Back Cover Text of the 1963 Edition

This factual report recounts personally experienced situations, concisely presenting the history of the first deportation transport from Vienna to Opole in the General Government in January 1940, marking the beginning of the resettlement of Vienna’s Jewish community into the Final Solution.

Apart from the many existing narratives of the bloody history from the East during the time of the Thousand-Year Reich, this documentation seeks to honor those individuals who had enough courage to remain humane in the inferno of a world full of brutality! Unbelievable experiences from a time of seemingly unimaginable persecution of people, simply because they did not conform to the ruling regime, are meant to prove that the frequently misused term “command necessity” was conveniently employed as an excuse to diminish guilt during war crimes trials.

Anyone who truly felt and thought humanely could, without particular danger to themselves, redirect commands they received—commands recognized as criminal in their consequences—so that they became ineffective or their impact was mitigated for those affected.

Anyone familiar with the conditions in the extermination zones will be astonished that, in this sea of murderous intent, violence, and brutality, a semi-humane oasis could exist for years, solely because certain individuals, guided by their conscience, acted differently than the criminal regime had intended. Unfortunately, these individuals were very few; had there been more, many millions of innocent victims might not have perished.

The author has chosen only particularly striking episodes that, in their vividness, will keep readers captivated from start to finish, bringing the past to life. Especially for inquisitive young people who approach the past—an era they did not experience themselves—with curiosity, this historical account can answer many questions their fathers might prefer to hide, often out of guilt.

Hermann Wenkart, Vienna, 1963