What did the term special action refer to?
The diary of SS doctor Joseph Kremer makes repeated references to his taking part in ‘special actions’ while he was assigned to duty at Auschwitz during the Fall of 1942. This was during the worst time of the typhus epidemic at that camp. While his diary does not make clear what he was doing during one of these special actions, it appears his duty was one of giving clinical (i.e. visual) examinations to groups of prisoners being transferred from other camps and sub-camps of Auschwitz (e.g. Birkenau.) Because of the typhus epidemic many of prisoners were in very bad shape and prompted Kremer to record the horrible conditions that prevailed in the camp at the time. In his private diary he referred to Auschwitz as the butt hole of the world and compared it to Dante’s Inferno. A ‘special action’ could refer to any number of activities at the camp. The use of this term in German refers to any unscheduled activities or duties performed that were outside the norm.
The diary of SS doctor Josef Kremer makes repeated references to his taking part in ‘special actions’ while he was assigned to duty at Auschwitz during the Fall of 1942. This was during the worst time of the typhus epidemic at that camp. While his diary does not make clear what he was doing during one of these special actions, it appears his duty was one of giving clinical (i.e. visual) examinations to groups of prisoners being transferred from other camps and sub-camps of Auschwitz (e.g. Birkenau.) Because of the typhus epidemic many of prisoners were in very bad shape and prompted Kremer to record the horrible conditions that prevailed in the camp at the time. In his private diary he referred to Auschwitz as the butt hole of the world and compared it to Dante’s Inferno. A ‘special action’ could refer to any number of activities at the camp. The use of this term in German refers to any unscheduled activities or duties performed that were outside the norm.
