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- Himmler's Angora
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- Brian Bull
In the finals days of the World War II, the Allies encountered the Third Reich's intensive network of concentration camps. Six-million Jews and other prisoners were tortured and murdered in these facilities. Among the more unusual discoveries were a number of Angora rabbit hutches, where the floppy, fluffy animals were raised in comfort and given meticulous care. Their fur lined the uniforms of Luftwaffe pilots, Wehrmacht troops, and U-Boat crews.
Shortly after the war, a Chicago Tribune war correspondent, Sigrid Schultz, came to possess a book on the SS's Angora Project, which had been lovingly handcrafted for Heinrich Himmler. Its elegant calligraphy, illustrations, and carefully pasted photos depict the cruel double-standard the Nazis held in how they cared for animals, and humans who didn't fit the "Aryan" ideal. The volume has since found its way into the archives of the Wisconsin Historical Society, which has posted the book's pages online.
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Piece Description
In the finals days of the World War II, the Allies encountered the Third Reich's intensive network of concentration camps. Six-million Jews and other prisoners were tortured and murdered in these facilities. Among the more unusual discoveries were a number of Angora rabbit hutches, where the floppy, fluffy animals were raised in comfort and given meticulous care. Their fur lined the uniforms of Luftwaffe pilots, Wehrmacht troops, and U-Boat crews.
Shortly after the war, a Chicago Tribune war correspondent, Sigrid Schultz, came to possess a book on the SS's Angora Project, which had been lovingly handcrafted for Heinrich Himmler. Its elegant calligraphy, illustrations, and carefully pasted photos depict the cruel double-standard the Nazis held in how they cared for animals, and humans who didn't fit the "Aryan" ideal. The volume has since found its way into the archives of the Wisconsin Historical Society, which has posted the book's pages online.
Broadcast History
Aired 2/20/07 on WPR
Transcript
HIMMLER’S ANGORA
02/20/2007
Brian Bull
Length 3:14
Lead :
During World War II, the Nazis used their concentration camps as more than death factories. The camps were also where German officials raised Angora rabbits for their fur. These animals were treated far better than the humans who were brought by the boxcar-load into the camps. Hitler’s henchman, Heinrich Himmler, had this unusual project chronicled in a book called Angora. That odd relic of the Holocaust is now stored at the Wisconsin Historical Society in Madison. Brian Bull reports:
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In spring of 1945, Allied forces liberated the Nazi concentration camps. This 1945 U.S. Army film documents the horrors of one of the camps: Dachau [DAH-kow].
AlliedFilmClip01: (:12) (On Dachau) ‘Hanging in orderly rows were the clothes of prisoners who’d been suffocated in a lethal gas chamber. The...
Read the full transcript
Intro and Outro
INTRO:During World War II, the Nazis used their concentration camps as more than death factories. The camps were also where German officials raised Angora rabbits for their fur. These animals were treated far better than the humans who were brought by the boxcar-load into the camps. Hitler’s henchman, Heinrich Himmler, had this unusual project chronicled in a book called Angora. That odd relic of the Holocaust is now stored at the Wisconsin Historical Society in Madison. Brian Bull reports:
OUTRO:
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