Sobibór Trial Analysis

Sobibór Trial: Persecution of Karl Frenzel and Gustav Wagner Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, Is it just to allow men to kill tens of thousands of men, women, and children because they were following “orders”? According to Karl Frenzel and Gustav Wagner, erstwhile SS soldiers of the concentration camp Sobibór, their butchering is vindicated by the fact they were following instructions. Many of the several horrifying atrocities were witnessed by Selma Engel, a young jewish adult. Selma was deported from her home in the Netherlands in 1941 and ultimately was placed in Sobibór in 1943. Selma ironically found her future husband,Chaim, at the camp and later escaped together, but not before they encountered hell on Earth. As observed by Selma, Frenzel ordered everyone who was ill in Selma’s barrack to march outside. They then were all deemed futile by Frenzel therefore they were all shot on the spot. The fact that Frenzel did not even have a second thought about his actions demonstrates his true character of a monster. Later, two prisoners managed to escape the camp. At first it was a sign of hope to the inmates, but quickly Frenzel unfairly punished the rest of the Jews for the other Jews escaping. Frenzel killed every tenth person that walked through the gate when there was a roll call. Selma’s future husband was almost killed by this …show more content…
After World War I, Germany was in horrible condition because of death of family members during the war, reparations, and unemployment. Therefore, people were absolutely desperate and would follow anyone who promised a better future, such as Hitler. Although they knew Hitler 's ideology, people’s quality of life improved so much with Hitler as dictator that they did not care ,in fact they praised him. If people were not made so desperate by the Versailles treaty, Hitler would not have been able to take control. The desperation of the German people allowed Hitler to take