Response to "our Secret" by Susan Griffin
...his automatically brought up thoughts of Hienrichs childhood, how his father’s habits and social structure made it natural for him not to feel. For now he could use the excuse that execution was part of his “daily duty.” It became a way of refuge so that he could comfort himself with the argument that he was only handling pieces of paper, though every death in the holocaust can be traced to a “piece of paper” signed by Himmler. This forced me to ask myself the question, how have I stood outside myself in ignorance? In attempting to answer this question I realized that everyone does in one way or another. People lie to themselves to suppress their true feelings such as guilt, anger, remorse, or even love. It could be anything. Which in turn begs the question of how did Heinrich feel the first time he witnessed the dying groans of the people who’s death fell upon his signature? I know Himmler found it difficult to witness these murders. Griffin states, “He has imagined something quieter, more efficient, like the even rows of numbers, and the alphabetical lists of names he likes to put in his files.” So the commandant makes an appeal to him, “if it is hard for you, he asks, think what it must be for these young men who must carry out these executions, day after day?” With this in mind Himmler works on a resolution to “ease the pain of these men” by presenting the Einsatzgruppen with a mobile killing truck, so they do not have to witness death day by day. Nevertheless not witnessing death is just another tool for standing outside our self in ignorance. The essay says, “to a certain kind of mind, what is hidden away ceases to exist.” For Himmler this might be true, but how can one have an absence of a knowing conscience, or disown their actions, as if having never done them at all? While thinking about this question I am reminded of Dr. Daniel Gottlieb Moritz Schreber and his child rearing techniques. The one that came to mind is, “suppress everything in the child.” No doubt Heinrichs’ father used this technique among others to raise him. Teaching him to suppress everything in his mind leaving him with the absence of a knowing conscience. When Heinrich began his plan for “The Final Solution” he did not partake in the preparations. Nor did he attend the meeting where the decision to kill millions of people was made. In his place he sent his assistant Heydrich. Which in a way was a plan to hide themselves from the knowledge of what they were to do, if you may, a sense of standing outside themselves in ignorance. So that Heydrich could say, “each decision made was at the request of Heinrich Himmler.” In this way a chain of command was crea...