Denial

"I'm not a holocaust denier but I have to wonder why they tattooed numbers on their arms in 'death' camps?"
"If you were to come to my house to kill me, would you tattoo my first?"


This two posts, taken from a forum, were made recently, on the 29th of February, 2012. The authors of these posts question the truth of the identification tattoos given out at Auschwitz, and they serve as a microcosm for the larger denial movement.
As proved earlier in the blog, those people who did not make it past selection were immediately sent to the gas chambers without being tattooed. However, those who were chosen for labor were tattooed, and the Nazis did so for two reasons.

1. The act of tattooing Auschwitz inmates further dehumanized them. A narrative example of the tattoo's effects can be found here. 
2. As the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum describes, "Initially, the SS authorities marked prisoners who were in the infirmary or who were to be executed with their camp serial number across the chest with indelible ink. As prisoners were executed or died in other ways, their clothing bearing the camp serial number was removed. Given the mortality rate at the camp and practice of removing clothing, there was no way to identify the bodies after the clothing was removed. Hence, the SS authorities introduced the practice of tattooing in order to identify the bodies of registered prisoners who had died." Therefore, although most of the inmates at Auschwitz never survived, tattooing was a reality at the death camp in order to keep track of those who died once they were stripped of their clothing. You can read more about the tattooing process here.

To see the denier's post and the consequent discussion, click here.