538
COUNSEL FOR
but also through my complicity
in the workings of the camp system
Every prisoner
PETER
WEISS
from those who held the most privileged positions
down to those who were dying
was part of that system
The difference between us and
the camp personnel was less
than what separated us from those
who were outside
THE DEFENSE: Do you mean to say
there was an understanding
between the administration and the prisoner
3RD WITNESS: When we talk of our experience nowadays
with people who never were in a camp
there is always something
inconceivable to them about it
And yet they are the same people
who in the camp were prisoners and guards
Since such a great number of us
came into the camp
and since the number of those
who brought us there was also great
one would think that what happened then
would still be comprehensible today
Many of those who were destined
to play the part of prisoners
had grown up with the same ideas
the same way of looking at things
as those
who found themselves acting as guards
They were equally dedicated
to the same nation
to its prosperity
and its rewards
And if they had not been designated
prisoners
they could equally well have been guards
