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Before we learned in more depth
about the history of Topf & Sons,

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we thought the company had made a lot 
of money through its dealings with the SS.

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But it wasn’t even that.

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The turnover accounted for only two per cent.

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And hardly any of the people
involved had personal advantages.

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That makes the company’s actions even
more senseless and inconceivable.

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All the engineers cared about was the
technical efficiency of the ovens

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and their professional reputations.

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They didn’t think about the impact

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and consequences of their
actions for other people.

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We find that horrifying.

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For us personally, the consequence
of these reflections is that,

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every time we take action, we have to think about

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what consequences our actions
can have for other people.

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“And I don’t know what you’re going to do,

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because only you can do something,
you who are sitting here.

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Yes, so that you make 
a better world for yourselves.”

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That’s the sentence that
remained clearest in our memory

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from the encounter with the
Auschwitz survivor Éva Pusztai.

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For us it means that we have to figure
out what we actually want and do.

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That we have to form our own opinion

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and mustn’t just blindly follow others.

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And right now, what it means for us

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is that we have to support refugees

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who come to Erfurt and need our help.

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We mustn’t just follow the people

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who demonstrate against refugees.

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We have to think for ourselves and act humanely.