Just wanted to say that I talked to my grandma about it, she was working together with the Jews in Auschwitz (my family is from the neighbor village) in a company which made chemicals (IG Farben). When she walked home she could always smell the burned human bodies. She said everyone knew what was going on there.
After WW2 there was a lot of research about weather people knew or didn’t. Basically the conclusion was: people knew. They actively decided to either ignore it („not my department“), deny it („it’s all lies, the scent is just $foo burning“) or justify it („they deserved it“).
Just wanted to say that I talked to my grandma about it, she was working together with the Jews in Auschwitz (my family is from the neighbor village) in a company which made chemicals (IG Farben). When she walked home she could always smell the burned human bodies. She said everyone knew what was going on there.
This is backed by evidence.
After WW2 there was a lot of research about weather people knew or didn’t. Basically the conclusion was: people knew. They actively decided to either ignore it („not my department“), deny it („it’s all lies, the scent is just $foo burning“) or justify it („they deserved it“).
But people knew.