Before we learned in more depth about the history of Topf & Sons,
we thought the company had made a lot of money through its dealings with the SS.
But it wasn’t even that.
The turnover accounted for only two per cent.
And hardly any of the people involved had personal advantages.
That makes the company’s actions even more senseless and inconceivable.
All the engineers cared about was the technical efficiency of the ovens
and their professional reputations.
They didn’t think about the impact
and consequences of their actions for other people.
We find that horrifying.
For us personally, the consequence of these reflections is that,
every time we take action, we have to think about
what consequences our actions can have for other people.
“And I don’t know what you’re going to do,
because only you can do something, you who are sitting here.
Yes, so that you make a better world for yourselves.”
That’s the sentence that remained clearest in our memory
from the encounter with the Auschwitz survivor Éva Pusztai.
For us it means that we have to figure out what we actually want and do.
That we have to form our own opinion
and mustn’t just blindly follow others.
And right now, what it means for us
is that we have to support refugees
who come to Erfurt and need our help.
We mustn’t just follow the people
who demonstrate against refugees.
We have to think for ourselves and act humanely.