally concerned with liquidating all the Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto. He used monoxide gas, and I did not think that his methods were very efficient. So when I set up the extermination building at Auschwitz, I used Cyklon B, which was a crystallized prussic acid which we dropped into the death chamber from a small opening. It took from 3 to 15 minutes to kill the people in the death chamber, depending upon climatic conditions. We knew when the people were dead because their screaming stopped. We usually waited about one-half hour before we opened the doors and removed the bodies. After the bodies were removed our special Kommandos took off the rings and extracted the gold from the teeth of the corpses."
Is that all true and correct, Witness?
HOESS: Yes.
COL. AMEN: Incidentally, what was done with the gold which was taken from the teeth of the corpses, do you know?
HOESS: Yes.
COL. AMEN: Will you tell the Tribunal?
HOESS: This gold was melted down and brought to the Chief Medical Office of the SS at Berlin.
COL. AMEN:
"7 Another improvement we made over Treblinka was that we built our gas chamber to accommodate 2,000 people at one time whereas at Treblinka their 10 gas chambers only accommodated 200 people each. The way we selected our victims was as follows: We had two SS doctors on duty at Auschwitz to examine the incoming transports of prisoners. The prisoners would be marched by one of the doctors who would make spot decisions as they walked by. Those who were fit for work were sent into the camp. Others were sent immediately to the extermination plants. Children of tender years were invariably exterminated since by reason of their youth they were unable to work. Still another improvement we made over Treblinka was that at Treblinka the victims almost always knew that they were to be exterminated and at Auschwitz we endeavored to fool the victims into thinking that they were to go through a delousing process. Of course, frequently they realized our true intentions and we sometimes had riots and difficulties due to that fact. Very frequently women would hide their children under the clothes, but of course when we found them we would send the children in to be exterminated. We were required to carry out these exterminations in secrecy but of course the foul and nauseating stench from the continuous burning of bodies permeated the entire area and all of the people living in the surrounding communities knew that exterminations were going on at Auschwitz."
Is that all true and correct, Witness?
HOESS: Yes.

excerpt from the testimony of Rudolph Hoess at Nuremberg

ENTRAPMENT


Mutiny of self. Insurrection games convincingly performed
Incapacitated by physical thoughts acting out the will of tendon and bone
Have the bridges of insanity been crossed and forever retracted?
Am I standing among a thousand selves? Is the multitude of laughters mine alone?






Thomas Haake

Duh terorizma



Kao i virusi, terorizam je svuda. U toku je planetarno razgranavanje terorizma, koji je poput senke svakog sistema dominacije svuda spreman da se probudi kao dvostruki agent. Nema više demarkacione crte koja bi ga ograničila, on je u samom srcu kulture koja se bori protiv njega, a vidljiva pukotina (mržnja) što suprotstavlja na globalnom planu ugnjetavane i nerazvijene, na jednoj strani, i zapadnjački svet, na drugoj, potajno se nadovezuje na unutrašnju pukotinu u dominantnom sistemu. Ovaj se može odupreti bilo kojem vidljivom antagonizmu. Ali protiv jednog drukčijeg, strukturiranog poput virusa (kao da svaki aparat dominacije luči vlastiti antidispozitiv, ferment vlastitog poništenja) protiv te gotovo automatske reverzije vlastite sile, sistem ne može ništa. A terorizam je udarni talas te tihe revizije.

Prema tome, posredi nije sudar civilizacija niti religija, to nadaleko nadilazi islam i Ameriku, dva elementa na koja se konflikt nastoji da usredsredi da bi se stekla iluzija o jednom vidljivom sukobljavanju i nasilnom rešenju. Posredi je, doduše, temeljni antagonizam, ali koji ukazuje, kroz sablast Amerike (koja je možda epicentar, ali zacelo ne utelovljenje celokupne mondijalizacije) i kroz sablast islama (koji takođe nije utjelovljenje terorizma), na pobedonosnu mondijalizaciju, koja se bori sa sobom samom. U tom smislu i te kako možemo govoriti o svetskom ratu, ali ne o trećem, nego o četvrtom i jedinom istinski svetskom, stoga što je njegov ulog sama mondijalizacija. Prva dva svetska rata su odgovarala klasičnoj slici. Prvi rat je stavio tačku na evropsku prevlast i kolonijalno doba. U drugom je dokrajčen nacizam. Treći, koji je već dogodio u vidu hladnog rata i nuklearnog zastrašivanja, stao je na put komunizmu. Nakon okončanja svakog rata išli smo sve dalje i dalje prema jedinstvenom svetskom poretku. Danas se taj poredak, koji se virtuelno približio površini, uhvatio ukoštac s antagonističkim silama rasutim svuda u samom srcu globalnosti, u svim aktuelnim trzavicama. To je fraktalni rat svih ćelija, singularnosti koje se bune kao protivtela. To je sučeljavanje tako neuhvatljivo da ponekad treba sačuvati ideju o spektakularno predočenom ratu, kao u zalivskom ili avganistanskom primeru. Ali četvrti svetski rat je negde drugde. On ne da mira bilo kakvom svetskom poretku, bilo kojoj hegemonijskoj dominaciji - kad bi islam vladao svetom, terorizam bi se okomio na islam. Jer se upravo sam svet odupire mondijalizaciji.

Terorizam je amoralan. Događaj Svetskog trgovačkog centra, taj simbolički izazov, jeste amoralan i samo je odgovor na mondijalizaciju koja je takođe amoralna. Pa, budimo i mi amoralni i želimo li da nešto od toga shvatimo, bacimo malo pogled pokraj Dobra i Zla! Kad se već suočavamo s događajem koji je izazov ne samo moralu nego svakoj formi imaginacije, pokušajmo da se poslužimo inteligencijom Zla.

Upravo se tu nalazi ključna tačka - u pogrešnom tumačenju zapadnjačke filozofije, filozofije prosvetiteljstva, kad je u pitanju odnos Dobra i Zla. Naivno verujemo da progres Dobra, vrtoglav uspon u svim područjima (nauke, tehnike, demokratije, ljudskih prava), odgovara porazu Zla. Izgleda da niko još nije shvatio da moć Zla i moć Dobra rastu istovremeno, istom dinamikom. Trijumf jednog ne povlači za sobom iščeznuće drugog. Naprotiv. Zlo metafizički smatramo slučajnom penom na ustima, ali je taj aksiom - iz koga proishode sve manihejske forme borbe Dobra i Zla - zabluda. Dobro ne umanjuje Zlo: jedno se ne može svesti na drugo i njihova relacija je nerazmrsiva. U osnovi, Dobro može stati na put Zlu samo ukoliko odbije da bude Dobro, budući da, prisvajajući svetski monopol moći, ono potpaljuje uzvratni plam proporcionalnog nasilja.

U tradicionalnom univerzumu još je prisutan balans između Dobra i Zla, shodno dijalektičkoj relaciji koja je kako-tako garantovala tenziju i ravnotežu u moralnom univerzumu - kao što je u hladnom ratu sučeljavanje dveju supersila garantovalo ravnotežu straha. Dakle, nema prevage. No, tasovi na vagi su se zaljuljali otkako je obavljena totalna ekstrapolacija Dobra (hegemonija pozitivnog nad bilo kojim oblikom negativnosti, isključenje smrti, svake potencijale protivsile - potpuni trijumf vrednosti Dobra). Tako je ravnoteža poremećena i Zlo kao da stiče nevidljivu autonomiju bujajući geometrijskom progresijom.

Uz značajne razlike, to se dogodilo s političkim poretkom nakon iščezavanja komunizma i svetskog trijumfa liberalne sile. Upravo se tada pojavio fantomski neprijatelj što preplavljuje celu planetu, provlačeći se svuda kao virus, izranjajući iz svih naprslina vlasti - islam. Ali islam je tek promenljivo lice kristalizacije tog antagonizma. Taj je antagonizam svuda i u svakom od nas. Dakle, teror protiv terora. Samo, asimetričan teror. I upravo ta asimetrija svetsku silu sasvim razoružava. Rvajući se sa samom sobom, ona će se samo još više zapetljati u vlastitu logiku odnosa sila, nesposobna da igra na poprištu simboličkog izazova i smrti, o kojima nema pojma budući da ga je izbrisala iz svoje kulture.

Dosad je tada integrišuća sila naširoko uspevala da upije i upija svaku krizu, svaku negativnost, stvarajući upravo tako jedno duboko očajno stanje (ne samo za zemaljsko roblje nego i za bogataše i povlašćene, sklonjene u svoj komfor). Prelomni događaj je u tome što su teroristi prestali da se ubijaju ni za šta, oni igraju na vlastitu smrt ofanzivno i delotvorno, povodeći se za strateškom intuicijom, koja nije ništa drugo do intuicija goleme krhkosti protivnika, sistema koji je gotovo dostigao savršenstvo i, posledično, postao osetljiv na najmanju posekotinu. Teroristi su uspeli da od vlastite smrti naprave apsolutno oružje protiv sistema koji živi od izuzeća smrti i kome je ideal nulta smrt. Svaki je sistem nulte smrti u krajnosti nulti sistem. Sva sredstva zastrašivanja i destrukcije ne mogu ništa protiv neprijatelja koji je od svoje smrti napravio kontraofanzivno oružje. "Baš me briga za američke bombe! Naši ljudi žele da umru kao što Amerikanci žele da žive!" Njihove pogibije se ne mogu izjednačiti s četiri hiljade mrtvih koji su preko noći nametnuti sistemu nulte smrti.

I tako, sav ulog se vrti oko smrti, ne samo brutalnim upadom smrti uživo, u realnom vremenu, nego upadom više nego smrti; simboličke i žrtvene - drugim rečima, apsolutnog i nepovratnog događaja.

Takav je duh terorizma.

Nikad ne napadaj sistem na osnovu odnosa snaga. To je (revolucionarno) imaginarno što ga sam sistem nameće, koji preživljava upravo tako što neprestano nagoni one koji ga napadaju da se bore na terenu realnosti koja je oduvek i zauvek njegova. Premestiti borbu u sferu simboličkog, gde važe zakoni izazova, reverzije i eskalacije. Tako da se na smrt može odgovoriti samo jednakom ili nadmoćnijom smrću. Prkositi sistemu prednošću na koju ovaj može odgovoriti jedino vlastitom smrću ili urušavanjem.

Teroristička hipoteza se zasniva na tome da sam sistem obavlja samoubistvo u znak odgovora na mnogobrojne izazove smrti i suicida. Jer ni sistem ni vlast ne izmiču simboličkoj obavezi - i upravo u toj klopci počiva jedina šansa njihove propasti. U tom mahnitom vrtlogu nemoguće razmene smrti, smrt terorista je infinitezimalna tačka koja uzrokuje velike aspiracije, prazninu i konvekciju. Oko te infinitezimalne tačke čitav se sistem, sistem realnosti i moći, zgušnjava, paralizuje, sklupčava i propada u vlastitu hiperefikasnost.

Taktika terorističkog modela je prouzrokovati višak realnosti i slamanje sistema preopterećenog realnošću. Sva ta poruga situacije, kao i inicirano nasilje vlasti, okreću se protiv nje, jer su teroristički akti istovremeno drečavo ogledalo njenog nasilja i model njoj zabranjenog simboličkog nasilja, jedinog nasilja kojem ne može pribeći, a to je nasilje vlastite smrti.

Upravo stoga sva vidljiva sila ne može ništa protiv sićušne, ali simboličke smrti nekolicine jedinki.

Moramo da priznamo očitu činjenicu: rodio se novi terorizam, novi vid akcije koji se pridržava vlastitih pravila, te prisvaja pravila igre da bi je snažnije uzdrmao. Ne samo da se ti ljudi ne bore na ravnoj nozi, budući da kao ulog stavljaju vlastitu smrt, na koju nije moguće adekvatno reagovati ("to su kukavice"), nego su preuzeli celokupno oružje dominantne sile. Novac i berzanske spekulacije, informatičku i avio-tehnologiju, spektakularnost i medijske mreže: asimilirali su sve što spada u modernitet i mondijalitet, ne promenivši cilj - uništenje svega toga.

Čak su se poslužili - što je vrhunac lukavosti - banalnošću svakodnevnog američkog života kao maskom i dvostrukom igrom. Spavaju po predgrađima, čitaju i studiraju u krugu porodice da bi se jednog dana probudili kao bombe s usporenim delovanjem. Besprekorno vladanje tom tajnovitošću gotovo je jednako tako terorističko kao i spektakularan čin 11. septembra. Jer ono baca senku sumnje na svaku individuu: nije li svako bezazleno biće mogući terorista? Ako su oni mogli da prođu neprimećeni, tada je svako od nas neprimećeni zločinac (kao što svaki avion postaje sumnjiv). U osnovi, biće da je to istina. To možda dobro korespondira s nesvesnim oblikom potencijalnog zločinca, zamaskiranog i brižljivo potisnutog, ali svagda kadrog ako ne da iskoči, o no barem da potajice zatitra pred prizorom Zla. Tako se događaj razgranava sve do u detalj - vrelo još profinjenijeg mentalnog terorizma.


Žan Bodrijar
15.09.2007.