becoming a self in history, becoming a self in my street

Franz Stangl

Franz Stangl was living in Austria where he was employed as a weaver. Wanting to get on, he applied to the proper authorities in order to become a policeman. He had a very caring employer, but he chose not to discuss his wishes with him until he had accepted his new job. He then presented this fact to his employer, who said to him with some regret that he wished he had come to see him first, because he himself had intended to offer to finance him in further training. This is the beginning of an incredible story, which begins with something that everyone can recognize. There is a feeling of discomfort and fear about hurting someone’s feelings by wanting something new and so, despite knowing deep down that we should bring it up, we ignore the feeling and go on regardless, hoping for the best. It is possible that what then went on to happen to Stangl would never have happened, if he had listened to that uncomfortable voice that told him his boss actually deserved to be included in his decision. Stangl continues to make decisions like this time and again, to avoid trouble and complications.

At the time he became a policeman, the Nazi party was illegal in Austria. He was present when Nazis were arrested and detained. Eventually Hitler marched into Austria and Stangl agreed with other officials to destroy papers with his name on them, so that he was not subjected to Nazi purges of the police force. This decision was to have a serious impact on his future life. Because his record showed no anti Nazi feeling, he was seen as potential Nazi material. To prepare him to take on unpalatable duties, he was asked to sign a form saying he was willing to ignore his religious beliefs if necessary. He took this seemingly insignificant step without discussing it with his wife. Thus he became a candidate for work as a policeman overseeing the Euthanasia project. He had no responsibility for any killing of disabled children and adults. That was done by doctors and nurses. However, he was responsible for returning all their property to the parents and relatives of the disabled victims of these killings. When asked in an interview with Gita Sereny why he had never questioned the murder of disabled adults and children, he opted out of his right to an opinion or his responsibility to have a point of view. The decisions were taken by the experts. He avoided responsibility by claiming that there were other people who knew better than him what it meant to be human in this context. Precisely because he was so malleable in this matter he was then chosen for the next Nazi project. He was invited to meet high ranking Nazis in Poland and was eventually made the commandant of a place called Treblinka. Treblinka was a camp in Poland where Jews were taken to be gassed and then burned to ash. It is estimated that 900,000 people perished there. When the work was completed the camp was dismantled and a farmhouse was built on the site to hide what had happened there. It is now a monument to the dead.

After the war, Stangl escaped to Argentina via Rome and lived under his real name for twenty years. He was finally discovered and brought back from Argentina to be tried in Germany for his involvement with these deaths. While in prison serving his sentence he agreed to be interviewed by Sereny. Throughout the interview he refused to acknowledge any responsibility for anything that happened. However, there was a moment in his last conversation with Sereny in which he allowed himself to admit that the life he had had, this life that he had been prepared to save at any cost, had in fact not been worth it. The burden of what he carried was so heavy that he acknowledged that death would have been preferable. Sereny experienced that this admission made a deep impression on the state of his soul, that the admission had brought him some sense of healing. Nineteen hours after he had made these admissions he died of heart failure. Sereny says of that death, ‘I think he died because he had finally, however briefly, faced himself and told the truth; it was a monumental effort to reach that fleeting moment when he became the man he should have been.’

References to works mentioned are on the references page.