Tammy Bar-Joseph researched the role of dogs in the Holocaust - both as they were used against Jews and in cases where they saved Jewish lives. Here are three accounts of Nazi dogs saving Jews:
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| Nazi dogs were trained to attack, torment and even kill prisoners. |
A Great Dane at the Skarzysko-Kamienna labor camp in Nazi-occupied Poland saved Nina Dinar, a teenager at the time. She loved dogs and grew up raising them, so when she saw the Great Dane with a Nazi officer, she called the dog over. To everyone's surprise, the dog walked over to her and licked her. The two developed a special bond over the next few months.
In 1944, when the Russians were approaching, the Germans decided to evacuate the camp and kill those who were weak, including Nina. When she was being taken to her death, the Great Dane stood by her side and succeeded "to persuade" the officer to spare her life.
Nina was sent to another camp before being freed. She started a family and returned to raising dogs. When interviewed by Bar-Joseph in 2019, Nina said, "I never feared dogs; they sense it when someone loves them."
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| Amon Goeth was executed by hanging in 1946 for "personally killing, maiming and torturing a substantial, albeit unidentified number of people." |
When Amon Goeth, the camp commander of the Plaszow concentration camp in German-occupied Poland, sicced his dog on Roman Schwartz for stealing potato peels, Roman ordered the dog to halt and sit. The dog obeyed and Goeth was so impressed that he spared his life.
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| Dr. Joseph Mengele, the "Angel of Death" who performed deadly experiments on prisoners, selected victims to be killed in the gas chambers, and one of the doctors who administered the gas. |
Otto, A young Jewish boy in Auschwitz, was saved by a dog he had befriended.
Dr. Joseph Mengele had Otto trained to become an attack dog. According to Otto, "With whip in hand they trained me to run on all fours, to attack people, to bite, to bark without stopping... They beat me terribly… starved me. And afterward they sicced me on people."
Later, Otto was sent to a sheep farm to replace a herding dog that had died and was to work alongside a real dog named Willy. First, a German officer sicced the dog on him. "He attacked me from behind, tore a piece of flesh from me... But I was strong, I hit him on the head." They spent the night together in the kennel. "After that, we became friends. The dog licked and warmed me in the night."
In 1944, Otto was placed on a transport meant to take him to his death. "Then Willy saved me. He started to look for me everywhere, he ran alongside the cars and barked loudly. Then I also started to bark terribly, and he heard me, jumped into the car, pulled me out of the pile."
Afterwards, Otto reached France, went to an orphanage, and continued behaving like a dog, sometimes attacking other children. His life beyond this is unknown.
