What were the moving aspects of the discussion with Dr. Hans Engel

What were the moving aspects of the discussion with Dr. Hans Engel

20th May 2013
What were the moving aspects of the discussion with Dr. Hans
Engel, the witness of the Nazi period?
Evaluative History Essay by Laura Geray (10c)
In this essay I will talk about what I found was moving in the discussion with Dr. Hans
Engel.
He visited my school, the Helene Lange Gymnasium in Hamburg, on 30th April 2013 to talk
with two 10th grade classes. Dr. Engel is now 97 years old and lived in Hamburg until he
had to emigrate to Great Britain because of his Jewish background in 1935. Later, he
returned to Germany as a British soldier and freed the concentration camp Sandbostel.
He still lives in England, but as he came back for a commemoration ceremony at the
concentration camp Neuengamme this April it was important for him to also talk to
students of his former school.
I will answer my leading question in three aspects. The first one will cover Dr. Engel’s
personal experiences as a teenager in Hamburg. The second aspect is about the liberation
of the concentration camp in Sandbostel and the last aspect will describe Dr. Engel as a
person.
In the first aspect I will focus on some of Dr. Engel’s experiences as a Jewish teenager
during the Nazi regime.
He told us that there was an assembly every Monday in the playground and the students
had to sing two songs, one of them the Horst-Wessel-Song, with their right arm held up in
the air for the Nazi salute. The fact that some students brought a doctor’s certificate to
school so they did not have to hold up their arm throughout all the verses seems
ridiculous nowadays. Even more shocking is that a teacher forbade Dr. Engel from raising
his arm while singing because he was not Aryan. After that he had to talk to the director
and he was told to hold up his arm only during one song. In addition, there is another
incident that really shocked me. In music class the students were rehearsing a song that
included the sentence “Wenn das Judenblut vom Messer spritzt, wird’s noch besser”. It is
unimaginable today how a music class at school could perform a song with such content.
Dr. Engel understandably refused to perform it at a concert and he had to talk to the
director again. Another incident that I find hard to believe is when a friend of Dr. Engel
ignored Dr. Engel when he wore his Hitler Youth organization (HJ) uniform but talked to
him as usual when he did not wear this uniform.
The second aspect deals with the liberation of the concentration camp Sandbostel.
When it was allowed for non-Aryan people in 1943 to join the British army and navy, Dr.
Engel became a soldier. He came back to Germany and participated in the liberation of
the concentration camp Sandbostel. He described concentration camps as “hell on
earth”. When he arrived at the camp there were 3000 dead bodies openly piled on the
ground. Moreover, there were about 4000 people, hungry, thirsty, sick, and always
crammed together as two people in one narrow bed. Most horrific is probably his
description of the people who were too weak to push the dead bodies that lay next to
them in bed on to the ground. Dr. Engel also pointed out the strong smell in the camp.
The soldiers sent the people from the camp in trucks to hospitals. It was very impressive
when Dr. Engel told us about a speech he delivered to make sure that the people that
came from the concentration camp were taken care of. Before, the nurses had refused to
help these “half people” or “subhuman beings” as they called them. It becomes clear
how strong the Nazi ideology had made an impact on the way people thought and acted
so they treated non-Aryan people like worthless cattle. Dr. Engel also told us that one of
the nurses later admitted that she felt ashamed of being German.
The third aspect is about Dr. Engel as a person. Frankly spoken, I can say that it was
impressive how fit he was at the age of 97. I cannot say that I have ever seen a 97-year old
who is that active, curious and interested in modern things and technologies. His
approach is admirable. When listening to Dr. Engel you could really see that it was
important for him to talk to us and to let us know about his life in the time period of the
Nazi regime. It was also really touching when Dr. Engel started to cry when we sang
“Happy Birthday” for him in the end, as the day before had been his birthday. In my
opinion, you can call Dr. Engel brave regarding his commitment in the liberation of the
concentration camp Sandbostel. He came back to Germany as a British soldier and fought
to save the lives of many people.
In conclusion, I can say that I find the topic and the way it was presented very touching.
Even more than sixty years after the Nazi horror happened it became very clear for me
through this personal report of Dr. Engel. His experiences as a teenager seem to me
extremely shocking and it is still not understandable how the Nazi rule could ever be
established.