WTWF WtO CharnelHousesofEuropetheShoah

I -
'3
A Black Dog Sourcebook on the holocaust for Wraith: The Oblivion
tommaso gollini (order #4786) 8
Because the Story Must Be Told
The numbers are staggering. The atrocities coininitteil are unthinkable.
The consequences are unimaginable. And the wraiths of those who perished
in the Holocaust have sworn never to let it happcn again.
Never A
CIiar86t Houses of Europe: The Sn ok at the Holocaust
aith: i ne Oblivion. Inside is information
after the Holocaust, as well as detailed
matkrial on
1 Houses of Europe: The Shoah contain

tory of the Holocaust in World of Darkness;
..-
A M E S

i
by jonathan hcke and [obert hatch

Foreword by janet Berliner
tommaso gollini (order #4786)

I8
L-=

Ill
‘I’
-
.
*
credits Special Thanks
The developer would like to thank the following people, with-
Authors: Jonathan Blacke and Robert Hatch out whom the completion of this book would have been impossible:
Foreword by: Janet Berliner
Robert Hatch and Jonathan Blacke, for taking on such a
Additional Writing by: Richard E. Dansky strenuous and important project, and for all of their hard work,
Developer: Richard E. Dansky research and dedication to this book.
Editor: Ronni Radner Janet Berliner, for agreeing to be a part of this project, but more
Art Directors: Lawrence Snelly importantly, agreeing to listen the very first time I dared to call her.
Art by: Larry MacDougal, Andrew Ritchie, George Pratt Irene, Saul, Marla and Rebecca Dansky, for the support and
Cover Design: Matt Milberger and Lawrence Snelly resources you never shirked from offering.
Layout and Typesetting by: Matt Milberger Ronni Radner, Greg Fountain, Phil Brucato, Ethan Skemp,
Cartography by: Larry Friedman Ian Lemke, Kathy Ryan, Cynthia Summers, Ken Cliffe,Lawrence
Translation Assistance: Karsten Esser Snelly, Stewart Wieck and all of the other individuals at White
Wolf who have supported this project from its inception. Thank
you for allowing me to do this, and for helping me along the way.
Note: The information in this book supercedes anything pub-
lished in Berlin By Night. Jennifer Hartshorn, for the first steps on the road.
The teachers and rabbis of congregationsTemple Judea and
Apologies to George Guthridge, co-author of Child of
Keneseth Israel, for planting the seeds that flowered into this book.
the Light, Child of the Journey, and Children of Dusk.
Wendy Blacksin, for looking at the manuscript when I needed
another critical eye.
780 PARK NORTHBUD. Art Spiegelman, creator of Maw, who demonstrated that it
can be done.
SUITE 100 And everyone else out there who ever gave a damn about
what happened -you know who you are.
CLARKSTON,GA 30021
IWKITEW O H J USA Dedication
GAME STUDIO This book is dedicated to the survivors of the Holocaust,
who have spent 50 years telling their stories. What you hold
0 1997 White Wolf, Inc. All rights reserved. Repro-
in your hands is a tribute to their perseverance, and in some
duction without the written permission of the publisher is
small way an attempt to carry on their legacy for the sake of
expressly forbidden,except for the purposes of reviews. White
the generations who will never know them.
Wolf is a registered trademark of White Wolf, Inc. All rights
reserved. Wraith the Oblivion, Black Dog Game Factory Todah ruba.
and Charnel Houses of Europe The Shoah are trademarks of
White Wolf, Inc. All rights reserved. All characters, names, Charnel Houses of Europe: The Shoah is the sec-
places and text herein are copyrighted by White Wolf, Inc. ond offering of Wraith: The Oblivion Sourcebooks un-
The mention of or reference to any company or prod- der the Black Dog aegis. This book is to be sold to indi-
Jct in these pages is not a challenge to the trademark or viduals 18 or older only.
zopyright concerned. The material contained within this book is intended
Because of the mature themes involved, reader dis- for mature gamers only, and has the potential to offend or
xetion is advised. disturb. Please exercise discretion in the use of the material
Check out White Wolf online at http://w.white- in Charnel Houses of Europe, as some people may find its
,volf.com;alt.games.whitewo1f and rec.games.frp.storyteller content or subject matter to be objectionable. If you or your
PRINTED IN THE players cannot handle the intensity or subject matter of this
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. book, please put it back on the shelf.

Table of Contents
Foreword: N /i1gifla6anim
Ghost Story: The Ifusalka
introduction
The Telling of the Atonies: A Chronicle of the Millions
An Antechamber of the Damned: The Theresienstadt Ghet 0
Behind the Wall: The Ghetto at Warszawa 59
A StrugIe for the Forsaken: Babi yar 75
Behind the Wire: Oswiecim (Auschwitz-Birkenau) 93

:. t
..

ecently, I wrote a story about a girl named member, the attempt to make it happen again will be repeated,
Jennie, a contemporary Jewish American as it has been this decade in Rwanda.
teenager who was forced to face her heri- Which group will be singled out the next time around?
tage. Her response, at least initially, was a Redheads, perhaps, or blue-eyed blondes?
feeling that she was being put upon. She It’s not the “N word” or the “J word,” or what’s politically
had nothing to do with the past. She was correct and what’s not that matters. It’s learning that we are
not involved. setting each other apart without regard for human dignity and
It’s not my problem. making it possible for genocide to reoccur when we say things
All of that stuff happened ages ago. like.
...-, “There’s
. -- a
- ..-. - black
- .-- -.man.a
-t.the
...- door.”
_ - -. instead
, ._.. of -.“There’s
- .._ .a
.. .~
Why rehash ancient history? man at the door,” or “I bought the car at a great price. Boy,
Forget it already. did I Jew him down.”
Forget it? Forget prejudice, violence, ethnic strife, geno- Again I ask, what do we do about it? What can we do
cide? I don’t think so. about it?
So what do we do to ensure that our children and their The answer is that we must do what we can, each in our
children and their children remember? For if they do not re- own way - in short stories, in essays, in poetry and novels,

often using magic realism to define truths too painful and ugly “Hello,” I said, idly turning the photograph over.
to be faced in any other form. The script on the back was tiny, fine and faded. I used a
Each time I complete a piece of work, I think - I hope magnifying glass to read it:
- that I am done with it. That I have paid my dues. Siegfried Lichtenstein. Born
But for some things the dues can never fully be paid. 1880.An ofim in the Kaiser’sArmy.
In a sense, it is like the bodily functions that most of us Mostly invalid after the war. Applied
perform daily. Each day, having performed them, we feel re- to go to Johannesburg, but stayed in
lief. We feel clean. And then the offal begins to gather once Regensburg, Bavaria, when his wife
more and as surely as night follows day, the pressing need for was refused a visa. He thought that he
elimination returns. was safe, what with half the banes miss-
So it is with my creative bowels. When I think that I ing in his fme. He was one of the first
have written enough, I discover that I must write more. And to be deported.
while I do, I question if that is in fact the answer to educating Hedwig Lichtenstein. Born
our children’schildren. The survivors are old. Their children 1882. Married Heimann. Lived in
are growing old. Their grandchildren say it is not their prob- Regensburg. Immigrated to
lem. Many of them do not know about their roots; still more Melbourne, Australia. Died 1968.
do not care. What, I ask myself, will work to educate and E m Lichtenstein. Born 1886.
inform the children of the new millennium? Will they read Lived in Berlin. Deported to
William Styron’s Sophie’s Choice, will they watch Vittorio de Theresienstadt m 1938 and died in
Sica’s The Garden of the FinziContinis, or do we have to feed the gas chamber.
them horrors in some form that makes it palatable for them? EllaLichtenstein. Born 1888.
If we give them a Holocaust Web site, will it serve as a MarriedJoseph Kahn.In 1932, the
tool of awareness, or will it simply turn evil into a game? family with two children immi-
Before Steven Spielberg made Schindler’s List, I was told grated to Amsterdam, Holland. In
repeatedly that no one wanted to hear about the Holocaust. 1939, the husband was taken to a
That wasn’t true, was it?His film was a box-office smash, even workcamp, the children to an un-
known destination (“For their
W h y does that surprise me? safety”) and their eight-roomed
Because I was in Berlin in the ‘70s when the government home was filled with Naris for
insisted that all schoolchildren watch a documentary on whom Ella had to keep house. (I
Hitler. The children stomped and sang along and complained, was there in 1960. The neighbors
asking why they too could not march and sing and have “that told me that Ella was taken to
kind of fun.” I was there in the ‘80s when groups of German Awchwitz in 1942.)
children were taken to visit the sites of concentration camps My darling wife, Recha
and complained because they were not able to see the ma- Lichtenstein. Born 1887. Married
chinery in action. I was there in the ‘90s when a game was James Abraham. Arrived safely
developed that invited the participants to devise better ways Cape Town, South Afnca, 13th
of ridding the world of Jews. June, 1936.
On the day that Richard Dansky called to ask me to write Recha Lichtenstein Abraham.
this essay, I had written the last scene of the third book in a
My adored grandmother. The storyteller of the family,
trilogy of Holocaust novels. I was going through my research
saved and brought to South Africa through the ingenuity of
materials, packing them away with a sense of relief, when the
my mother - her youngest daughter....
telephone rang. As I lifted the receiver, I held in one hand a
precious sepia photograph, the one that gave birth to Jennie’s I heard what Richard said on the phone that day through
story. The photograph - of my grandmother with her older the keening voices of the collective unconscious of the dead
brother and three sisters -was taken sometime around 1929. - my own family and the family of humanity.
Richard explained earnestly what it was he was trying to
do.

Yom Kippur was coming to a close. Ilan did not have to identify ness through a small anteroom in which three-dimensionalpho-
himself; he looked exactly like my father - his father - had tos of children are exhibited. A railing separates you from a cir-
looked when I last saw him, right before his death. cular floor. The walls and ceiling are a series of convoluted mir-
I had only seen my father twice, once when I was five rors. Five burning memorial candles are multiplied into tens of
and again when I was 17. As for Ilan, I not only had never millions of pinpricks of light, symbolizing the souls of children
met him, but until a few weeks before that moment I did not who perished. Sofily the chant begins.. .a litany of their names
even know that I had a brother. forcing the weight of your body in a circle through the darkness
Ilan is a guide. En route to his flat, he told me that he and back out into the stark sunlight.
was leaving the following day to take a party of staunch Span- I knew then that even if I lived to be 1000 years old, I
ish Catholics on a three-day tour of Jerusalem. Though I speak could not remove that experience from my consciousness. I
no Spanish, they had agreed to allow me to come along. I wished that I could take each person in the world by the hand
toured the cobbled streets of the Old City, covered my head and lead them into that hall of lights.
and arms to enter a mosque and rode a camel into the desert. Sadly, I cannot do that. So I try to do it with words.
Then, together with three other brave souls, we drove From Israel I traveled to Berlin to visit my aged mother,
toward Mount Herzl and the Holocaust Memorial known as who had returned there to work for Die Mahnung (“TheWarn-
Yad Vashem. ing”), the newspaper arm of the League of the Persecuted of
There is a circular underground structure at Yad Vashem, the Nazi Regime. Through them, the search for survivors con-
a memorial built by Abraham and Edita Spiegel of Beverly tinues, as does vigilance against anti-Semitism. This continu-
Hills in memory of their son Uziel, who perished in Auschwitz. ing campaign rests mostly in the hands of an incredible eld-
It commemorates the one-and-a-half million Jewish children erly woman, Dr. Rehfeld Waltraud, herself not a Jew, but a
who perished in the Holocaust. lifelong fighter against prejudice and racial injustice. In the
One-and-a-half million.. .1,500,000.. .children. newspaper’s small offices in a prewar building o n
The memorial hall itself stands in darkness. It is built in Mommsenstrasse, the battle against Who Cares and It Never
much the same way as a Disneyland ride. You walk into the dark- Happened goes on.

' 7 . F - y- r' F - T
Last week, my mother attended a religious service at the
7~v ----
that he would have to refrain from making racial slurs - in
rebuilt temple in Oranienburg, near the first of the forced- this case against Mexicans - or see me in the parking lot.
labor camps. While she was at that service,here in the United While my challenge stopped the man's mouth, the inci-
States, where all races should be united against bigotry, Rev- dent proved to me again that the battle against the worst of 4
erend Farrakahn was televised spewing hatred at the Jews. the human spirit is not over. And since that is so, it becomes
In this manner, insanity and entertainment have become clear what we must do. While we must not stop talking and
interchangeable. We can look at the program guides and writing and making films, we must also be brave enough to
choose to do any of the following: Watch the Disney Chan- make acts of injustice accessible by way of the new
nel; Watch Discovery;Watch a murder trial; Hear David Duke ...
mechanics be it by way of the Internet and CD-ROM, tours
address his hooded comrades about an all-white Christian of the Museum of Tolerance.. .or projects like this.
America; See Farrakahn, surrounded by his uniformed guards, Read it and weep.
use rhetoric and mannerisms almost identical to Hider's. Read it and learn.
Those are the facts as I write this, from Las Vegas, where May it never happen again.
a few nights ago, I (a 5'2" weakling) told a 6'2" truck driver
-Janet Berliner
Las Vegas, NV
October, 1996

think it was the Englishman Blackwood mud, not silt. “What happened here?” one might ask upon
who best described the general region seeing this. What could it be?
(though, of course, he was referring to the It is almost time.
area south of here, along the banks of the Here she comes, hurrying along the road to any of sew
Danube). Iremember lying under the COV- era1 villages north of Krakow. She wishes to reach a hostel
ers at night, heedless of PaPa’sdisaPProval, before nightfall. The scooter is Japanese, brand new, a gift
feeling the fingers under my cotton from Sweet Grandfather to his favorite grandchild. How un-
gown as I laboriouslY translated mY 1913 edition of “The fortunate that the motor will fail, that she will be stranded in
the bog. But such is the nature of machines.
Then I grew up, of course (though not so very much), Not so much to look at, is she? Shock of dirty-blond hair,
and Papa and I both discovered what real horror was. wispy frame in denim jacket, wallet of zlotys exchanged for
The place where I stand might have been conjured from deutschmarks, Doc Martens, a Los Angeles Lakers backpack.
the story’s pages -meandering streams dissect stagnant ponds, Globally conscious citizen of a United Europe -may it last a
clusters of reeds and matted roots. The air is heavy, weighted thousand years. 1 am almost tempted to whistle Wagner.
with the scent of rotting plants. Tiny fishes and marsh-snails It is the face, though, inscribed behind my eyes as indel-
are the only forms of animal life visible. The Vistula lies open ibly as the number on my arm. Gender and time and genera-
beneath the late-afternoon heavens like a sturgeon’s maw. I tion have done their best to erase the traces, but the Nazis
look at the gray clouds scudding across the reddening Sky, re- were right, in their way. Blood always wins. Blood tells the
membering days not so very long ago. The sky was always red tale.
in those days, and there were gray clouds then, too, though I watched her as she came to the camp. Germans do come,
they were of an altogether different composition. you know -Adenauer and Kohl and the rest have cultivated
If one looks closely, amid the reeds and the mire and the a social guilt bordering on voyeurism. I watched as she si-
slime of the vistula, one may still see a matching shade of lently mouthed the words ‘GARBEIT MACHT FRE1.j’ I
gray - the tiniest of particles, countless flakes of ashy detri- watched as she strolled down the lanes between the fences of
tUS eddying in the sullen flow, clotting on the Plants. It is not rusting wire, the Same lanes along which Sweet Grandfather
P-
r)

I step forward, oozing through the reeds.
the frozen stare of one particularly crooked stick-puppet - I “Who is there?” she calls in broken Polish.
received an almost orgasmic swell of pain. I come for her, all wet and charred and carpeted with
Take those eyes, strip away the sunglasses and only two weeds. The flare illuminates my welcoming smile.
generations, add a film as palpable and miasmic as the gray nere is a legend in the - the tale of the rwalb,
scum at my feet, and Sweet Grandfather leers with a gaze like the drowned maiden of the river. ne Vistula did not claim
a Scalpel, just as he did during the examinations, the @Pel, me until after I was ashes, but Zyklon B proved an acceptable
the injections, the selection. substitute.
Well, I have selected her. It is time. The legends called the rusalku beautiful. The tale-spin-
Night drops Out ofthe upper Sky, conloining with a Sud- ners must never have seen a drowning victim. They certainly
den belch of stinking smoke. I writhe amid the coils of her never witnessed the aftereffectsof Zyklon B - the bloated,
SCOOter’S engine, moving in the manner the DoPP&aWer blue, bloody faces, the purpled lips disgorging blackened
taught me, and the vehicle sputters like the last gasp of an tongues. N ~I am , not beautiful.
asphyxiating prisoner. Clouds of exhaust plume into the deep- Oh, the poor child! Can she not understand that her
ening air, like crematory ashes. palpitating heart, the screams tearing their way from her gut
She Pulls to the Side, almost into the Swamp itself, and a -these things only strengthen me?I tighten the ashes around
barrage of curses commingleswith the splash of frogs and cries of my hate like a marshesnail armoring itself in its shell.
ducks. She is resourceful; she lights a flare. It blazes red against I can see the deathmark tattooed on her face - already
the black sky, like flame from a crematory chimney. She shivers, she turns cold, still, blue.
and her curses gradually subside into cries for assistance. As I gain on her and scrabble at her fleeing back, my Psyche
No one hears her now, just as no one heard us then. The feebly whispers this was ,,fan age wh I
road less traveled, the starkly picturesque road she found so nen
went up the cfimney? I am on her, and there are no more
enticing - the is that no One come. My doubts; there are only my talons, her throat, the tempest of hate
hive-brethren gladly enforce this particular taboo. They, too, and ashessucking us down into the vistulamire.
are voyeurs. They want to watch. And there amid the ooze stare Grandfather’s eyes, those
I hover Over the center Of One very Pool, and the scalpel eyes, now caked with confusion. The child understands
gray film coagulates,entwines itself into a ropy strand. It snakes of this, unaware of whyshe is dying.
out of the water, a lumpy tendril wrapping like mummy linen Well, who among us understood?

I
8
villainy - might these events produce in the souls of the
dead? Wraith is about unfinished business and passion, and
surely the 12 million souls who died in the events of the Shoah
had much that they left unfinished.
his book is an attempt to do something After all is said and done, the Holocaust was and is a
different with the power of storytelling. purely human tragedy. This book does not attempt to move
In these pages is a history and a series of the blame from where it belongs. The vampires and wraiths
stories, detailing things that did happen didn’t make anyone do it. The Garou and the mages didn’t
and what their effects might have been in manipulate events behind the scenes to create the Shoah. In
~ . __. . . ,
the World of Darkness. The idea is not to
triviahe the Holocaust, to reduce it to the
the context of the World of Darkness, some supernatural be-
ings tooKl aavantage
l - r / ___--
:-L--l:-\ A+..,.*;t;ac k,,t&c*
01[ur perisiicu 1111 Lllc ~ L I U G I L L ~ ~ ,
uuL LLIuL,
level of “just a game.” Rather, the concept behind this book last and always, the World of Darkness’ Holocaust was the
is to use the medium of roleplaying as another way to tell the idea and the work of human beings.
story of the Shoah, the story that must constantly be told. Just like in the real world.
The words of this book are not intended to be fun to
read. If you are looking for the opportunity to Skinride Colo-
ne1 Klink and Sergeant Schulz and change the course of his-
Content’
tory, you’ve picked up the wrong text. Rather, Charnel Houses This book is separated into five chapters. The first is a
is intended as an examination of consequences. What could history of the actual events of the Holocaust, with additional
suchhorrible sufferingproducein the Shadowlands, were +.he text indicating the consequences of these events on the rest
Shadowlands real? mat heights of heroism -and depthsof of the World of Darkness. The remaining four chapters are

settings, Haunts set on the sites of four places important to To deny these shades of gray is to shortchange those who
the history of the Holocaust. These chapters (Theresienstadt, were caught up in the Shoah. For if there was an opportunity
the Warsaw Ghetto, Babi Yar and Auschwitz) contain real- to collaborate, to make things a little better for one’s self,
world historical background material, additional World of how much more heroic does a refusal to collaborate become?
Darkness material, some characters who inhabit the Haunt So don’t be surprised when you turn the pages and find a
and a few sample story ideas. character who may not be as admirable as one might wish.
w
Just remember that the Holocaust killed a lot of people -
history real people, with foibles and weaknesses, just like you and
me. Even within the context of Wraith, they are still that:
The history set down in this book is drawn directly from people. Real human beings. Don’t expect them all to be per-
the historical record of the real world. Casualty statistics, de- fect; don’t expect them all t o be selfless and angelic. Within
tails of atrocities, dates and times - all of these come from the bounds of the extrapolation presented here, some of these
the pages of history. Those details of the “history” included people may very well want revenge. Some may want to heal
here that are World of Darkness-specific are set aside as such; the damage that has been done, and some may simply want
those details of the “history” that are actual history comprise to see to their own needs.
the rest of that chapter. Remember that, the first time a knee-jerk reaction to a
In other words, the World of Darkness is a very light gloss character description arises. Remember that, and perhaps that
on the real details of what the Nazi incineration machine actu- character will make a bit more sense.
ally did to millions of people. Don’t dismiss what you read here
because it’s “just a game,” because it is not. Don’t discredit these
details because you read them first in a book derived from a game; why?
the setting and history are real enough. The depth and quality of Why do this book, something bound to be a lightning
the research that has gone into this book is staggering,with that rod for controversy and ill will?Something that will displease
effort reflected in the information contained herein. so many people, for so many reasons?
Yes, information. Once the characters are stripped away Because the story must be told, and told in every way
(some of them historical figures, some of them fictional per- possible.
sonalities derived from actual historical accounts), the words Some years ago, comic books were certainly not consid-
“wraith,”“vampire,”“Passion”and “Garou”excised from these ered to be an appropriate medium of discussion of the Holo-
pages, what is left is information. Within these covers, that caust. Mind you, stabs at approaching the subject matter had
information serves as context for the stories that we present been made - Marvel’s ludicrous origin story for the charac-
here. However, the idea is for you, the reader, to take that ter of Magneto, the somewhat naiveRugman miniseries from
information with you long after you’ve closed chis book for DC - but for the most part, the Holocaust was filed away
the last time. under “grown-up stuff that comics didn’t dare touch. Cap-
It’s all real, and the world needs to know that. tain America fought Nazis, but the Red Skull’s evil experi-
ments were always directed toward technology, not concen-
tration-camp prisoners.
J l Then the world discoveredMaw, and whole new ways of
Charnel Houses of Europe is not about heroes and vil. discussing the issue evolved. A whole new set of people who
lains. While examples of both were present in bulk during might not have learned about the Shoah found a way in which
the Holocaust (and after), portraying the events of the Holo- they could become informed.
caust in black and white is to do a disservice to the victims of This sort of new exploration of the story is happening
the storm. The Holocaust, for good or for ill, was not a simple every day. CD-ROMs. Web sites. Hollywood blockbusters.
case of “Nazis bad, victims good.” There were collaborators Cartoon Jewish mice and German cats. There are new ways
with the Nazi regime, even among Jews and Gypsies. The of getting new generations to examine that which has hap-
Vatican was quiet while the Jews of Rome were deported to pened, in order to prevent the lessons of the Nazi regime from
the camps and Polish Catholic priests executed, but Il Duce being forgotten. We owe it to history -to the victims and to
himself, Benito Mussolini, ordered the details of Nazi atroci- the survivors -to explore every possible way to let their story
ties leaked to the West. be heard.

Which brings us to this book. This, too, is a new way of
looking at the Holocaust, directed at people who might not
otherwise find a way to make those stories speak to them. In The list of literature produced on the Holocaust is nearly
some ways, roleplaying the aftermath of the Holocaust might endless, thankfully so. Obviously, even on a subject as mo-
be a little more intense than clicking through a Web site. In mentous as this, not every book extant is necessary, or even
some ways, daring to put the events of the Holocaust in the good. Below, however, are some of the books used in the cre-
context of a game might by seen as sacrilegious or insulting. ation of this one, as well as some of the seminal texts of Holo-
Charnel Houses of Europe: The Shoah is intended as a caust scholarship.
way for roleplayers to learn and then to tell some of the sto- The Aftermath: Living with the Holocaust, by Aaron Hass
ries of the Holocaust. It is a way for them to come face to face Against All Hope: Resistance in the Nazi Concentration
with the unique horrors visited upon millions and millions of Camps, by Hermann Langbein
people for no good reason. Against All Odds: Holocaust Surwiwors and the Successful
And just maybe, enough of the horror and terror of the Liwes They Made in America, by William Helmreich
camps will find a home in the people who use these settings Auschwitr: 1940-1945, by Kazimierz Smolen (translation
for their stories. They will take that burden with them when by Route 66 Publishing, Ltd.)
they leave their Wraith sessions, and because they’ve found a
Auschwitz:A Doctor’s Eyewitness Account, by Dr. Miklos Nyiszli
way to understand (even a little bit) what happened, they
will find themselves working that much harder to make cer- Auschwitr: True Tales from a Grotesque Land, by Sara
NombergPrztyk (Roslyn Hirsch, translator)
tain that it never, ever happens again.
That’s why. Before the Deluge, by Otto Friedrich
The Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank
[ecommended \eading Death Dealer: The Memoirs of the SS Kommamlant at

Auschwitr, by Rudolph Hoss (Steven Paskuly, translator)
Denying the Hobcaust, by Deborah Lipstadt
The Encyclopaedia of the Holocaust
and viewing Endurance: Chronicles of Jewish Resistance, by Amnon

A j zensztadt
An Eye for an Eye, by John Sack
A History of the Holocaust, by Yehuda Bauer
Movies Hitler’s Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the
Holocaust, by Daniel Jonah Goldhagen
inema on the Holocaust is relatively rare, The Holocuust, the French and theJews, by Susan Zuccotti
though in recent years Nazis have become
The Holocaust: The Jewish Tragedy, by Martin Gilbert
chic villains once again. However, there
have been some movies made -some fic-
The Indestructible Jews, by Max I. Dimont
tional, some documentaries - that make The Jews of Warsaw, by Yisrael Gutman
positive contributions to the debate on the Kabbalah, by Gershom Sholem
events of the Shoah. La Deportation, published by the French Government
-Mnm:
__._
._.A.Surwiwm’s
-. . Tak. bv Art SDieeelman
I , I V
Because of That War Night, by Elie Wiesel

Cabaret The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, by William A. Shirer
The Diary of Anne Frank Shoah, by Claude Lanzmann
Europa, Europa Surwival in Auschwitz and The Drowned and the Sawed, by
The Garden of the Fitri-Continis Primo Levi
Hotel Terminus The Theory and Practice of Hell, by Eugen Kogon
Schindler’s List Those Were the Days: The Holocaust as Seen by the Perpetra-
tors and Bystanders,by Emst Klee, Willi Dressen and Volker Riess

instant the blade of mortality cut down its attention to these facts. Of course, many things are all too
first victim, the Shadowlands have always clear for every wraith. The power of emotion present in her
been a dark and desperate place. They could Passions and Pathos, imbued in Fetters and barely control-
be nothing else; every landscape is clouded lable in Thorns, is always visible. So is the danger of Shadows
in gloom, every building is frangible with and Spectres, and the authority of the Hierarchy. The
rot and decay. Simply put, everyone a wraith Shadowlands are life’s id, the smoked-glasslens through which
meets and everythinghe comes in contact with is dead. And the all wraiths perceive the eternity that stretches out before them.
dead keep coming, every single day - the victims of war and Yet one thing is not always clearly visible to the average
disease, abuse and despair and indifference.The grand old build- Stygian -the power of the living over the Shadowlands and
ings fall out of favor with the world, fall apart, and are plowed the magnitude of influence which their actions have on the
over to make way for newer, slicker, more antiseptic structures. composition of the Land of the Dead.
Only ghosts and memories appear in the Shadowlands, bearing The Shroud can be taken for granted by many, its thick
themselves with a condemned air. stratum separating this world from the next like a leaden stage

calculated move on the part of the national cabinet. Thi
trade unions, burning books and incarcerating many of the rists simply took this concept to its “logical” conclusion.
Nazis’ political enemies in speciaIly built concentration camps. This quackery became law in 1935 with the Nuremberg
were in operation all over Germany, within the walls of which the civil service, the medical and legal professions and uni-
Nazi thug squads beat, tortured, ransomed and sometimes versity professorships. Jewish businesses were boycotted and
killed political prisoners outright. their proprietors harassed daily by Nazi thugs. Many of the
more prominent Jews were sent to concentration camps.
impure Thoushts In the following months, persecution intensified. Laws were
passed defining racial characteristics, essentially stating that it
It was also during these first several months that the Nazi was illegal to failto meet certain geneticcriteria.
party began to introduce its delusionary ideas about a Ger- camps began to fill with homosexua~, Gypsies
man “master race” into the fabric of its society. Pseudoscientific
(whose faith precluded them swearing oaths to
quackery abounded in“studies” about eye and hair color, nose
the State or in the military). Families were broken up,
and jaw width, created in the quest for perfect “Aryan”
with &Idren Sent to special juvenile detention facilities and

women alike were violated by these procedures, ever after un- Arrests continued throughout the late 1930s. To escape
able to conceive and give the gift of life to the world. this, many Jews in Germany and Nazi-occupied Austria at-
tempted emigration. Where they would end up was not al-
ways certain, as the Unites States and many European na-
tions were unwilling to accept large numbers of Jewish refu-
As the 1930s drew to a close in Germany, it was clear gees. A number of Jews in Germany and Austria were able to
that a growing, virulently antipSemitic agenda was being get out, going wherever they could: Palestine, Latin America,
adopted by the Nazi government. The initial boycotts and even China. They also went to Poland, Hungary, Romania
renunciation of Jewish rights under the Nuremberg Laws were and other Eastern European countries - Soon to be snared
only the beginning. Nazis forced many Jewish businesspeople again by the encroaching Nazi dragnets at the beginning of
to sell off their properties and livelihoods at bargain rates, or the war. Despite the fact that they were obviously unwanted
the Nazis simply used the Nuremberg Laws as justification for in Germany, significant numbers of Jews did not leave, either
outright seizure. Segregation intensified, barring Jewish chil- unwilling or unable to uproot themselves. Here they contin-
dren from public schools and their parents from the theater, ued to suffer abuse and discrimination under the Nazi regime,
cinema, vacation resorts and even certain city streets. To get or suffered deportation, giving up their savings and property
around many towns in Germany, Jews were forced to use large to the Nazi government.
-
:

Broken Glass subhuman species, fit only for slave labor under the direction
of the Aryan Germans. Upon securing control of Poland, the
InNovember 1938 the anti-Jewishagenda took a more vio- Nazi forces immediately began the first series of large-scale
lent turn. A young student in Paris, avenging his parents’ depor- executions, massacring Polish university professors, writers,
tation to Poland the month before, shot and killed an aide to the politicians, artists and other intellectuals who might be in
German ambassador. In response to this act, the Gestapo and positions to cause trouble. Catholic priests were also targeted;
the CriminalPolice organized a massive pogrom on Jewishhomes, over 2000 were slaughtered by German soldiers.
businesses and meeting places. On November 9, 1938, this one Over the course of the next several months, the Nazis
night of destruction, called Kristallnacht (“The Night of Broken imprisoned thousands of Poles in concentration camps and
Glass”), was declared. A mutual effort of the Gestapo, the SS forced labor details. Large segments of the population were
and Nazi party militants, the evening’s terror succeeded in c a w driven off their land. Most of them were imprisoned, and their
ing the destruction of over 7,500 shops and businesses. Thirty homes and farms forfeited to German families (who speedily
thousand people were arrested and immediately sent off to con- moved into the vacant regions). Close to 50,000 Polish chil-
centration camps, primarily Buchenwald. Ninety-one people were dren, whom the Germans considered “Aryan” under the ra-
killed. Over 1000 synagogues were burned, including the one in cial laws, were abducted from their parents and taken back to
the city of Essen, one of the finest examples of synagogue archi- Germany. There they were adopted by German families and
tecture in Germany. underwent assimilation into National Socialist society. Many
of these children were later considered incapable of “German-
The Dog of War ization” and sent to special children’s concentration camps.
At dawn on September 1, 1939, German tanks rolled

across the Polish border. They took the country in less than a
The house on Tiergarten Street
month, marking the beginning of World War 11. It was a war The purging of undesirables from the population contin-
for Lebensraum (living space), which, according to Hitler, ued back in Germany as well. While Panzer tanks were roll-
Germany was in desperate need of. In their racial ideology, ing over the Polish countryside, Hitler signed an order creat-
Hitler and the Nazis considered the Slavic peoples to be a ing a special commission to begin a program of euthanasia on

Germany’s mentally and physically handicapped populations. eliminated. Those men, women and children
It was called Operation T4, after the address of its headquar- reports were transferred to six private institi
ten at 4 Tiergartenstrasse, Berlin. and Austria, where they were executed by 1
All state hospitals in Germany were ordered to provide con- gassings in specially ~onstructedundergroul
fidential information on their patients to special boards of Nazi bodies were cremated in oversized ovens. TI
physicians,who would then review the records and decide, sight tematic elimination of the disabled would PI

a , -7 ,r-
Simply Murder: 1940-1941
-. P I ’ F -\ T-”
In February 1940, after securing their sector of Polish ter-

ritory, the Nazis began a large-scale deportation to the east of
. w= .T r ---
Sometimes these hunter cadres deported entire groups to a
single camp en masse.
’
On June 22, 1941, the war took a significant step as the

German army invaded the Soviet Union. By the end of the
summer, the Nazis approached Moscow. Following in the ad-
B
all Jews remaining in Germany to concentration camps and

vancing infantry’s wake were the Einsatwppen, mobile SS
“ghettos” in Polish cities and towns. Entire quarters of mu-
squadrons whose sole purpose was to cut through the coun-
nicipalities filled with uprooted Jewish families were walled
tryside of Eastern Europe, slaughtering as many Jews, Gyp-
up. Over three million Jews residing in Nazi-held lands were
sies, Communists and opposition political leaders as possible.
deported to hundreds of these ghettos in Poland and lands
Invading towns and villages shortly after their occupation by
further east. Two of the more infamous ghettos, in the Polish
German forces, these death sauads simdv rounded UD all lews.
cities of Warsaw and Lodz, received close to half a million
Jewish deportees in 1940,before their walls were permanently
sealed and their captive populations left to rot inside.
Other prisoners of the Germans flooded the already ex-
isting concentration camps, necessitating the creation of hun-
dreds of new camps to handle the surge in the number of pris-
oners. After France, the Low Countries, Norway and Den-
mark fell to the German war machine, Nazi organizations such
as the League of Night and Fog made periodic sweeps of cities
and towns throughout Western Europe in the hunt for mem-
bers of resistance groups and other anti-Nazi organizations.
f
of execution. In December, at the Chelmno concentration
camp, specially sealed vans that pumped carbon monoxide
exhaust into their cargo holds were also tried as a means of
mass execution, but with horrifying results - the vans were
not completely sealed. When they opened the killing cham-
bers, the Nazis found many half-dead and dying prisoners who
had to be shot to end their suffering. The idea of mobile kill-
ing vans soon was discarded by the Nazis. The idea of mass
slaughter was not. permanently solve the “Jewish Question.” Specifically, these-
“experts” had gathered to determine what the Nazi govern-
Nothint Short of hell: 1942-1945

J
ment planned to do with the millions of Jews still residing in
Nazi-occupied lands throughout Europe. Chaired by Reinhard
In January 1942, in a villa in the Berlin suburb of Heydrich, the head of the Sichrheitsdietlst police, this confer-
Wannsee, a group of top Nazi officials met to find a way to ence ended with plans for what was termed the “Final Solu-
tion” to the Jewish Question - the planned mass execution

state policy the genocide of millions of people.
This plan, headed by SS captain Adolf Eichmann, out-
lined the construction of six camps in Eastern Europe which Final stops
would become the sites for the mass execution of Jews, Gyp-
sies and other undesirables. These camps, Chelmno, Sobibor, In 1942, the six death camps began to operate. The SS ini-
Majdanek, Treblinka, Belzec and Auschwitz, were constructed tiated the Process Of the ghettos Of as as

Eastern and central Europe. They transported thousands of the
condemned to the half-dozen death camps, sending them hun-
dreds of miles in cramped, suffocating cattle cars. Those
transportees who survived the journeys were herded off the cars
and separated into groups, men apart from women and children.
The prisoners were led into large underground chambers,
which held approximately a thousand or so people. After sur-
rendering all of their property to the guards and specially as-
signed inmates, the prisoners were ordered to strip naked and
prepare for a “delousing shower.” Guards admonished them
to remember where they had placed their clothes in the un-
derground anteroom, where garments were piled in heaps
under signs with slogans such as ‘Cleanliness Brings Freedom”
and “One Louse Can Kill.”
The guards then led the prisoners, women and children first,
into an underground chamber with shower heads on the walls and
large room dividers to separatemen and women. The door leading
inside was locked and sealed. After they secured the room against
any leakage, SS guards then poured cans of Zyklon-B crystals (a
form of cyanide) through special vents in the roof. The crystals
released cyanic fumes almost immediately upon hitting the tiled
floors,killing hundreds within a few minutes. It took about 20
minutes to kill every individual in the underground chamber.
After doing their work, the noxious gases escaped into
the air by means of special ducts. After the chamber had been
cleared, the door was opened and teams of other prisoners
went in to collect the bodies for disposal. Pairs of prisoners
carried out the dead, naked bodies of the victims, their skin
tinged blue from the effects of asphyxiation, into the crema-
torium. Here the prisoners placed the bodies in large ovens
where they burned, the rising smoke tainted with the saccha-
rine stink of death.
Those prisoners who were not doomed to the gas chambers
were singled out by the SS for other purposes. After initial quaran-
tine from the rest of the prisoner population, this small minority
was used for any number of purposes, mostly slave labor. Some of
the prisoners singled out became human subjects in medical experi-
ments. These procedures, run by teams of SS physicians, supposedly
determined whether any viable biological procedure could be found
for turning members of “inferior”races into people with more “Aryan”
features and characteristics. Procedures such as injecting dye into
eye pigment and surgical procedures designed to change facial char-
acteristics were common, as were as behavioral experiments and
electro-shock treatment. Thousands perished or found themselves
irrevocably deformed as a result of this experimentation.

Private men and women throughout Europe risked and the 700 or so fighters staved off attacks from over 2000 Ger-
often lost their lives in attempts to safeguard Jews from the man soldiers backed up by tanks and artillery, with only a few
Nazi roundup. Men such as Raoul Wallenberg, Oskar dozen pistols and grenades. Resistance continued until the
Schindler and Joop Westerweel personally saw to the safe Germans finally overcame the fighters by burning down the
transportation of thousands of Jews to neutral countries. Dan- ghetto building by building.
ish clergy and private citizens managed to save almost the Despite the predictable failure of the uprising, the cour-
entire population of Danish Jewry from the Nazis by hiding age exhibited by the Warsaw group helped to inspire other
and transporting Jews out of the country to neutral Sweden. revolts, most noticeably within two death camps. O n Octo-
Where governments and diplomats could not help, many pri- ber 14,1943, a rebellion of the prisoners at the Sobibor death
vate individuals sheltered Jewish families in hideouts, base- camp lead to its closure. In August, a rev0
ments and upper rooms. at Treblinka destroyed much of the facility. As a result, the
While the death camps were operating nonstop, deter- camp was shut down in November.
mined men and women fought an underground struggle in
the face of insurmountable odds against Nazi oppression. Re-
sistance movements were present in practically every camp
Destroying the Evidence
and ghetto in Europe, and the year 1943 saw a series of re- By late 1944 Germany had irrevocably lost the war. Al-
volts by Jewish and other prisoners against Nazi forces. In the lied forces were approaching from the west, riddling German
Warsaw ghetto, from which Jewshad been regularly deported cities and towns with heavy saturation bombing. Russian
to Treblinka, a group of young Jewish and Communist fight- forces, having stopped the German advance at Stalingrad in
%++!=

Ak,,n~ T L CL
~ nJ 1 J
tillCllIIRl1I; 11IC 31IRUUw 1Rl IUS
Anr nVl
' of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by atomic bombs. The Labyrinth
P ~ S P L Pnnen
ULYUL.....
A
.,y..-.
.
..
.u l
..
..
,U".
..
. -.I- -..-..--..Gnmnl
inrl telpacprl the m e a t Malfean
failed to destroy Stygia because the apparent sacrifice of
...--
--.--., whn
Charon himself.
he end of the Second World War left After Charon's disappearance, the Deathlords scrambled
Stygia and the Shadowlands in tatters. to restore order to the Shadowlands. Anacreons, overburdened
During the years of conflict, wayward souls with the continual arrival of souls, found their facilities inad-
reached the Shadowlands in unparalleled equate to deal with the sheer number of wraiths. Many souls,
numbers. Haunts based in major battle- turned away from the gates of Necropoli, found themselves
fields and cities throughout Europe swelled even more lost than they whereupon their first arrival in the
in size and population. The great death- Underworld. The major sites of destruction in the Skinlands
roads teemed with un-Reaped souls, many of whom fell vic- had given rise to many more Nihils, and the already-weak-
tim to rampaging Spectres or became Spectres themselves. ened Stygian forces lost a good portion of their strength in
The breaking point in the Shadowlands came with the oc- the battles to stave off Spectral incursions.
currence of the Fifth Great Maelstrom, after the destruction
I
r

And in the middle of the disorder in the Shadowlands move, the normally apolitical Ferrymen also made a strong pres-
walked the victims of the Holocaust. Vast numbers of ence. The stage was set for those assembled to make history.
Mortwights, created by Skinland ovens, wreaked havoc upon The leaders of the Circles and Renegade pockets had
Necropoli and long-established Haunts. Angry wraiths at- come prepared and went straight on the offensive. They ac-
tacked random trainloads of newly arrived souls, furiously cused the assembled power Structure of Stygia with the will.
searching for their Nazi murderers. And millions of wraiths ful and willing neglect of the souls in their care. The
pushed haphazardly together into their own little Circles, Deathlords had horribly mismanaged the treatment of these
wandering the highways in directionless masses. They were wraiths and their fellows, and now reparations would be made.
accompanied by no Reapers, no Legionnaires, no Ferrymen By ignoring those wraiths who were the first victims of the
-Only by the acrid Of burning*This stench was a mas- Holocaust, the leaders stated, the Deathlords had denied the full
sive, unmistakable Deathmark upon their numbers. care and support of the Hierarchy to souls in need. This willful
neglect had very likely fed Oblivion as well. By attempting to
The Voice of Conscience palm off the growing numbers of the arriving victims on reluc-
tant Anacreons by means of the toothless Partition Accords, the
After some semblance of stability returned to Stygia, the
Deathlords and Anacreons had abandoned these wraiths to their
Deathlords sent invitations to all known Circles of Holocaust
own devices, and fueled the rage that had led to the creation of
victims, old Army of Fire battalions and Renegade pockets to
the Army of Fire -not to mention their attacks upon the vari-
meet at Charon’s vacant palace, the Onyx Tower, to work to-
ous Necropoli. By underestimating the impact of the events in
ward a solution that would satisfactorilyaddress the concerns of
the Skinlands and the resulting physical effects upon the Under-
all of the victims of this secret war against the Jews, Gypsies, and
world, the Deathlords and Anacreons had caused the loss of many
other groups condemned to eliminationby the Nazis. Thousands
victims’ souls to the Nihils and roaming Spectres that had in-
of wraiths who fell victim to the Nazi evil gathered in the most
fested Europe. And by engaging in acts of piracy and fraud among
hallowed place in Stygia, the inner sanctum of the great Charon
themselves with regards to the collection of victims’ souls, the
himself. The seven Deathlords, the Ladies of Fate, high-ranking
Deathlords had treated these vulnerable wraiths as nothing more
Anacreons, Overlords and Marshals were in attendance, as were
than an inanimate commodity to line their own coffers with.
as the most powerful Stygian magistrates. In an unprecedented
,I, __ A A 1 L. - J A 1 A d 1 J - I \.- -,I/..

The spokespersons for the victims were indignant. They themselves of any interest in the populations of or goings-on
had witnessed the actions of the Hierarchy, and found no dif- within these camps. The Hierarchy was also not allowed ac-
ference between the treatment of them and their fellow vic- cess inside the camps, and any intruders on camp territory
tims in death and the treatment of their living selves by the would find themselves beholden to the justice of the camps’
Nazis in life. According to the assembled wraiths, it was evi- inhabitants. The camp leaders were responsible to no author-
dent that by their own actions the Hierarchy was either un- ity but themselves and their charges. Total autonomy was to
willing or unable to successfully deal with them and their be guaranteed.
brethren. In return, the leaders of the free camps would search for
The assembled members of the Hierarchy were nonplused and take in their fellow wraiths still wandering the
by the accusations, partly because they were true. But mostly Shadowlands. They would work to reunite families and com-
it was because of the single voice of solidarity that drove their munities. They would seek ways to close the Nihils that had
accusers - here the Deathlords saw before them thousands cracked open at the sites of death camps and other places of
of wraiths, all victims of the most heinous crime perpetrated mass murder. They would also, in accordance with the idea of
on the human race. They represented millions upon millions reuniting of groups of victims, take it upon themselves to find
of souls who were essentially unaccounted for in the those wraiths who had crossed the Shroud as Spectres, and
Shadowlands. Circles, Renegades, Heretics and vagabonds all search for ways to tear them from Oblivion’s grasp.
had come together to speak as one voice, a voice that bel- The Covenant of the Millions proved to be a landmark event
lowed forth from the depths of their collective being, a voice in the history of Stygia. For the first time since the treaties be-
that cried out for help, for justice - for worth. tween Stygia and the Dark Kingdoms of Jade and Ivory, the Hi-
It was a voice that the Deathlords, insecure in their new erarchy officially recognized a population of wraiths as indepen-
authority, could not ignore. dent of Stygian rule. The establishment of the several dozen free
camps paved the way for the evolution of a totally separate soci-
The Covenant of the Millions ety in the Shadowlands, the equivalent of a free empire of
Necropoli coexisting with the ancient regime.
The product of the convocation in the Onyx Tower was
an agreement providing for the establishment of a series of
free ghettos for the wraiths who perished in the Holocaust.
life in the Ghettos
Called the Covenant of the Millions, it was signed by repre- Although the several dozen free ghettos are equal in stat-
sentatives of all those present - the Deathlords, the Ladies ure with each other, individual environments differ greatly
of Fate, the lost souls of the Shoah and the Ferrymen. from camp to camp. Depending upon the location and
Holocaust wraiths could establish free ghettos in the amounts of raw Pathos and Angst available, the societies and
Shadowlands at sites of the major atrocities, where high lev- government of the individual ghettos are often very dissimi-
els of ambient Pathos were present. These camps would be lar.
connected to each other by the Shadowlands manifestations Some of the largest ones, in places such as Auschwitz
of the old rail-lines and highways which had connected death and the other extermination centers, are sinkholes of chaos.
camps and execution sites during the war; the Allies had Perched over huge rifts in the tapestry of the Shadowlands,
bombed most of this segment of the infrastructure straight they teem with Spectres and dark emotion. The wraiths who
into the Shadowlands. haunt these sites spend as much time simply holding back the
The ghettos were total sanctuaries, where wraiths Fet- hordes of Oblivion as they do trying to resolve their own per-
tered to them could make their own haunts and go about the sonal demons. Other ghettos are more stable in their design,
arduous process of coming to terms with their deaths and the and function as crossroads for the millions of victims of the
Shadowlands. There these wraiths could work to resolve their Holocaust. These provide shelter and emotional succor for
Passions, undaunted by outside distractions or interference. those wraiths who live within.
Also included in the Covenant was the right of the Shoah A number of the free ghettos are not “ghettos” in the
wraiths to the pursuit, capture and punishment of any and all true sense of the word, but rather areas of the Shadowlands
former Nazi wraiths. By the letter of the Covenant, no one, where a Circle or group of Circles have become de facto war-
not even the Deathlords, could stand in the way of this hunt dens of vast reservoirs of Pathos. These places, which have
for vengeance. usually formed from the emotion generated at scenes of mass
Stygia was prohibited from exercising any control or au- Einsatzgwppen executions or burials, are sparsely populated
thority over the free camps. The Deathlords were to divest (if they are populated at all) in the Skinlands, and often serve

All the free ghettos have several common goals, the first of
which is the safety of their own people. Safety for these wraiths is
& ./
I .L - !,h):‘g;L
predicated upon the physical integrity of these camps, which
hinges upon the memories and emotions of the Quick -those
who survived the Holocaust and those of futuregenerationswho
seek to learn the truth and guard against the recurrence of its
sins. Both personal and collective action by those still living are
a significant influence upon these communities in the
Shadowlands. Many of the ghettos have suffered damage from
attempts by those in the Skinlands to forget the terror, or erase
the evidence or tamper with the truth of what happened. Each
wave of denial by the Quick attacks the structure of the ghettos
and results in manifestationsof a physical nature. Walls fade away.
Relics are lost. Wraiths themselves, stripped of any memory of
their death in the land of the Quick, can suffer agonizing
Harrowings and submit to Oblivion.
Positive action by the Quick, on the other hand, serves
to strengthen the camps and their populations. Many of the
Holocaust memorials that have been built within the half-
century following the end of World War I1 have benefited
the victims’wraiths -records of their deaths have been made
public; exhibitions in museums and memorials displaying per-
sonal effects have saved many Fetters from destruction; and
works of scholarship and art fuel Quick emotions and memo-
ries that have further solidified many of the communities in
the Shadowlands. The free ghettos have endeavored to work
through the Shroud to further these positive acts by the Quick.
By tapping into the emotions that spiral upwards from the
memorials and remembrances, they hope to provide enough
collective energy for their own selves to resolve their Pas-
sions and pass from the Shadowlands to a better place.
In addition to ensuring their own safety, the wraiths liv-
ing in these free ghettos have pledged themselves to locating
the souls of the millions of victims of the Holocaust and bring-
ing them into the fold. The idea of one vast community of
souls bound together by their singular experiences of death is
one of the prime movers behind everything that goes on un-
der the free camps’ aegis. The ghettos are constantly on the
lookout for fellow victims of the Holocaust, lost souls travel-
ing the darkened paths of the Tempest, hiding out in rarely
visited Necropoli or attaching themselves to random packs of
Guild wraiths or Heretics. They are also searching for those
victims who have already fallen into Oblivion and been trans-
formed into Spectres or other grotesques; many camps boast a
group or Circle who have assumed the dangerous task of
searching for these creatures and trying to aid them in achiev-
ing Redemption.
The wraiths who make up the Circles in the free camps sin-
cerely believe that the damage done by the Holocaust can be

collective Pathos inherent in the complete populace of both liv- The guarantees of the total independence of these ghettos
ing and dead souls. To these wraiths, each missing soul retards from Stygia has also been an ongoing source of tension between
the healing process for the individual and the community of vic- the Hierarchy and the Holocaust communities. Despite the ex-
tims. Each family still torn apart by the disappearance of loved plicit terms of the Covenant of the Millions, the existence of sev-
ones encouragesdespair and brings Oblivion a step closer. Every eral dozen Circles of wraiths acting under an umbrella of a totally
wraith who has given up his or her quest for peace and submitted clandestine nature has worried Anacreons and others, who sim-
to the entropic mass strengthens the power of the darkness, and ply do not trust these wraiths. What are they doing in there, the
makes his or her death an empty sacrifice. If true victory over skeptics ask. Anacreons with Necropoli near (or in many cases
Oblivion is to be achieved,both among the Quick and the Dead, bordering) these free ghettos have enunciated feelings of reluc-
it can only be reached by the efforts of the collective conscience tance and mistrust concerning these outsiders’doings. Servantsof
and hope of the millions of individuals. the Deathlords who were required to cede some of their territory
to groups of these wraiths during the failed Partition Accords have
been especially vocal. They fear the possibility of attacks on their
Necropoli by platoons from these ghettos as revenge for their part
The existence of these independent communities of Ho- in the Deathlords’ shoddy management of the entire affair.
locaust wraiths has been received with mixed feelings in the The Covenant communities’ attempts to coordinate Re-
rest of the Shadowlands. Despite the granting of official sta- demptions of fallen wraiths have also made many in Stygia
tus to these free camps of wraiths, suspicion of and opposition curious, mainly about the success of such endeavors. Word
to their perceived motives does exist throughout the many about these efforts has slowly leaked out over the years, and
levels of the Hierarchy. Several members of the Stygian bu- at this point the Shoah wraiths have ceased denying it. Of
reaucracy and military organizations have expressed concern course, if the Holocaust wraiths have developed a working
over surrendering to these ghettos the responsibilities of moni- method to effect a successful Redemption, many within the
toring the nearby Nihils. Questions have surfaced regarding Hierarchy feel that they have a bounden duty to share this
the amount of training and ability necessary to repel the forces information. If, on the other hand, these touted Redemptions
of Oblivion successfully,and if these relatively young wraiths are failing, what are the potential consequences of such in-
possess sufficient skill with which to do so. Many wraiths in tense long-term contact with Spectres?
the Hierarchy have openly stated that the combination of
There are also a select few Hierarchs who believe that the
delicacy and determination required to offset the innate power
communitiesof dybbuks have joined together in a conspiracy to
of a Nihil may not be present among these communities. Re-
unleash the power of all of these Nihils and Spectres all at once.
sponsibility for such an important task, critics say, should rest
According to these wraiths, the Shoah Restless have entered
with the vastly more experienced wraiths of the Hierarchy.
into secret negotiations with a Malfean to aim the effluvia of
&A.J u ad*>, **u.
.A
.--

P l a n of t h e M a j o r Cities, E x t e r m i n a t i o n and C o n c e n t r a t i o n Camps.
-
0 200
CONCENTRATION and
I
I
I
.Leningrad
EXTERMINATION CAMPS .Moscow

I
I
Cities
0 I Vilna,
- - - - - - - - -I rn BERGEN-
.Minsk
BELSEN
London e Berlin TREBLINKA
.Amsterdam 0
Warsaw, rn
CHELMNO SQBIBOR
I
BUCHENWALD rn GROSS-ROSiN rn MqlDANEK .Kiev
BELZEC
'Paris AUSCmn rn *Krakow
MAUTHAiSEN rn
THERESIENSTAIYI
DjhcHAu Vienna'
Budapest Odessa
.Bucharest
immunity to many of the Holocaust's worst criminals. Top offi- reality of the netherworld. It provided an opportunityfor rebuild- {
cials of the Third Reich, with the tacit approval of Stygian ad- ing, not just for the millions of wraiths who make up the free
ministrators,have been furnished with new names and identities, Holocaust camps, but for the entirety of Stygia. The full scale of
and in some cases had their features Moliated to escape detection. horrors visited upon humanity by the Second World War de-
There is also said to exist an underground Circle made up of former stroyed communities and lives in the Skinlands and unleashed
SS men, called the Nebula Group. Supposedly, this organization the Fifth Maelstrom, the awakening of Gorool, and the ultimate
has played a huge part in procuring new identities and positions sacrifice of Charon in the Shadowlands.
for former Nazis, as well as disseminatingmisleading information. Many wonder whether the Shadowlands are capable of surviv-
ing without the presence of Charon. Some are convinced that the
The Future next Maelstrom will be the one that unleashes the full potency of
Oblivion and swallows all existence, Quick and Dead alike, in its
Nothing like the Holocaust had ever before been imag- nothingness. The Holocaust wraiths feel that the Shadowlands can
ined. Its legacy in the form of millions of new souls and innu- survive, that Oblivion can not only be stopped, but finally defeated.
merable chasms created in the Tempest forever changed the The quest to gather together all of their millions of fellows is the
shape of the Shadowlands. The endless streams of wraiths who guiding beacon that emboldens their actions and invigorates their
were its offspring transformed irrevocably the society and gov- resolve. These communities believe that the full pool of their emo-
ernment that had been in place for so long. It was a revolu- tions -fear, love, anger, confusion, revenge, introspection,deliv-
tion of death, a twisted uprising of primal hate that had ig- erance -has the power to reach back across to the living world and
nited the ovens in the realm of the Quick and had shattered plant the seed of tolerance and courage within humanity, ensuring
the world of the Restless Dead. that the foul blackness will never again reign over humankind's heart.
The bond of the Covenant of the Millionsprovided not just
an opportunity for a vast group of tortured beings to confront the

siuvxia, uermany, ana otner regions in central ana western
German forces in September 1939, the Europe were transported. Unlike Warsaw or Lodz, however,
Nazi party moved quickly to round up the Theresienstadt was to be different. Billed by Nazi propagan-
Jewish populations of Eastern Europe. dists as a “model Jewish settlement,” it was supposedly a town
They interred them within their own cit- where elders and prominent members of Jewish communities
ies and towns, creating specially estab- across Europe lived and worked freely, maintaining the singu-
lished ghettos in the historically Jewish lar cultural and societal traditions that had distinguished the
sections of these municipalities. Hundreds of these ghettos Jewish quarters of European cities for centuries. To the rest of
were constructed in Poland, Romania, and elsewhere through- the world, represented by a delegation from the International
out Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe, high-walled prison camps Red Cross who visited the camp in 1944, Theresienstadt was
that cut right across major city streets. Thousands of Jewish everything the Nazis proclaimed it to be: Jewish families liv-
men, women and children were deported to these places, cor- ing and praying together; a Jewish council of elders leading
doned off from the outside world and exposed to overcrowd- the town in total self-government, and even a flourishing
ing, contagion, abuse and outright murder at the hands of community of artists, musicians, and playwrights culled from
their Nazi wardens. the cream of European Jewry existing inside the walls.
Theresienstadt, a small garrison town in Czechoslovakia Nothing could have been more false. During the three-
left over from the Hapsburg Empire, was one such place. What and-a-half years Theresienstadt was in operation, it received
was once a fortified barracks for the grenadiers of Joseph I1 over 140,000Jews, who existed in a real working concentra-
became, under SS control, a place where Jews from Czecho- tion camp. Within two months of the camp’s inception, in

confusion of war, to assisting wraiths in locating long-lost
Fetters, to finding wandering victims and provide a guiding
center for their existence beyond the Shroud - in short, to
provide a place of salvation for the thousands of innocent
victims who still wander the broken roads of the dead.
The citadel Theresienstadt

heresienstadt sits in the middle of a softly
hillocked plain near the Ohre River in
Bohemia. The fields and trees along the
riverbanks stretching to the Middle-Bo-
hemian Hills, spotted with orchards and
vineyards, lend an uncharacteristically
idyllic backdrop to the camp itself.
Weather and time have discolored the surface of
Theresienstadt’s jagged, star-shaped ring of walls into a trun-
cated spectrum ranging from dark red to purple all along its
perimeter. Combined with the slate roofs of the barracks in-

side, the entire complex has the coloration of an old, deep
wound, marring the verdant landscape even on the brightest to defend both banks from attack. This squat, unassuming
of spring days. In the Shadowlands, the wound is real and
tangible, a gash in the earth leading straight to the whirling hundreds of Jews were imprisoned, tortured and summarily
chaos of the Tempest. The garishness of the colors is even executed by the SS for breaking the rules of the camp. In the
more pronounced here; in some places the walls appear to Shadowlands, the Small Fortress stands sleek and dangerous
smolder, in others to decay, and in others to bleed. - it is positioned over the opening to a Nihil that leads im-
The interior of the camp is laid out in a typical military measurably down to the heart of the storm. This Nihil is a
grid formation, all squares and angles, ostensibly to facilitate constant threat to the integrity of the Theresienstadt fortress,
the movement of troops inside the walls from one part of the for it is not unknown for Spectres to appear and attack the
fortress to another during an attack or siege. Gray and square walls or grab unprotected wraiths. Occasionally, the more
and unblinking in their solidness, barrack houses make up adventurous wraiths will set out to try and fight with Spectres
the vast majority of the buildings, taking up whole blocks in- who hover in the abyss, but such campaigns are seen to be
side the fortress. Built to house a total of 3,500 soldiers during only for the braver - or crazier - wraiths.
their garrison days, these buildings held an average of at least
30,000 Jews during the ghetto’s tenure, and at one point as
many as 50,000. They loom over the narrow streets of the
Shadowlands citadel, many of their sides marked with haunt-
ing murals drawn by a wraith known only as Butterfly.
In the center of the citadel stands a small square, bor-
dered by the dead trunks of trees that ringed its perimeter in At dawn on November 24, 1941, an activity all too fa-
life. The square fronts the camp’s small church with its tower- miliar in Nazi-occupied territories repeated itself, as 342 young
ing steeple and the military headquarters’ buildings, flanking men from Prague were herded into boxcars at the Masaryk
it. The Skinlands church, auspiciously named the Church of railway station in the city and taken away, never to be seen
the Resurrection, now serves as a backdrop for the assemblies again in the capital. Five hours later, the train and its human
of the population of Theresienstadt, who come to the square cargo arrived at the town of Bohusovice, where the men dis-
to voice their opinions and vote upon business that affects embarked and walked the couple of miles to the leering, solid
the entire Haunt. Behind the church stands the central hos- ramparts of an old garrison fortress. Surrounded by a wide
pital, where Dr. Richard Holvenbach and a small group of moat, its ancient battlements were ringed with very modem
nurses struggled against the epidemics of TB and cholera that soldiers and weapons. The transportees marched inside; the
rampaged through the camp during the war. In t h e gates closed behind them and gendarmes from the local Czech
Shadowlands, the hospital is a meeting place for the hun- police were posted outside the walls.
dreds of wraiths who fell victim to the diseases brought on by Thus began the operation of Theresienstadt, a chronicle
overcrowded, unsanitary conditions. They look to Dr. of infamy which would last until the end of the war. It was
Holvenbach as their spokesperson in the camp, and he takes originally created by Reinhard Heydrich, the head of the
the great responsibility of representing them seriously. Gestapo, for the elderly Jews of Europe: those over 65 years
To the east of the hospital is the Magdeburg Barracks, old and those who could not bear the strain imposed upon
which housed the Judenrat, or Jewish Council of Elders, dur- them by full resettlement in Poland. Heydrich‘s propaganda
ing the Nazi overseeing of the camp. It is now the seat of promoted the Theresienstadt camp in a favorable light, call-
leadership in the camp, headed by Solomon Eisenfeld. A ing it a “model ghetto” and billing it as a sort of “Jewishreser-
former member of the Council in life, Eisenfeld runs the camp vation.” With rumors of the horrible conditions in Polish
with a fair and caring hand. He seeks to make the dark for- camps freely circulating in the Jewish communities of central
tress a beacon of hope for the millions of victims of the Nazi Europe, the advance publicity about the Theresienstadt camp
war machine. No one knows more than he how difficult such began to assuage some of the fears that had spread through-
a task can be. out local Jewish populations.
Despite the best efforts of the wraith population of Jewish leaders sought active participation in the initial con.
Theresienstadt to cleanse this garrison of the hateful, fearful struction and organization of the ghetto. Siegfried Seidl, whom
memories attached to it, many reminders of the abominations the SS had appointed as camp commandant and leader of the
that transpired within the walls are flagrantly evident in the ghetto operation in the summer of 1941,ordered the local Prague
Land of the Dead. Outside the bleeding walls of Theresienstadt Jewish community to assemble a team of workers and techni

‘‘I~~
8
cians to prepare the fortress town for its transformation into the before the first group of executions, 1,000 persons were de,
“autonomous ghetto,” as it was touted by Nazi accounts. Over ported from the camp to Riga, in the Soviet Union. The
400people, mostly volunteer Jewish laborers with a small core of Judenrut was given the ignominious task, five days before, of
administrative types, were collected to ready the camp. They selecting the individuals to be deported, according to certain
expended a great deal of energy and enthusiasm in their work, guidelines from the SS. People, called by their prisoner codes,
and Seidl and his men played further on the promises of autonomy. assembled in an area behind the barracks, clutching bedrolls
He extended “privileges,” permitting the Jewish population its and small valises, waiting to be taken to the station at
own guard, technical and legal sections and finance department Bohusovice. From there they were loaded on trains and trans-
with its own type of currency. These bills showed a picture of ported to Riga. None was ever heard from again.
Moses bearing aloft the Tablets of the Law. This event immediately revealed the true nature of the
OnNovember 30 and December 2,1941, two more trans- ghetto, the very thing that these people had given up their lives
ports totalling 3,000 people came from Prague to the camp. to supposedly avoid. It was a collection point for the trains east-
These included the hand-picked Judenrat (the Council of El- ward. In irregular instances from January 1942 until the fall of
ders, the administrative Jewish body of the camp chosen by 1944, orders would come down instructing the numbers and cat-
Seidl), another 1,000 young volunteer laborers, and a great egories of people to be shipped east, to Chelmno, Sobibor,
many older Jews from Prague. All had signed “transfer of resi- Majdanek, Treblinka, and the main point of arrival, Auschwitz.
dence” agreements with the local Nazi constabulary -agree- At first, those inmates still in the ghetto were given meliorating
ments that forfeited all of their property to the Nazi resettle- postcards from relatives who were now in the “family camp” at
ment authorities for the purchase of a place in the Auschwiu. These postcards were written at gunpoint from fam-
Theresienstadt ghetto. The agreement was to guarantee them ily members who, by the time the postcards reached
food, clothing, shelter and medical care for life. Theresienstadt, were very likely no more than ash. Eventually,
even the specious postcards stopped coming, no longer able (or
The \eaIib worthwhile) to fool the prisoners of model camp.
It was soon evident to all of the residents of Theresienstadt

that what they had heard about and hoped for from the estab-
The conditions
lishment of this ghetto was nothing but a delusionary miasma. In the summer of 1942, the Nazis evacuated the entire
Almost daily, prohibitions on behavior and possessions were noneJewish population of Theresienstadt, just in time to make
handed down by the SS through the medium of the Council of room for a huge surge in transports of the elderly to the camp.
Elders. Men and women and children were segregated in sepa- As well as effectively closing off all contact with the outside
rate barracks and not allowed to fraternize with each other or the world, the flood of new transports soon filled Theresienstadt
small population of non-Jewishdenizens of the ghetto. All uni- with over 53,000 Jews; the fortress had been built to hold a
formed personnel had to be saluted. A strict curfew was imposed maximum of 8,000. The Hanover Barracks, whose capacity
upon all of the Jewish residents. No one was allowed to walk on was 1,900persons, housed 3,250 by the end of August. Dresden
the pavement of the little town, to smoke, to sing or whistle, to Barracks held 4,430 instead of its listed capacity of 3,500;
pick wild flowers, or to communicate with the outside world. Podmokly Barracks’ 700 spaces were filled by 1,851 inhabit-
Children were often not allowed out of their barracks at all, ex- ants. Czech law mandated a minimum amount of living space
cept for on Sunday, when they were marched two at a time un- for any one in an apartment building or similar large dwelling
der armed escortsto visit their mothers in the women’s barracks. of eight square yards per person. In Theresienstadt the pris-
Punishment for any transgression was swift and severe, oners averaged two.
consisting of beatings with a cane for small offenses (carried The effects of this virtual suffocation were immediately
out by one’s fellow prisoners), imprisonment in the Small realized. Streets became so crowded it was only possible to
Fortress for up to several months for larger offenses, or in the walk down them sideways. Thick, bacteria-laden dust cov-
case of attempted contact with outsiders, with hanging. On ered every surface. The barracks stank like a sewer, the pris-
January 10, 1942, nine prisoners were hanged for sending il- oners’ threadbare mattresses serving as nests to flies, lice and
legal messages outside the walls. Seven others were hanged bedbugs. Light in most barrack rooms was given off by a single
for the same crime less than a month later. weak bulb swinging from a naked wire in the ceiling. Stair-
These incidents, however, would not be the worst evil wells were ankle-deep in waste and trash; latrines overflowed
inflicted upon the Jewish prisoners. O n January 9th, the day with slime and human shit. To walk into one of the crowded

barracks was to be assaulted with a barrage ot horritying sen- torium, whereatter the majority ot the dead were consigned to the
sations: the sights of dimly lit, half-hallucinatory shapes of flames -a frighteningforeshadowing of what would await most of
men, women and children, scarred by whips and covered in the prisoners, much later, at the terminus of a train ride east.
lesions; the sounds of their moaning and shrieking, vain de- In spite of the deadly conditions and regular trainloads
fenses against their own internal nightmares; and the stench of deportations, there did exist a community of men and
of filth and disease, and starvation - the stale, cloying, un- women, scholars, writers, artists and thinkers who endeav-
mistakable smell of the human body undergoing the paradoxi- ored to create some semblance of a microcosmic culture in
cal parasitism of feeding upon itself. the very shadow of extinction. Original operettas and musi-
Rations were reduced in the camp because of the sudden in- cal compositions were written and performed in the small
flux of Jews; most of the slave laborers were given nine ounces of church courtyard in the center of the camp. Poetry readings
bread, two ounces of potatoes and a watery gruel each day. It was were held, and both the old and young alike drew and painted
even less for those too old or infirm to work. Pneumonia, TB, scar- sketches of ghetto life. Yet much of this activity was always
let fever, typhus, cholera, dysentery and cerebrospinal fever were tempered with the harshness of the inmates’plight, especially
some of the diseases that feasted upon the wretches in the barracks. in the paintings and poetry of the young children, and even
The death toll just inside the camp from disease and sickness rose in their daily games. One of the most popular was a grotesque
to 32 deaths per day in July 1942,75per day in August, and 131 in parody of Monopoly called “Ghetto” where the Go To Jail
September. When a member of the Judenrat reported these statis- square was replaced by a square called Schleuse (Deportation).
tics to Seidl, his response was, “The clock is going right.” Hundreds
of men were conscripted day after day to dig mass graves, wherein
they piled the corpses of their dead friends and loved ones. Their
The Embellishment
burden was lightened only by the completion of the camp’s crema- In the summer and fall of 1943, as the death camps oper-
ated at peak efficiency, the flow of prisoners through

Theresienstadt increased under new camp commandant A monumental change came over Theresienstadt.The cen-
Anton Burger. List numbers increased and exemptions tral square was resodded and planted with over twelve hundred
dwindled as Jews from the Netherlands and Denmark were rosebushes. A gazebo was erected, and concerts were performed
deported to Theresienstadt. When the lists of deportees were there twice an evening. The gymnasium was transformed into a
found to be short several dozen victims in the fall of 1943, Jewishprayer hall, and one of the hospitals became a library. The
Burger ordered a thorough count of the entire population of mess hall was beautified with linen tablecloths and floral center-
Theresienstadt. At 7:OO A.M. on November 11, 1943, the pieces and pretty waitresses, and in the windows of the butcher
entire Jewish population of Theresienstadt - 36,000 men, shop hung substantial sausages, canned meats and wursts. A
women and children -were marched out of the camp into a children’spavilion, replete with sandboxes, swing sets and giant
large meadow near Bohusovice and forced to stand in groups wooden animals was built -although the children would only
of 100 while the SS guards counted and counted them, and be allowed inside on the day of the Red Cross visit. The head of
then recounted them again. The Jews were forced to stand in the judenrat was provided with a chauffeur-drivenlimousine and
a freezing rain for nearly 16 hours as they were enumerated by his own apartments.
their jailers. Many of them thought that this was the end, The Jews in the ghetto were taken aback at the total re-
that they would all be packed onto trains that very day. Close versal of atmosphere. Mandatory saluting of SS men had
to 300 people died right on the field from exposure. ceased. Food rations increased, as did general space, although
During the winter of 1943, rumors about the extermina- this was mainly due to increased transports east -the popu-
tion camps in the east prompted many international organi- lation of the ghetto was 34,000 at the time, and to show the
zations to protest the treatment of Jewish prisoners in Nazi- world that Theresienstadt was a ghetto for the aged and privi-
run concentration camps. With the intent of mollifying in- leged, 3,000 young, healthy prisoners were sent to Auschwitz
ternational opinion, a delegation of the International Red to reduce the numbers and correct the age demographics.
Cross was allowed to make a visit to Theresienstadt in the Barrack space, however, did not increase. Since the delega-
summer of 1944, to see for themselves the full realization of tion was only going to be shown the ground floors, all barrack
the “model ghetto.” Anton Burger’s replacement, Karl Rahm, occupants were crammed even more tightly into the upper
immediately set out to turn Theresienstadt into what the Nazi floors of the housings while the show floors were repainted
and refurbished.
in
I

Many of the prisoners had previously witnessed Burger The population again swelled, to over 33,000 people in the
at work in Prague, where his reputation for cruelty and cold- spring of 1945.With the war definitely lost, the actions of the SS
ness was nearly unparalleled. Few were so naive as to believe wavered from one day to the next. Guards increased food allow-
that this “bliss and comfort” of Rahm and the SS would re- ances and spoke courteously to prisoners, afraid of their punish-
main after the Red Cross left; many were sure that conditions ment after the war. Karl Rahm, the commandant, took a differ-
would worsen egregiously after the official visit ended. Still, ent tack. Under orders to destroy all records, he ordered boxes
the Judenrat took advantage of the relaxed regulations to try upon boxes of prisoner cards and deportation lists burned, as well
and better the prisoners’ conditions. It was generally felt that as a huge pit dug outside the gates, large enough to hold the
the “embellishment,” although pointless, was a small respite bodies of over 10,000Jews. Workmen were dispatched to seal off
while it lasted. all doors and ventilation shafts leading underground. Plans were
It was to be one of the largest and boldest ruses of the made to gas the entire camp population.
Nazi regime. The International Red Cross delegation was Fortunately, this effort came too late. On May 11, 1945,
treated to a soccer game, rock gardens, professionallyrun bak- Theresienstadt and its population of 32,000 inmates was liber-
eries and butcheries and pharmacies, a restaurant, fire and ated by the Russian army. Between November 24,1941 and April
police services, a hospital, a theater and the children’s pavil- 20,1945, over 140,000Jews across Europe had been deported to
ion. The visit took six hours, and the IRC delegation fell for Theresienstadt. Ofthese, close to 87,000 had been deported to
the embellishment completely. Glowing reports were sent to the death camps; fewer than 3,000 of this number survived.Over
the IRC offices in Stockholm. A propaganda film, made by 33,000 people had died within the walls of disease, starvation,
the Nazi government in the wake of the Red Cross visit, beatings and executions, more than had died at Dachau in its 12
showed the world what the IRC delegation had seen: a com- years of operation. Perhaps the most repulsive statisticis the num-
munity of Jews living under the benevolent auspices of the ber of children who were deported to Theresienstadt, nearly
Third Reich. 15,000,and the number of those who survived -less than 100.
After the delegation had left, the pavilions and gazebos
were destroyed. The flowers and tablecloths disappeared, along
with the nourishing meals. Those who were part of the docu-
mentary film, as well as the entire membership of theJudemat The citadel oflleresienstadt in the Shadowlands is home
and nearly all the children, were deported to Auschwitz. to several hundred wraiths, bound together in a community
called the Ghetto Circle. When the citadel’s smoking, bleed-
The Final Days ing walls first appeared in the Shadowlands, the wraiths who
were first drawn to its edifice found themselves arrived at an
thousand Jews remained in ‘IXeresienstadt after unstable, menacing structure, its foundations charred, crum-
the widespread purges Of the Summer and Of 1944*The
bling and rank with rot. The streets of the little garrison were
ghetto was emptier than it ever had been, but it would not ripped up, and in many heavingfrom small eddies of
remain so for long. In the winter, transports continued to ar- Maelstrom; the ofbarracks and administration build.
rive, full of half-Jews from Germany and Austria. In the beings were wrecked and barely corporeal.
ginning of 1945, a completely different sort of transport
The first wraiths who arrived were, to put it in the mild-
reached Theresienstadt - from the east. Trains, trucks, and
est possible way, wary about venturing back inside the
forced marches brought thousands of prisoners from other
Shadowlands husk of the camp, their former prison and death
camps in the east, such as Buchenwald, Belsen and Dachau,
house. Spectres swarmed through the cramped avenues, and
to Theresienstadt. The concentration camps and death camps
hallucinations of friends and loved ones long dead palled the
were being evacuated, barely a half-step ahead of the Russian
atmosphere of these ironic homecoming. Panic set
army pressing westward.
deeply in the new arrivals’ minds; many wrestled with the
The sudden Of these people from the east - emad
idea fleeing the site and taking their chances in the Tempest.
ciared Persons F S S ’ Y infected with typhus, heavy fevers*and Some wanted to destroy the entire edifice, although how this
convulsions; nearly mad survivors of the death camps reduced was be accomplishedwas guess - the dead here
to gibbering shells of sentience horrified the prisoners of had even fewer than the living. N~~~ of the wraiths
Theresienstadt. The rumors of what was happening in the who found themselves staring Once again at the garrison’s
east, heard and half-believed by many, now solidified into a massive, forbidding iron gates and gangrenous walls ever
real, unforgiving truth with the arrival of these thousands of wished to cross its damning threshold again.
survivors.
I
I 8
It was partly a lack of anywhere else to go, partly out of bureaucracy under the provisions stated in the Covenant of
curiosity. But each and every wraith who did and does jour- the Millions.
ney to the haunt at Theresienstadt has come guided by a com- The present leader of the Ghetto Circle is Solomon
mon wish - to put right, for themselves and their fellows, Eisenfeld, a rabbi and member of the J d n m t during the camp’s
what was destroyed. In the beginning, the pilgrimage into the existence. Eisenfeld does not keep a structured cabinet, but
old fortress was simply a matter of survival. The Nihil that does consult with a group of informal advisors, many of whom
sits beneath the Small Fortress was much larger than it is to- have had the ear of Eisenfeld for so long that they comprise a
day, teeming with Spectres and other effluvia of the Tempest. de facta cabinet all by themselves. Eisenfeld meets frequently
The first group of wraiths to appear at Theresienstadt con- with this group of wraiths, who inform him of the wishes of
cerned themselves with simply beating back the abysmal their “constituents.” He also holds regular meetings with the
hordes and closing the Nihil as much as possible. It was a entire Circle, convening these gatherings in the central court-
long and dangerous fight; many were lost and much was de- yard of the camp. Here, decisions that affect the whole com-
stroyed. But as other souls made Theresienstadt the end of munity are discussed and put to vote, and news from the other
their journey, the wraiths’ numbers grew and the Nihil was free camps or Stygia is disseminated as well. Once a month,
effectively beaten down to its present dimensions. Solomon Eisenfeld journeys outside the walls to receive a lone
The wraiths founded a Circle within the walls, drawing delegate from Stygia, whose job it is to maintain the relation-
up a community and a charter. Many of them had wandered ship between Theresienstadt and Stygia as outlined in the
for a long while before finding Theresienstadt, and had picked Covenant. The two remain outside the fortress while they do
up various talents from people and groups on the fringes of their business, the representative leaves as quietly as he came,
Stygian society: some had been taught a few impromptu Guild and Eisenfeld returns to the camp. It is an occasion that leaves
talents, some had picked up other skills on their own. It was many members of the Circle with a feeling of uneasiness -
agreed by all that the wraiths who formed this community, Eisenfeld included.
called the Ghetto Circle, would individually and collectively Different groups exist within the Circle, delineated ac-
utilize their talents, their energies and their Pathos toward cording to their duties and wishes. The most sizable group of
reconstructing the families, the communities and the memo, wraiths is concerned with the Circle’s program of Redemp-
ries of all those who had passed through the gates of tion - tracking down those wraiths whose death within the
Theresienstadt in life. camp was so violent that they crossed the Shroud as
Such a pledge often proves formidable. Though solid Mortwrights. The wraiths involved with Redemptions con-
enough, the walls of Theresienstadt are not free from fading stantly seek the key to tapping into the Psyche of the
away to nothing: the surroundingpopulation of the Skinlands Mortwight and initiating the process of a Redemption, in or-
garrison rarely journeys to this genocidal reminder. der to cut the chain which binds the Mortwight to Oblivion
Theresienstadt is remembered in memorials and exhibits in and return him to something more like his former self. The
other regions of the Skinlands, to be sure, but these instances Redemption programs are overseen by Richard Holvenbach,
of remembrance are far distanced from the actual site of the a camp doctor in the wartime ghetto. Holvenbach has en-
horrors. Tapping into the emotional energy of the Quick to listed a great deal of help in his efforts, much of which comes
strengthen the integrity of the Haunt, therefore, requires an from his former patients.
enormous amount of effort and Pathos on the part of the whole Other groups, although nowhere near as large, also help
wraith community. comprise the Circle. The artists and musicians make up their
Most of the trappings of the Ghetto Circle bear little re- own sect, as do many of the laborers. There is also a small
semblance to the workings of the ghetto during the war. In group of wraiths, no more than a dozen in number, who do
fact, much of the meticulous organization of Nazi regulations not consider themselves to be part of the Circle group but
is, understandably, absent in the structure of the Circle. The who are still members of the camp’s society. They are the del-
government of the citadel (which is essentially equivalent to egates from the Red Cross visit, who have in Theresienstadt a
the hierarchy of the Circle itself) is rather loose. strong Fetter and a source of guilt for their roles as foots dur-
Theresienstadt is presided over by a wraith picked by the ening the war. Many of them have come to the Circle asking for
tire Circle. He or she is vested with the leadership of the Circle forgivenessfrom the wraiths there, or time to walk the streets
as well as the responsibility of communication with the out- and come to terms with their guilt. Eisenfeld has welcomed
side world, with other free haunts as well as with the Stygian them inside, but many in the Ghetto Circle have not; despite

Eisenfeld’s assurances of support, some of the delegates are as
much pariahs than penitents. 4
“Butterfly”
Her real name, some think, was Rachel, but no one in
Theresienstadt knew the young Jewish artist as anything but
A
“Butterfly.” She was born in Berlin in the spring of 1915, the
inevitable product of a young army lieutenant’s farewell to his
secret sweetheart before he was sent to the blood-red Belgian7
poppy fields. Her father’s family, born from proud Prussian stock,
soon found out about their son’s extracurriculars with Butterfly’s
mother, and were duly scandalized,more because of her mother’s
lower-class station than her Jewish background. The pressure of
the family was too much for Butterfly’s mother, who succumbed
to their wishes and surrendered her first-born to the local or-
phanage, the only home Butterfly would ever know. By the time
Butterfly was a teenager, the Depression had hit Europe, and the
orphanage was soon forced to close its doors. At the age of 16,
Butterfly found herself turned out onto the street.
Wandering the alleys of Berlin, desperate to find someplace
safe, Butterfly soon joined a commune of street artists -young 7
people like herself -who drew and sketched and played music
in the city’s plazas for a few precious pfennigs to make it to the
next day. Butterfly could draw, and she quickly became one o r
the more successful sidewalk artists, sketchingpleasant scenes in II
bright chalks on the pavements of Berlin even as the daily duress
of the city unfolded around her. She drew these scenes as well,
alone at night: dank sketches of haggard bread lines, wild-eyed
students, and the thuggery of the new National Socialist Party’s
“Brown Shirts.” A tense, gloomy atmosphere was echoed in her
haunting, fearful night drawings.
As the country fell further under the spell of the Nazis, people
like those in Butterfly’s commune quickly became endangered.
They went further and further underground, as escalating ten-
sions and Gestapo brutality made street life for such %on-Ary-
ans” a terrifying prospect. The war came, and the purges increased,
and soon Butterfly was picked up and crowded into a dank, dirty
boxcar. She was sent to Theresienstadt in the fall of 1942. From
her moment of arrival, this young Jewishwoman was not fooled
by the trumped-uppropaganda of the “modelghetto”- she knew
well that this was where she very well might die. Butterfly inter-
acted little with the other women in her barracks, and less so
with the men. She preferred to spend time with the children in
the ghetto, when they were allowed time in the women’s bar-
racks to visit their mothers. She would often tell them stories, or
sing to them, or draw pictures of the surrounding countryside for
them, fillingher sketches with brightly colored butterflies.Hence
her nickname, given to her by the children.

Butterfly was one of the many artists who was co-opted Skinlands countryside, other times she depicts Bosch-style
to work in the Zeichenstube, the drafting room set up by the representations of the tortures of the camp or the internal
Nazis where prisoners reproduced idyllic works of art or scenes struggle between her and her Shadow. Butterfly can be seen
from the fictional “life” of the ghetto. She still did her secret working endlessly at her sketches, but since she speaks only
drawings, darker and truer than ever, hiding them from the to a very few, the meanings of her eternal scratchings are of-
SS guards. This secret life lasted until the beginning of 1944, ten lost. Many wonder if she has the strength to keep her
when the preparations for the “embellishment” were under- Shadow in check for any real length of time, or if this
way. During a random search of the barracks, soldiers uncov- Butterfly’swings will unleash a storm straight from the mouth
ered Butterfly’s real drawings. She was immediately arrested of the Void.
and taken to the Small Fortress, where her jailer looked at Nature: Visionary
the young woman and offered leniency in exchange for sexual Demeanor: Loner
favors. She refused, whereupon the brute decided simply to Circle: The Ghetto Circle
take what he wanted by force. She again refused his advances,
Physical: Strength 2, Dexterity 3, Stamina 3
and he savagely beat her, cracking a few ribs and several bones
in her face, and finishing by stomping on her drawing hand Social: Charisma 2, Manipulation 3, Appearance 3
until it was crushed to a bloody mess. No longer attracted to Mental: Perception 4,Intelligence 3, Wits 3
the broken thing lying at his feet, the guard pulled out his Talents: Alertness 3, Artistic Expression 4, Awareness 4,
Mauser and shot her in the head. Empathy 3 , Streetwise 2
Butterfly has been roaming the roads of the Skills: Meditation 5, Performance 2, Stealth 2
Theresienstadt Haunt practically since its inception; in fact, Knowledges: Area Knowledge 3, Astrology 2, Lore 3
no one in the Circle can ever remember her not being there. Backgrounds: Allies 1, Eidolon 3, Haunts 1, Notoriety 2, Status 1
She has a singular communion with the crumbling structure Passions: Convince the Circle to believe what she can de-
of the Haunt, and is so attuned to the flood of raw emotions tect from the power within the camp (Acceptance) 4, Hone
in the area that she can literally feel the battle between the her art to the point where her images inspire emotions ben-
wraiths in the Circle and the forces of Oblivion. Her draw- eficial to other wraiths (Hope) 4, Search for some of the chil-
ings cover the full spectrum of heightened emotions she ex- dren whom she used to watch over in life (Devotion) 3
periences. Sometimes she draws buccolic scenes of the Arcanoi: Castigate 2, Fatalism 4, Keening 2, Lifeweb 2, Pan-
demonium 1
Fetterct T h e ramn (p-=ciallythe Small Fortress) 5, Sketch-
,eudian Slip, Shadow Call, Trick of
nce Butterfly that no one cares about

forces of the camp and make her feel
irace Oblivion (Fear) 3, Annihilate
I wraith in whom Butterfly confides
y into thinking that the Circle would
g herself to Oblivion (Deception) 4
)ears to be in her late 20s, with curly
in eyes. She has a thin, fragile body,
hand looks to have been Moliated
:k. This is the instrument she uses to
1s of Theresienstadt with her unmis.

takable work. She moves quickly and silently throughout the
citadel, dressed in flowing muted garments. A look of fero-
cious vision is always ensconced upon her young face; only
Dahlcek claims to have ever seen her smile.
Roleplaying Notes: You are consumed by the forces rag-
ing within the walls of the fortress. The Haunt seems to speak
to you, and you try to express its thoughts, however inad-
equately, in your murals. You tend to shun most contact with
your fellow wraiths, but are occasionally able to confide in a
few people. Your most recent confidant is a carpenter named
Aaron Dahlcek, one of the earliest to have been sent to
Theresienstadt. This place has given you a special insight into
the true conflict between hope and Oblivion being waged,
and it is an insight not widely comprehensible to your fellow
Circle wraiths, not even Dahlcek.
Solomon EisenfeId
The question of what happens when God’s teachings and
man’s reality collide was always on the mind of Solomon Eisenfeld.
A rabbi in a modest part of the Jewishsectionof Prague, Solomon
Eisenfeld’s sermons were so original and thought-provokingthey
attracted listeners from all parts of the capital to the steps of his
tiny synagogue. Eisenfeld received them all, listened intently to
their questions,and tried to give the best counsel he could to any
who crossed his shul’s threshold. As the decade of the 1930sdrew
to a close, more and more people, tense because of the encroach-
ing Nazi regime, came to see him, They came asking him to help responsibilities spelled out: the selection of groups of Jewish in-
their spirits in the face of the storm many could sense coming; mates to be shipped to the east - and to death. For almost two
they came asking for guidance. Moved by compassion and obli- years, Solomon Eisenfeld sat on the Transport Committee,hearing
gation, he obliged as best as he could. the tearful pleas of thousands upon thousands of prisoners. Many of
While many were silent, Eisenfeld spoke out from his them had sought his counsel back in the little synagogue in Prague.
pulpit against the Nazis’ treatment of Jews in Germany. He Now they were overcome with hysteria as they begged him not to
acquired a few silent supporters, but more vocal enemies - be put on the next train. He could do nothing but sit in chilled
Jew and non-Jew alike - who tried to keep this local silence as whole families ranted and raved and cried and collapsed
soapboxer from stirring up trouble. After the events of with exhaustion in search of just 24 more hours together.
Kristallnacht, Eisenfeld’s own synagogue was broken into and Eisenfeld fought hard for every case that came before the com-
vandalized, his listeners were bullied away from attending to mittee, as vocally as he had opposed the Nazis all those years ago in
hear him, and his own life was threatened. This only made Prague, but the trains had to be filled. He knew as much, and loathed
Eisenfeld more determined. himself for it. Every pair of eyes that locked upon him as he filtered
The dangerous dance went on for nearly two years after through the cramped streets were full of terror or contempt. No
the Germans rolled into Czechoslovakia,until the local Nazi one envied him. No one sympathii with him. In this fortresswhere
government finally had enough of Eisenfeld’s presence. He people slept six and seven to a bed, Solomon Eisenfeld was com-
was arrested late in 1941 and deported almost immediately. pletely, utterly alone, sure he had been abandoned by both man
His destination was Theresienstadt. and God alike. In the summer of 1944, when the Nazis were plan-
ning the “show camp” for the visit by the Red Cross, a cruel twist of
Upon the opening of the newly created camp, Solomon
fate befell Solomon Eisenfeld. Somehow, his name came up on one
Eisenfeld was hand-picked for a seat on theludenrut.He was placed
of the lists for the train east. At dawn the next morning, the rabbi
on the Transport Committee, a position of no more discernible func-
tion than simply another vote on the council, until the beginning boarded an already overcrowded train, shunned, drained, and bro-
ken by the Nazi war machine. He did not survive the afternoon.
of 1942.Only then was the true nature of the Transport Committee’s
I I

Richard Holvenbach's entire world was shattered in the took one of the delegates aside and told him of the crimes
summer of 1942, when he was transferred to fill a need for being committed. Alas, his pleas fell on deaf ears.
camp doctor at Theresienstadt. His new assignment was the Realizing that no help would come from the outside, Dr.
care and treatment of over one hundred SS guards and close Richard Holvenbach redoubled his own efforts against the
to 30,000 imprisoned Jews. The conditions in the camp filled foulness of the ghetto. The struggle lasted until the end of
him with revulsion: human beings suffering malnourishment, 1944, when he himself finally succumbed to the cholera
overcrowding, and being forced to sleep in their own waste, against which he had so fiercely battled.
while the comfortable, brutish SSmen beat, shot and deported Holvenbach's wraith came to Theresienstadt determined to
hundreds of people at a time without the slightest twinge of try and save those persons in death whom he could not save in
regret. Holvenbach was charged with keeping the inmates just life. Accepted by the primarily Jewish residents of the camp in
barely healthy enough to break their backs at slave labor or recognition of his good works when alive, the doctor is a power-
to be ushered onto the transport trains, and the guards in tip- ful voice in the Ghetto Circle, speaking for those who perished
top, Aryan condition to continue their ritual abuse. It shamed from the conditions inside the barracks (whom he calls his "pa-
him to learn what his country had become, to see what his tients"). Holvenbach is also a central figure in the camp's Re-
fellow human beings were doing to one another. demption program, toiling diligently in death to return those
Along with a few dedicated nurses, Dr. Holvenbach pathetic souls who have become Spectresback to their true selves.
worked feverishly to stem the rising tides of disease and death Nature: Caregiver
that were swamping Theresienstadt. Disease knew no theory Demeanor: Driven
of master races, as both jailer and jailed succumbed to epi-
Circle: The Ghetto Circle
demics of cholera and TB that periodically ravaged the popu-
lation. When Holvenbach was admonished by the SS for not
giving primary attention to the guards, he began to hoard sup- Social: Charisma 3, Manipulation 2, Appearance 4
plies of penicillin and other medicines for his Jewish patients. Mental: Perception 3, Intelligence 4, Wits 3
This dangerous practice increased the strain on the doctor, Talents: Alertness 2, Awareness 3, Expression 2, Interroga-
even as he tried to bring word to the outside world of the tion 2, Intimidation 3
conditions in the camp. When an International Red Cross Skills: Etiquette 2, Hypnotism 2, Leadership 2
delegation arrived on a fact-finding visit in 1944, Holvenbach Knowledges: Area Knowledge 2, Law 1,Linguistics 1, Medi-
cine 5 , Poisons 3, Psychology 2, Science 4
Backgrounds: Allies 1, Eidolon 2, Memoriam 1,Notoriety 2,
Status 4
Passions: Help Mortwrights achieve Redemption (Love) 4,
Represent his constituency of "patients" (Duty) 3
Arcanoi: Castigate 4, Flux 2, Mnemosynis 2, Phantasm 1, Pup-

His bright blue eyes remain fixed in a mask of determination
that barely hides a feeling of desperation with is situation. De-
spite his size, Holvenbach is a precise man, gentle with his “pa-
tients” and others. This has made him an invaluable asset in the
Redemption programs undertaken by the Circle.
Roleplaying Notes: Apart from Eisenfeld, you are prob-
ably the most powerful wraith in the Circle, and this fact is
not lost upon you or your group of “patients.” Because you
control the most powerful voting block in the camp, you can
sometimes be suspicious of Eisenfeld’s motives, as his exclu-
sive contact with Stygia makes you wonder exactly what he is
up to. Although you are mostly a gentle person, and dedi-
cated to your work within the Circle, the Redemption pro-
gram can seem futile at times. It is at these times that your
Shadow’s whispers of doubt creep in.
jean-Claude leclercq
Diplomats are practiced in the delicate art of compro-
mise, and Jean-Claude LeClercq was no exception. A former
banker with Zurich Internationale, LeClercq was appointed
to a diplomatic post with the Swiss government in 1937. His
first major assignment was as part of the delegation to the
Evian Conference in 1938,where the delegates in attendance
debated and eventually refused to make special allowances
for Jews fleeing the Nazi regime. Like most present, LeClercq
had heard rumors of abuse by the Nazi government, but re-
mained noncommittal when it came to action.
LeClercq arrived at the ghetto camp with the rest of the del-
In a few years, LeClercq found himself in Geneva, a city egation in late June 1944, unable to guess at what he might see
where the intelligence channels of both Axis and Allied coun-
there. Nothing he had imagined, however, had prepared him for
tries frequently came together. It was a city where informa-
tion was fieelv available to anvone who cared to listen. Now , .. . e,- . . 4 . .* ..
this. The dwellingsand streets were clean and well-kept.The mess
. .. 4 ,

izations that came to mind on a given day -anything to avoid Permanent Corpus: 7
opening his eyes and looking at the violent picture before him. Shadow: The Rationalist
When the war ended and its legacy came to the fore, LeClercq’s Angst: 6
self-delusion gave way to self-hatred. Furious at his cowardice Thorns: Aura of Corruption, Infamy
before the war and driven to madness by his remorse, he drank
Shadow Passions: Find and then lead the ghosts of SS to the
himself to death in the winter of 1947.
camp (Treachery) 3 , Discredit Holvenbach as payback for his
Jean-Claude LeClercq came to the blackened husk of distrust of you (Revenge) 3, Lead Spectres from the Nihil into
Theresienstadt a virulently hated man, nearly refused entrance the camp (Hate) 3
and initially forced into isolation. Dr. Holvenbach has not for-
Image: Jean-Claude LeClercq is short, about five-seven,
given LeClercq for his cravenness in life, and has influenced the
with sallow features and hollow eyes. He looks as if all the
opinions of many of his “patients”against the IRC delegate. The
trust has drained out of him. He is jaded and cynical from his
former banker has dwelt in the shadows of this reminder of his
experiences in life, and neither the Shadowlands nor the hos-
own mortal failings,but with one solitary goal keeping him from
tility of certain wraiths has done much to ameliorate that.
Oblivion: to obtain the courage he lacked in life by achieving
LeClercq spends a great deal of time aimlessly roaming the
forgiveness from those whose plight he ignored.
ramparts of the camp, often staring for long periods into the
Over time, LeClercq has found some degree of tolerance, sulfurous clouds bubbling up from the Nihil that marks the
if not acceptance, from the wraiths in Theresienstadt. Small Fortress outside the walls.
Solomon Eisenfeld has been instrumental in allowing
LeClercq is enigmatic to the point of evasiveness. This
LeClercq to remain within the camp (and some whisper that
makes it hard enough for others to simply talk to him about
the two collaborators belong together). The rest of the camp,
mundane matters, let alone poke through his barriers of self-
however, is divided over the issue of the Red Cross wraiths
loathing with genuine offers of help.
who kept quiet about this hell among the living. Though
Eisenfeld may make efforts to accept (and even forgive) Roleplaying Notes: Consumed with guilt, you are usu-
wraiths such as Jean-Claude LeClercq, old emotions still ally given to moodiness. This can be off-putting to those who
bubble to the surface time and again, especially over matters genuinely want to help you. Occasionally you emerge from
like the insult of the Red Cross visit. your shell with offers of assistance, attempting to achieve some
sort of personal and worthwhile redemption, but these mo-
Nature: Conformist
ments are infrequent -the contempt you receive from people
Demeanor: Curmudgeon like Dr. Holvenbach is a physical force beating at you, and
Circle: The Ghetto Circle the position he holds within the camp can at times make the
Physical: Strength 3 , Dexterity 2, Stamina 2 Nihil seem a better (and more appropriate) option for you.
Social: Charisma 2, Manipulation 2, Appearance 2
Mental: Perception 3, Intelligence 3, Wits 2 Aaron Dahlcek
Talents: Awareness 2, Diplomacy 4, Empathy 1, Expression
Aaron Dahlcek was one of the very first to be sent to
2, Intrigue 3, Style 2
Theresienstadt, part of the group of over 300 laborers who came
Skills: Etiquette 3, Leadership 1, Misdirection 2, Stealth 2 to erect the facilities of the ghetto camp. Dahlcek had been a
Knowledges: Bureaucracy 2, Investigation 2, Linguistics 3 , carpenter in Prague, a large, strong young man with a particular
Politics 4 genius for working with his hands,and he had fallen under the
Backgrounds: Contacts 2, Eidolon 1, Status 1 hypnotic spell of the “modelghetto” propaganda. He volunteered
Passions: Gain acceptance from the Circle, especially from to go and prepare the camp in the late fall of 1941. For a week
Holvenbach (Desire for Respect) 4, Find the SS men who after arrival he and his fellow laborers were busy gutting and re-
fooled him and his colleagues and get even (Revenge) 4, Look building the old barrack houses, the garrison hospital, the mess
out for his fellow IRC 1Gaiths and help them to deal with halls and shower buildings. After a week, the first transport of
their personal demons (’Fraternal Devotion) 3 women, children and the aged arrived to take up residence in
Arcanoi: Argos 1, Fatalism 2, Intimation 1, Usury 3 these rebuilt structures, their new housings. The arrival of more
Fetters: The camp 5 , Rc2d Cross offices at Geneva 3 SS guards and Czech police soon after confirmed for Aaron the
Willpower: 7 truth of the other, darker rumors he had heard fluttering around
the streets of Prague: Theresienstadt was a Jewish prison. And
Pathos: 6
like any prison, it had no way out.

that conditions might improve after the Red Cross came, but
when the delegation of outsiders left, Aaron Dahlcek was set to
undoing all that he had done. He had worked to build nothing
but a sideshow for the SS to fool the outsiders.Thoughts of Lidice
came back to haunt him, and he realized that he had to get out.
Two weeks after the delegation left, while working with another
detail in the forestsoutside the camp, Aaron Dahlcek attempted
his escape. He tore through the thick woods barely ahead of his
SS pursuers and their Dobermans, and was finally run down by
the soldiers. Taken back to the camp, he was executed by firing
squad outside the Usti barracks at dawn the next day.
Aaron Dahlcek has never felt totally comfortable with the
ghostly community existing in Theresienstadt. Every crumbling
structure in the camp mocks his work in life, stabs at his guilt,
and reminds him that it was his own hands that helped to create
this place. He has found sympathy and support from an unlikely
source, the young woman called Butterfly, and has developed
(very private) feelings of affection toward her. However, her sym-
biosis with the emotional pool of the camp is lost on him.
Nature: Loner
Demeanor: Traditionalist
Circle: The Ghetto Circle
Physical: Strength 4,Dexterity 4,Stamina 4
Mental: Perception 2, Intelligence 3, Wits 2
Talents: Athletics 2, Brawl 2, Dodge 2, Scrounge 3
Skills: Crafts 5, Drive 2, Empathy 1, Melee 1, Repair 3
Knowledges: Area Knowledge 2, Occult 1, Science 1
Backgrounds: Allies 1,Contacts 1,Eidolon 2, Haunts 2, Men-
tor 1, Notoriety 1
Passions: Protect Butterfly (Love) 4,Assist Holvenbach in
the Redemption program (Hope) 3
They were herded out of the truck to a scene of bumed-out build- Arcanoi: Flux 4,Inhabit 2, Moliate 2
ings, tom-up streets, and crushed and broken human bodies. For Fetters: The camp 5, Tool kit 3, Lidice 3
the next 36 hours, without food or rest, Dahlcek and the others Willpower: 8
buried the families of the little community in mass graves. The Pathos: 8
workers broke and burned down anything left standing and effec-
Permanent Corpus: 7
tively erased the hamlet from the earth.The men were then herded
Shadow: The Perfectionist
back into the trucks and driven back to the camp, under orders
not to speak of this to anyone under pain of death. Angst: 6
Though he kept silent, Aaron Dahlcek could not erase the Thorns: Shadow Call, Pact of Doom, Tainted Touch
memory of what he had been forced to do. In the spring of 1944, Shadow Passions: Abandon Butterfly (Hate) 4,Convince
Dahlcek was part of what was left of the disease.scarred labor Dahlcek that his labors made everything here his fault, and
force that was ordered to prepare Theresienstadt for a visit by a goad him into accepting Oblivion (Fear) 3
committee from the Red Cross. Aaron Dahlcek constructed out- Image: Dahlcek looks 30, a simple man with black hair and
door gazebos, planted flowers in public squares, and in short re- eyes and a strong face sitting atop a burly frame. Like Dr.
built Theresienstadt again. He had the faintest ember of hope Holvenbach, Aaron is measured and patient in his movements de-

spite his strong frame, befitting one who was a carpenter. Despite they work to uncover the truth of why the experimentfailed. Mat-
his awkwardness with the Circle, he always gives his full attention ters are further complicated by the arrival of the wraiths of the
and concentration to the words of his fellow wraiths. Furthemore, Mortwight’s family. How will they react to the news of what their
he delivers on his promises -he knows no other way of behaving. loved one had become -and the fact that he has been destroyed?
Roleplaying Notes: You are wary of people such as Eisenfeld A troubled Eisenfeld approaches the characterssecretly and
and Holvenbach, who can appear more concerned with sniping at makes them aware of his suspicions that there exists a mole within
each other than workig toward the betterment of the camp. You the Ghetto Circle, someone who is in contact with a clandestine
have always been an honorable man, and the fact that you were, group of wraiths who are former SS men. The characters must
however unwillingly, part of such deceptions as the eradication of attempt to discover the identity of the double agent before he or
Lidice and the erection of the “show camp” scars you. The fact that she can damage the integrity of the citadel. however, Eisenfeld
much of what you built in lifehas crossed over in death precludes any himself is in no position to support the Circle, as the suspicion
arroganceon your part, even if you were the sort given to such postur- about his dealings with the Stygian liason have come under fire.
ing. It is probably what caught the attentionof Butterfly,and why the Butterfly and Dahlcek have grown very worried about
two of you have become friends. Stay focused withii yourself and LeClercq, who seems even moodier than usual after another con-
your own code of behavior, for the fear of lasing Butterfly becawof frontation with Dr. Holvenbach. Looking to talk with him, they
deviousness or politicizing is too painful for you to contemplate. discover that he has left Theresienstadt and taken a few of his
. a
former Red Cross fellows with him. They ask the characters to
Story Ideas
1
accompany them outside the walls to locate LeClercq and his party
before they do something foolish or self-destructiveand convince
Dr.Holvenbach‘s “patients”have captured a Mortwight and them to return to the Circle. If they do manage to persuade them,
ask the characters to assist them in enacting a Redemption upon there is also the matter of dealingwith the very vocal Holvenbach,
the bound Spectre. In the middle of the process, however, some- who wants LeClercq gone by any means necessary. Can the char-
thing goes wrong and the creature is destroyed. The characters’ acters tread the line between compassion and justice, or must they
suspicions are aroused, even more so when Holvenbach accuses choose one or the other?And what will LeClercq’s Shadow, poi-
them of sabotage. The characters must clear their own names as soned by self-hatred,have to say on the matter?
Plan of the Theresienstadt Ghetto within the Inner Ramparts.

I

by [obert Hatch
Die! For my mother, for my father, for my children, for our

life! I am aiming at you! Oh God, please let the shot hit its target!
- diary of Noemi Szac-Wainkranc, a Ghetto fighter
here is a picture with which the reader is, created inferno known as the Warsaw Ghetto. And while the
perhaps, familiar: a small boy, hands up and boy in the photo survived the Nazi juggernaut, all too many
eyes wild with terror, staring wildly ahead of his schoolmates, friends, teachers and relatives did not.
as Nazi soldiers train their rifles on him. Some of those less fortunateresidents still haunt the area into
This picture, like many of World War which the Nazis crammed them like rats. For the Restless denizens
11’s less savory photographs, depicts the of the Warsaw Ghetto, the motto “Never again” is a slogan that
denizens of, and daily life in, that Nazi- they will hurl defiantly - even into the maw of Oblivion itself.

Even the basic necessities of life eventually became ver-
boten. In Nazi-occupied Poland, not all bread cards were hon-
ored equally: While Aryan Poles received a ration of 2,500
calories per day (no banquet, but adequate for existence),
You are going into battle against the dregs of humanity.. . the ’ s were forced to make do with 184. (BYway of
W a ~ ~ wJews
Jew-BoLhevists,.. you mmt be re[entless in exterminating this illustrating just how scanty this ration is, the author is eating
a Snickers bar and drinking a Mountain Dew while writing
-~~~~~~l jiirgen stroop,
to his during the war- this passage, and he cannot help but notice that this snack‘s
saw Ghetto Revolt calorie content is approximately double that of a Warsaw Jew’s
daily ration during the occupation.)
Obviously, this meager fare had to be supplemented to
avoid starvation. And indeed, a booming black market sprang
n September 1, 1939, the Nazi Fall weiss up in Warsaw’s underground. Wealthy Jews and those in ser-
blitzkrieg Cut a ~ a t of h carnage through vice to the Gestapo could often obtain comfortable rations
the Polish CountVside. The gallant pol- and goods. Their poorer counterparts were forced to squabble
ish troops - with their horses and their for bread in the streets, eat the bark from trees or, all too of-
d e r s - f ~ ~ tnh m d ~ e l v e shopelessly ten, starve to death. The sight of emaciated bodies lying in
against the l’anzers of the the gutter, often stripped naked by people desperately seek-
W ~ h t - m a c h tand t h e Stukas of the ing clothes for barter or warmth, became a common one in
Luftwaffe. By September 17, Soviet troops rolled in from the Warsaw’s Jewish areas.
east, and Poland was as good as conquered. With all of these things verboten, it was inevitable that
Poland’s capital city, Warsaw, was not so easily bested- some Jews would deliberately or inadvertently violate the
The city held O u t until September 27. The citizens’ defense Nazis’ rules. The Nazis responded to these transgressions with
was urged on by Warsaw’s courageous mayor, Stefan StarzPski, punishments inconceivable from a people deeming themselves
who broadcast antieNazi speeches from a mobile transmitter civilized. Jews were beaten or forced to perform such humili-
-at least until he was captured and hurled into a concentra- ating spectacles as cleaning the Streets with their tongues -
tion camp. There Starzynski was brutally tortured and finally and these “tranSgreSSOrS” were the lucky ones. Others were
taken to Warsaw’s Pawiak Prison and mowed down by firing
And so Warsaw, cultural center for three million Jews squad, or simply shot like dogs in the streets.
and home to over one-tenth that number, found itself firmly Worse yet was the policy of collective responsibility.
in the grip ofthe Nazi fist. Gestapo swaggered down the an- When Jakub Pinchus Zylbring, a petty thief, shot a Polish
cient cobblestone lanes, citizens were forced to register for policemen, all of the residents of his flat were shot in retalia-
bread cards, and everywhere sprouted the signs saying VER- tion.
BOTEN - “forbidden.” But the Nazis had better things to do than oversee the
Warsaw’s 3OO,OOO -Soon to be 5OO,OOO -Jews shortly conduct of this subhuman Jewish scum, and so they appointed
discovered that as far as they were concerned, very little was a council of Jews to govern their brethren. This council, the
not verboten. In D ~ w I I1939’ ~ ~ the
~ Nazis required all Jews Judenrat, was a group of 24 men chosen largely for their pas-
Over the age of 12 to wear mnbands -but not “too high” Or sivity and servility to the Gestapo; its Obmann (elder), Adam
“to0 low,” lest the wearer receive a beating. AS the invading Czerniakow, was a former engineer with absolutely no stand-
regime tightened its hold, the list of things that were made ing in the Jewish community prior to his appointment.
verboten lengthened exponentially. Education was verboten to Ostensibly created to govern Warsaw’s Jews, the Judenrat
Jews (illegal home schools were still operated by courageous proved to be a mere tool to facilitate their brutalization. Us-
educators, who were often shot for their Pains). One Profes- ing theJ&nrat as the thinnest ofblinds, the Gestapo and ss
sion after another became verboten: publishing, law, medicine. were able to register the jews in preparation for their
Business ownership was verboten - Jews were forced to sell eventual deportation to the ghetto - and from there to the
their assets to Nazi profiteers at bargain rates or simply stripped death camps. ne j d n r a t also enrolled people for periods of
of them outright. Ritual slaughter of livestock became ver- forced labor, althougheven in this regard it was hopelessly
boten, rendering kosher meat virtually impossible to obtain. comprom~sedby wealthyjews, who bribed their way of
their shifts at the expense of their poorer brethren.

The worst incident, perhaps, was the clearing of the hos-
The WaII qises pital. The Nazis insisted that the patients of Warsaw’s Jewish
During the year 1940, Warsaw’s citizens, Aryan and Jew hospital, even the critically ill, be transported to the squalid
alike, apprehensively watched the construction of a great red Ghetto hospital across town; however, they refused to pro-
brick wall that enclosed an entire neighborhood. This wall crept vide ambulances for the move. Doctors were forced to watch
forward implacably, shutting off a section of the city. The citi- helplessly as patients suffered and died in transit. The worst
zens of Warsaw, particularly the Jews, could not help but notice was yet to come, however: Once the ghetto hospital was
that the neighborhood thus surrounded was one of the poorest reached, so inadequate were the facilities it contained that
and most squalid areas, and one into which many Jews had al- the living often had to share beds with the dead.
ready been forced; the Nazis tried to quell the rumors of a ghetto And so November dawned, and the long-dreaded Ghetto
by saying that they planned to use the neighborhood and its had become reality. 500,000 people -30%of the city’s popu-
barbed-wire-coveredwall for training urban commandos. lation -had been crammed into approximately 2.5% of the
This lie was not one of the Nazis’ better ones. Few were city’s area.
surprised when on October 3rd of that year - Rosh Hashanah
- the Nazis finally made the longanticipated announcement:
All Jews must be in the ghetto by October 31 or face deporta-
The hidden horror
tion. Statistics of America’s unfortunate pastime of automo-
tive shootings have revealed an interesting phenomenon: A
And so October of 1940 hosted a bizarre flurry of activ-
disproportionate number of drivers shot at are behind tinted
ity, as the city’s half-million Jews scrambled to move them-
windows. From this data, many psychologists hypothesize that
selves and their possessions into a 100-block, 27,000-apart-
being behind a screen, hidden from view, renders one less of a
ment neighborhood. Oftentimes forced to leave their posses-
person and more of a potential target.
sions behind, the panicked, destitute Jews were forced to bur-
The Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto would not likely argue
row into cramped dens, shared with several other families.
with this logic. For behind that red, wire-topped wall, shrouded
Other families were forced by necessity to separate so that
from the sight of their Aryan neighbors, the Jews of Warsaw
every family member might have a roof over her head.
became the victims of atrocities heretofore undreamed of.

I
A ~ r -
Squadrons of SS would dogtrot down the Ghetto streets, ran- tive Ghetto contained the factories of such Nazi profiteers as
i domly beating, looting and raping. Even worse, some SS would Toebbens and Schultz. The Brushmakers’ District contained
B drive cars barreling through the Ghetto’s congested shops which produced brushes for the Wehrmacht. O n the
@ throughfares, running over pedestrians for sport. If this was periphery of these “civilized” areas was the “Wild Ghetto,” a
not sufficiently entertaining, Nazis would point to random frightful no-man’s-land of bombed-out tenement shells with-
passersby, betting each other that they could shoot the target out water, heat, electricity or gas. The Wild Ghetto was a
in the hand, the knee, the eye, or the brain. haven for criminals and, later, anti-Nazi partisans.
Even worse than the SS, if possible, were the members of Travel into and out of the Ghetto was strictly controlled.
the OH (Ondnungs-Hum),the Jewish police appointed to “pa- Possession of an Ausweis - a pass indic:iting that the bearer
trol’’the Ghetto. Often apostatesand anti-Semites who resented was a registered worker in a German-ownled factory -was an
being categorized and contained with the Jews they so despised, absolute necessity; those unfortunates wl10 did not possess an
the members of the OH added personal vindictiveness to their Ausweis were subject to all sorts of ghastly fates, including
masters’ capricious cruelty. They were nicknamed “dachsunds” immediate deportation to a death camp. Anyone caught try-
by the Ghetto dwellers, an allusion to the Yiddish proverb, “The ing to sneak into or out of the Ghetto M rould be lucky to es-
dog is more vicious than the master.” cape with a fine or beating, and most lik ely would be shot.
The Ghetto itself was divided into three sections. The Despite this prohibition, Warsaw’s a1[readythriving black
Central Ghetto contained the Judenrat building, the SS head- market boomed. Faced with the prospect. of starvation, many
quarters, and the Transferstelle rail station (soon to be re- Ghetto dwellers risked Nazi wrath to smiiggle food and goods
named the Umschlagplatz, the dreaded “Reloading Place” from into the ghetto. A t one point, live oxen were smuggled into
which Jews were deported to the death camps). The Produc- the Ghetto through a combination of inclined ramps and
I
bribed guards. An ingenious system of pipes was created the Polska Partja Robotnicza (Poland’s Communist Party),
whereby precious milk could be poured from the Aryan sec- smuggled himself into the Ghetto and began the task of train-
tion of the city, to flow downhill all the way to the Ghetto. ing Warsaw’s partisans. Under the alias “Andrew Schmidt,”
It was not enough. Life in the hellishly overcrowded Kartin instructed young Jews in urban fighting, unarmed com-
Ghetto became an exercise in the very Social Darwinism so bat and other techniques. Under “Schmidt’s”eye, homemade
espoused by the Reich‘s scientists. While the Ghetto’s wealthy grenades and Molotovs were laid away for the day of revolt.
(and there were still a few, mostly collaborators with the Ge- The glimmer of hope didn’t last. On April 17, 1942, a par-
stapo) ate at restaurants, drank the night away at saloons and ticularly vicious Gestapo purge took place. Fifty-two Jews -in-
even attended nightclub shows, their less fortunate brethren cludingtwo- and three-year-olds-were shot in the streets. Simi-
literally starved to death outside. Furthermore, the combina- lar outrages continued until Kartin was discovered and captured
tion of openly rotting corpses and lack of sanitation engen- on May 30,1942. The hero was taken to Pawiak Prison and ex-
dered swarms of body lice, which in turn precipitated epi- ecuted, as so many others had been before him.
demic outbreaks of typhus. But Kartin’s bravery had inspired many of Warsaw’s youth.
One in particular, a young man by the name of Mordechai
“Death to the Nazisr Anielewecz, would take up Kartin’s mantle.. .until the bitter end.
As Nazi terror tactics intensified and conditions wors-
ened, an undercurrent of anger simmered among Warsaw’s Operation teinhard
downtrodden. Frustrated by Nazi oppression, and even moreso You have no choice for survival but to fight! Once on the road
by the tacit complicity of the Judenrat and the overt brutality to Treblinka, you are doomed! Resist!...Make the ghetto another
of the OH, various militant groups formed among the under- Stalingrad!
ground. - anti-Nazi leaflet distributed in the Warsaw Ghetto
Inspired by the bravery of Byelorussia’s Jews, who had That end would not be long in coming. On January 20,
forced the Nazis to retreat -albeit temporarily -from their 1942, at a mansion in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee, a con-
soil, Jews attempted to cobble together a resistance move- ference of the Nazi Party’s highest officials met to discuss the
ment much as they had fashioned working windows from bro- “Jewishquestion.” The agreed-upon “Final Solution” was the
ken shards. Some Jews attempted to join up with their Aryan complete annihilation of the Jewish race. Reichsfuhrer
brethren in the Armja Krajowa; unfortunately, the Polish un- Himmler ordered the transformation of several concentration-
derground was as antisemitic as the Nazis they opposed, re- camp facilities into “death camps”: areas specifically designed
fusing to aid the Jews and occasionally even betraying them for the large-scale murder of Jews.
to their erstwhile opponents. Warsaw held the largest group of Jews remaining in Eu-
So the Jews were forced to look to themselves. Zionist rope, and so it was only a matter of time before the Final
and Socialist underground newspapers sprang up, urging armed Solution made its way to the gates of the city. Operation
resistance. Individual Jews orchestrated a few counterattacks Reinhard was essentially, a death sentence against the re-
against SS oppressors and Jewish collaborators, even going so maining inhabitants of the Ghetto (400,000 - of the origi-
far as to shoot the chief of the OH police. The Nazi response nal half-million, 20% had perished from starvation, disease
was predictably brutal. Tipped off by spies planted in the or random violence), and was put into effect on July 18,1942.
Ghetto, SS soldiers swept through the Ghetto, shooting scores Operation Reinhard - as the Nazis explained it to the
of Jews in random purges. J d n r a t - consisted of the “resettlement” of Jews. All Jews
The militant feeling among Warsaw’s Jews was exacer- except the Judenrat themselves, bearers of Ausweisen, and the
bated by the brutal winter of 1941. Forced to live in squalid immediate families of such privileged individuals were to be
tenements, often with no heat, in subzero temperatures, even transported to “labor camps’’ to assist the Reich‘s war effort.
the meekest of Jews were forced to commit illegal acts simply This relocation would consist of 60,000 persons - mostly
to survive. Those who refused to do so joined the corpses al- the ghetto’s lower elements, the members of the Judenrat re-
ready clogging the gutters. Nightly, the streets of Warsaw rang assured themselves - and it could only help alleviate the
with the plaintive cries of orphaned children, inadequately horrendous overcrowding....
clad and without food. And so, with the blessing of their puppet leaders, Warsaw’s
In late 1941 a potential savior came to the Ghetto. The
great chemist-soldier Pinya Kartin, a war hero and member of going to TIrblinka, to Sobibor, to Chelmno, and to Auschwitz.

Did Adam Czerniakow, the ineffectual O h n n of the And so the Urnschlasplatrturned into a pen of horror, as
Judenrat, discover the true meaning of Operation Reinhard, the Warsaw ghetto’s masses were beaten, shoved and pushed
or had he simply tired of his contemptible position? No one into their mobile coffins.
knows exactly what combination of factors led to his suicide
on July 23, or to the final note -“To the Last” -which the
discoverers of his body found beneath his corpse. He was
The january Days
swiftly replaced with one Marek Lichtenbaum, a Nazi stooge, Mein Gott! Die Judenhaben Waffen! (My God! The Jews
and then Operation Reinhard proceeded in earnest. have weapons!)
The members of the resistance movements, more cyni- -screamed by the first Nazi soldier to die in the Ghetto
cal than their supposed leaders, swiftly discovered exactly what Revolt
“resettlement” entailed. Under the leadership of young Anielewecz was growing frustrated. Though his ZOB had
Mordechai Anielewecz, the ZOB (Zydowska Organiracja scored some victories against askaris and even against the SS
Bojowa -Jewish Fighting Organization) came into existence during the winter of ‘42-’43, a combination of the Polish
on July 28,1942. It swiftly began a propaganda campaign urg- underground’s stubborn unwillingness to help and his people’s
ing Jews to resist resettlement at all costs. stubborn unwillingness to believe the death-camp stories kept
But the Nazis would not be denied. Operation Reinhard his group relatively impotent.
continued throughout that long bleak year, eventually claim- By now the Ghetto had undergone a dramaticchange. Gone
ing many more than the predetermined 60,000 sacrificial were the teeming swarms of humanity; most had probably al-
lambs. Bands of askaris -Ukrainian, Lithuanian and Latvian ready gone “up the chimney” at Treblinka or Auschwiu. Of
antisemite thugs - were sent into the ghetto and sicced on Warsaw’s original half-million Jews, a scant 60,000 remained.
the populace. The allegedly sacrosanct Ausweis holders had The ZOB could waste no more time. The guerrilla at-
their cards ripped up in front of their faces. Even the OH tacks began sporadically, tentatively, but relentlessly.
police frantically rounded up Jew after Jew, spurred on by a Anielewecz’s lieutenant, Israel Kanal, shot the chief of the
lethal quota: An OH member who did not bring in at least OH on August 25, 1942, and this action was followed by a
seven Jews a day would take a place on the cattle cars instead. rash of attacks against known Gestapo informers. O n Sep-

tember 1, the ZOB used a Russian air raid as a screen to at- nighttime Ghetto into a terrifyingjungle for Nazi troops, and
tack a German convoy, stealing needed weapons and ammu- ZOB soldiers sneaked into the Aryan section to beard the
nition. In between, the ZOB and its allied movements did Nazi tiger in its lair. In the Wild Ghetto, the ragtag “troops”
everything they could to obtain weapons, or money to buy of Moishe the Bolshevik harried SS men who tried to patrol
black-market weapons. those pitch-dark streets.
Assisting Anielewecz, though remaining independent, was The SS, of course, would not suffer the “Yids” to defy
an undisciplined mob led by the crazed freedom fighter Moishe them so. On February 16 - one day after the last Jew was
the Bolshevik. This band laired in the burned-out Wild Ghetto supposed to have been on the train to Treblinka - Himmler
and mounted savage guerrilla attacks on Nazi invaders. sent in more troops, under the direction of the iron-nerved
Anielewecz frantically trained his fighters throughout that General Jurgen Stroop. To his credit, Stroop was a fearless
long fall and winter. When they were not training, the members warrior and a relentless opponent. Of course, it didn’t hurt
of the ZOB were turning the Ghetto into a deathtrap. An inge- that his courage and tenacity were supplemented by 3,000
nious series of underground bunkers was constructed, and tene- troops armed with tanks, flamethrowers and machine-guns,
ment buildings were linked by hidden second-story walkways. or that his opponents were a mob of 600 or so, armed with
The Ghetto fighters smuggled themselves and their goods pistols and homemade Molotovs.
throughout the city via the noxious medium of the city sewers On Passover, April 19,the reinforced Nazi army reinvaded
(the persistent rumor that Warsaw’s Nosferatu vampires aided the Ghetto.. .and was met by an attack dwarfing the ferocity
the ZOB has been neither proved nor disproved). Fighting bun- of the January revolt. Molotovs doused the SS vanguard in
flames. ZOB gunmen sniped from hidden ambush points.
kers, mines, secret tunnels.. .by the beginning of 1943,the Ghetto
had been meticulously transformed into a lethal maze. Grenades sprayed deadly shrapnel among the SS ranks.
This was a good thing for the defenders.Near the beginning And once again, the Nazis retreated. The flustered colo-
of ‘43, Reichsfiihrer Himmler ordered that the Warsaw Ghetto nel in charge of the operation ran flapping to General Stroop
be completely liquidated by February 15. On January 18, Nazi to report his failure. “The Jews are everywhere!” he cried.
soldiers invaded the ghetto to begin the last roundups.. . “They strike at us from all corners! The troops are terrified!”
...and instead met a hail of firebombs, bullets and gre- Stroop laughed, lit a cigarette, and went to the Ghetto
nades. From all sides Warsaw’s beleaguered Jews poured down to oversee the assault personally. Unflinching amid a hail of
their vengeance upon their Nazi tormentors. With the aid of ZOB bullets, Stroop rallied his troops.. .
a homemade grenade, 17-year-old Emily Landau was the first ...and, in the end, that proved to be that. The glorious,
to take down a Nazi - and the first to die, ripped apart by hopeless battle continued hour by hour, block by block, alley
rifle fire. In no time, the Ghetto had become a battleground, by alley. Against the ZOB’s homemade cocktails and pistols,
and, for the Nazis, a harrowing deathtrap. Stroop threw poison gas, flamethrowers,and even dive bomb-
Anielewecz personally directed the defense and fought like ers. Slowly, methodically, Stroop directed his followers to bum
a demon. Eyewitness accounts tell of him battling his way out of down the Ghetto, building by building. Those partisans who
a Nazi encirclement, smashing through the Germans’ ranks as were not flushed out by the flames - or leapt to their death
though he were an incarnate hero from the pages of the Ameri- to escape them - were “smoked” out of their underground
cans’ comics. It was he who provided the rallying point behind bunkers through the use of poison gas.
which every one of Warsaw’s Jews hurled themselves. On May 8, 1943, Mordechai Anielewecz died defending
On January 20,1943, the Nazis retreated to the Aryan sec- the ZOB command bunker at Mila 18. He was 24 years old.
tion of the city. The Warsaw Ghetto had won the first round. With Anielewecz’sdeath, the heart went out of the ZOB.
Yet they fought on ...and on ...and on.... And on May 16,
slood on the Door 1943, Stroop announced the liquidation of the Ghetto.
There was nothing- left. Behind the red brick wall where
Lets gtve the Nuns a real rasover welcome.
a half-million had lived and struggled and died for three years,
- Mordechai Anielewecz Nazi tanks rolled over a flat desert of rubble. In 27 days -
Himmler was not amused. Untewnenschen swine dared to longer than it had taken to conquer the entire country of
defy the Reich thus? Poland -the Ghetto had been razed to the ground. The great-
Indeed, defy it the ZOB did, all of those last few glorious est battle of European Jewry was over.
months. Weapons, food and other essentials had been stock- Obviously there was no need for the Judenrat anymore;
piled for a siege, or a raid. Groups of ZOB snipers turned the as reward for their faithful service, the SS had the remaining

Geography - shadowlands
members of the Judenrat gunned down and their corpses tossed
into the sewers.
The survivors were rounded up, herded onto the trains
and sent to Auschwitz, Treblinka, and all the other abattoirs.
And the war went on - and in many ways the ruin of the nlike the sprawling morass that is
Ghetto served as a harbinger of what was to come to the Reich, Auschwitz, the Necropolis that is the
in a time not so distant. But the Warsaw Ghetto had ceased Warsaw Ghetto adheres roughly to the
to play a part in the lands of the living. boundaries t h a t defined it in the
Skinlands. Relic tenements teeter above
Geoyaphy - skinlands narrow, filth-choked alleys and winding

labyrinths of streets, much as they did
between 1940 and 1943. This neat concordance was made
possible by General Jiirgen Stroop’s block-by-block razing of
arsaw today is a would-be cosmopolis try- the Ghetto, which for all practical purposes blasted the en-
ing as best it may to heal the wounds in- tire community headlong into the Shadowlands.
flicted by over 50 years of occupation. The All the places of suffering and resistance stand, with only
populace, by and large, is more interested the occasional hole to mark the effects of the Nazi shelling.
in obtaining Levi’s and Coca-Cola than Here, at 26 Grzibovska Street, is the building where the
in dredging up yet more of the city’s past Judenrat took its orders. There, at 18 Mila, is the ZOB com-
pain. Then, too, decades of domination mand bunker where Mordechai Anielewecz died fighting.
by a state which, among other things, allowed the existence Pawiak Prison, the Umschlagplatz, the fighting bunkers.. .all
of refuseniks has done little to increase awareness of and sym. stand, eternal monuments to the sorrow of the Dead.
pathy for the Ghetto fighters’ struggle.
Despite this, the Ghetto has not permitted itself to be
ignored. Though the Ghetto itself was razed to the ground, a
few monuments have arisen to mark its passing. The Judenrat
building has been restored, and a plaque describing its history
The Dybbuks of Warsaw
erected. This site is often flooded by swarms of Warsaw’s poorer arszawa’s Ghetto Dead mingle little with
dybbuks, who cluster around tourists or idealistic college stu- their Aryan counterpartson the other side.
dents, seeking a dribble of Pathos. The Poles were perfectly content to see
On Gesia Street, near the site of the Jewish Cemetery them behind their wall in life, and so there
where Adam Czerniakow was buried, sculptor Natan they will stay in death. A few Ghetto
Rappoport erected a monument to the Ghetto Revolt. It was dybbuks, particularly the black marketers
consecrated in 1970 with a speech from Yitzhak Zuckerman, of the Wild Ghetto, maintain relation-
Anielewecz’ friend and second-in-command. If nothing else, ships with outside wraiths. For the most part, however, the
Anielewecz was thankful for the chance to say good-bye. Ghetto Dead are a taciturn, insular breed. They will not make
At 18 Mila, formerly the site of the ZOB command bun- the mistake of trust again.
ker, a memorial to the organization’s struggles stands. It is Not all of the Ghetto’s victims became Restless, of course,
simple and austere, as is perhaps inevitable for something con- and many died after having been deported to one death camp
structed under the Communists’ watchful eyes - but it is or another. Still, the Ghetto Fetters a fair number of dybbuks,
enough for Anielewecz, who likes to come here, light a phan- particularly for such a small area. Anielewecz estimates that
tasmal cigarette, and brood wistfully amid the darkness. about 20,000 Dead call the Ghetto home.
But really, when all is said and done, the Nazis did a quite These dybbuks divide themselves into several groups.
thorough job in destroying the Ghetto and its residents. The Predominant and preeminent are the wraiths loyal to the ZOB
true monument to the Ghetto fighters’struggle lies all around, and Mordechai Anielewecz. These partisans are considered
yet invisible. If the living perhaps wish to forget the travails acutely Renegade by the Hierarchy, but the Partition Accords
of the Warsaw Ghetto, the Dead will not be so easily dis- and Anielewecz’s own formidable power stay the Deathlords’
talons for now. The ZOB dybbuks seek to keep Warsaw a self-
contained community and protect it against outside incur-
r I

I . \
8
sion. Privately, Anielewecz and his top aides discuss a goal of “life.” A bit of Pathos, a dollop of Usury, and the ghost of a
forcing the recognition of the Ghetto as an independent Dark beggar-child will smile at the alms-giver from ectoplasmic
Kingdom (as opposed to the bizarre twilight status enjoyed by mouths rendered toothless by scurvy.
the areas liberated under the Covenant of the Millions), but Unfortunately, these wretches often fall prey to Warsaw’s
this is never discussed outside of Anielewecz’ innermost circle true bottom feeders. The Ghetto knew its share of opportunists:
of advisors. The ZOB remembers Gestapo spies all too well, In its congested streets,persons of learning and respectability were
and distrusts the Hierarchy even more. forced to bump shoulders with thieves, criminals, profiteers and
Many residents of the Ghetto, of course, were not fighters, smugglers. This continues in death. Such rogues cruise the nar-
but individuals trying as best they could to survive and ensure row alleys and secret tunnels like sharks, ruthlessly sniffing out
their families’ survival. Those of this breed who became dybbuks Pathos and bludgeoning it from those wraiths weaker than they.
after death are most concerned with finding lost family members Even worse are the snatcher gangs. There are few materials
and reconciling their earthly ties. They live in the flats of the with which to make goods in the Ghetto; most of the neighborhood’s
Central Ghetto, often smiling wistfully at Quick passersby who native relics have already appeared and few others will be coming.
remind them of lost parent, siblings,friends and children. And so every once in a while, an orphaned beggar boy disappears
As with any Ghetto, of course, Warsaw had its desperate from the Shadowlands streets,and a factory has an extra two weeks‘
inhabitants. The beggars, the orphans and the starvelings are worth of fodder, and the Ghetto machine grinds on.
represented here as well, often forlornly roaming the streets
where they collapsed. To look at some of these emaciated
wrecks, one would think them dead in truth, for surely such
The WaII
faces can belong only to corpses. Only the feral eyes shining In the Shadowlands the Wall towers up and up, stretch-
above jaundiced, concave cheeks betray any signs of Restless ing on and on and on. In life the Wall kept the Jews of War-
. . 1 1 . 1 1 .

At 26 Grzibovska Street sits the headquarters of the Wild Ghetto, and rumors of entire Circles of “hidden dybbuks”
Judenrut. Recently restored in the Skinlands, the building occasionally drift through the Ghetto’s factories and markets.
serves as a Pathos trough for the dybbuks, though many who Those incautious dybbuks who have ventured into the Wild
partake of its fare complain that emotions “filtered” through Ghetto speak of feeling watched, and some go so far as to say
the Judenrat are weak and muted (like the men whom the that the very buildings and streets shift before and behind
building memorializes, the dybbuks mutter). them, disorienting them and preventing egress. Then, too,
Also in the Central Ghetto is the Umschlagsplatz. there are the sightings: half-seen glimpses of bizarre Phanta-
Though the station is a rich wellspring of emotion, Anielewecz sies and twisted shapes that can only be Nephwracks.
discourages extensive feeding from this site: The Pathos gar- The Wild Ghetto is “ruled” by a bizarre dybbuk claiming
nered from this hive of misery is a dark banquet indeed. None- to be the Restless incarnation of Anielewecz’sold ally Moishe
theless, all too many of Warsaw’s desperate dead swarm to the the Bolshevik. The veracity of this claim has never been veri-
Umschlagplatz by night, basking in the effluvia of terror and fied; what is known is that “Moishe” knows the Wild Ghetto
despair. Warsaw’s Spectres - and there are more than the far better than any of Anielewecz’sdybbuks, and has the sup-
ZOB would like to believe - couldn’t be happier. port of a powerful Circle of Spooks and Haunters.
The productive GhettolBnrshmakers’ Mordechai Anielewecz

Background: In 1943, temporal and ethical responsibility
District for the fate of the ghetto fell on the 24-year-old shoulders of
Mordechai Anielewecz. Already affiliated with the resistance
The Productive Ghetto whirs day and night with the group Ha-Shomer Hu’TZuir,on July 28,1942 he formed the ZOB
sounds of industry, as busy dybbuks labor on forges and looms and begun the task of training his people for war. Early in 1943,
adapted to do the work of the Dead. Nowadays, of course, however, he realized that there was no more time to prepare.
these wraiths labor for themselves, not for the likes of Toebbens His fate has already been chronicled in the history sec-
and Schultz. tion. When he finally went down to Nazi bullets in his com-
In theory, all denizens of the Ghetto are to receive the mand bunker at 18 Mila, however, he barely noticed; there
fruits of the factories’ ectoplasmic labors. In practice, materi- was still so much work to do, and Anielewecz was not about
als are exceedingly scarce, and this scarcity is fueled by Ghetto to let a trifle like death stop him.
dybbuks’ distrustful refusal to enter into diplomatic relations
withgoyim. Most of the Productive Ghetto’s labors must nec-
essarily go to the ZOB and to those who perform useful func-
tions in the community. The street beggars, the grafters, the
hustlers.. .well, Warsaw’s laborers are sorry for them, but per-
haps on Purimfest there will be a surplus.
And so in the mazy alleys of the Productive Ghetto, a
thriving black market has sprung up. Unscrupulous workers
filch forged or Moliated goods from the communal piles and
sell them to the shadow merchants, who in turn profiteer them
to Warsaw’s bottom feeders.
The wild Ghetto

And then there is the Wild Ghetto: that trackless laby-
rinth of teetering tenements and black alleys where even ZOB
dybbuks fear to go. Most Restless, preferring the relative com-
fort of the Central and Productive Ghettos, leave the Wild
Ghetto to time and inevitable decay.
This may be one of Anielewecz’s few mistakes. Certain
of Warsaw’s less savory elements are known to lair deep in the

Already a remarkable man, Anielewecz crossed the Shadow Passions: Give up the good fight (Lethargy) 3 , Be-
Shroud as a dybbuk of Hauntlike power. The venal slaver who tray the people (Perversity) 2, Avenge yourself against all the
tore off Anielewecz’s Caul ended up blasted to Oblivion in ingrates (Frustration) 1
two ticks of his ectoplasmic watch, and Anielewecz went about Image: Anielewecz cuts a striking figure, and in more
the task of adjusting to his new form. He did what he could peaceable times he would have been quite the heartbreaker.
for his beleaguered people over the next several days, but was Short, neatly cropped black hair frames a face that is at once
untrained in his powers and accomplished little. Guilt over handsome and rugged, with a wry smile. It is the eyes, though,
this still haunts him nightly. that catch and hold the gaze: Of stellar intensity, they blaze
Quickly realizing that Warsaw’s Polish Dead were as un- from his sunken sockets and drawn cheeks like black suns.
likely to help him as were their living counterparts, Anielewecz Roleplaying Hints: Never again. The dybbuks of the
instead based himself out of the newly formed Ghetto Ghetto are your children, and you must protect them -from
Necropolis and took it upon himself to organize the Ghetto’s themselves, if necessary. The burden of what you have seen
Restless. The need to balance this work with many other tasks and done chains you more tightly than any Fetters ever could,
- diplomatic missions to Renegade Circles and Hierarchy and you project the authority and responsibility of a wraith
outposts, rescue missions to retrieve Ghetto souls from death- many centuries your senior. Occasionally you allow the fun-
camp Necropoli, and personal training exercises - allowed loving, playful side of your personality to emerge, but are quick
certain less savory Dead to gain footing in the Ghetto. None- to put frivolity aside when danger threatens.
theless, Anielewecz is by far the most influential dybbuk in Note: If Anielewecz’s stats seem inflated, it is only be-
the Ghetto, and most of its inhabitants would die again for cause history bears them out. By many reliable accounts, the
him. man was the living embodiment of the larger-than-life he-
He is a figure of legend even among Europe’s somewhat roes that so dominated the pulp magazines of the time.
unflappable Dead, and rumor has it that he has several times
sneaked into Stygia itself, there to learn Arcanoi and Guild
secrets and steal supplies for his people.
Emily landau
Nature: Cavalier Background: Emily Landau bears the distinct honor of
being the first Jew to take a Nazi life in the Ghetto Revolt,
Demeanor: Architect
and the dubious honor of being the first Jew to die thereafter.
Circle: ZOB
The 17-year-old partisan was an ardent follower of
Physical: Strength 4,Dexterity 5, Stamina 5
Anielewecz in life, and since her death she has become some-
Social: Charisma 5, Manipulation 4,Appearance 4 what more than ardent. The teenager, whom circumstance
Mental: Perception 4,Intelligence 4,Wits 5 deprived of any chance to experience romance, has become
Talents: Alertness 4, Brawl 4,Dodge 5, Intimidation 4, somewhat understandably fixated on the handsome Ghetto
Streetwise 3, Subterfuge 1 leader. Anielewecz, so attentive to more macrocosmic con-
Skills: Firearms 4,Leadership 4,Melee 3, Stealth 5 cerns, does not even notice her advances, much to Landau’s
Knowledges: Law 2, Linguistics 4,Occult 2, Politics 3 frustration and other dybbuks’ amusement.
Backgrounds: Eidolon 4, Memoriam 4,Relic 3, Status 4 What is not quite so amusing is that Landau’s Shadow
Passions: Protect the living and dead Jews of Warsaw (Pater- has used this quandary to grow quite strong. This could yet
nal Devotion) 4,Never let a fascist regime threaten his people prove disastrous: Landau is one of Anielewecz’ most trusted
again (Idealism) 4, aides, yet lacks the worldly experience to deal properly with
Arcanoi: Argos 4,Castigate 3, Embody 4,Inhabit 3, Keening her feelings.
4,Outrage 5, Pandemonium 5, Puppetry 1 Nature: Gallant
Fetters: Plaque at 18 Mila 5 , Memorial 3, Entire ghetto 2 Demeanor: Cavalier
Willpower: 10 Circle: ZOB
Pathos: 10 Physical: Strength 3 , Dexterity 5, Stamina 2
Permanent Corpus: 10 Social: Charisma 2, Manipulation 2, Appearance 3
Shadow: The Martyr Mental: Perception 2, Intelligence 3, Wits 3
Angst: 5 Talents: Alertness 3, Brawl 2, Dodge 3, Streetwise 3
Thorns: Shadomlay Skills: Drive 1, Firearms 4,Leadership 1, Stealth 4
I
and a devout idealist. If there is anyone capable of resisting
her Shadow unaided, it is you.
Adam Czerniakow
Background: Passersby who happen to glance toward the
oldJudenrat building at 26 Grzibovska often notice a tattered,
shrouded figure walking silently, with forlorn tread and head
held down. This is their former “leader,” Adam Czerniakow,
first Obmann of the Nazi-manipulated Judenrat.
Czerniakow tried through suicide to escape his twin dam-
nations - the Nazis’ hell and his personal hell - only to
wind up chained there forever. He staggered aimlessly through
the Ghetto for several years until Anielewecz, in pity, gave
him a minor diplomatic role in the ZOB. It is for this pity and
mercy that Czerniakow hates Anielewecz so.
Still, Czerniakow has held his tongue and handled his
role with competence. In his liaisons with other groups of
Restless Dead, Czerniakow has gained more influence than
Anielewecz had perhaps intended. And unbeknownst to
Anielewecz, or even Czerniakow’s fragile Psyche, the former
Obmann’s Shadow has opened diplomatic relations with Dead
of a rather dubious stripe. Nightly Czerniakow’s darker half
waxes stronger. If Warsaw’s wraiths do not appreciate you, it
whispers, then I know those who will accord you your proper
place.. ..
Knowledges: Linguistics 2, Politics 2 Nature: Mediator
Passions: Make Anielewecz fall in love with her (Love) 5 ,
Avenge her death, (Vengeance) 3, Protect the surviving Jews
of Warsaw (Pride) 2
Arcanoi: Argos 2, Embody 3, Outrage 3, Pandemonium 3
Fetters: Site of her death 4
Willpower: 8
Pathos: 6
Permanent Corpus: 10
Shadow: The Pusher
Angst: 6

Circle: Warsaw Dybbuks
Talents: Alertness 2, Awareness 3, Dodge 2, Subterfuge 4
Skills: Etiquette 3
Knowledges: Linguistics 4, Politics 4, Science 3
Backgrounds: Haunt 3 , Memoriam 2, Notoriety 1, Status 2
Passions: Redeem his “good name” (Pride) 3, Atone for the
deaths of the deported ones (Guilt) 3, Keep the community
safe (Selflessness) 2
Arcanoi: Fatalism 3 , Keening 2, Lifeweb 3, Puppetry 4
Fetters: Judenrat building 5
Willpower: 4
Pathos: 7
Permanent Corpus: 9
Shadow: The Rationalist
Angst: 7
Thorns: Tainted Touch
Shadow Passions: Get Anielewecz killed (Envy) 5, Force
Warsaw’s wraiths to show gratitude for all that Czerniakow
accomplished (Frustration) 4,
Image: Adam Czerniakow’s lined, weary face bears a
slightly goggle-eyed expression. This is less from surprise -
nothing moves him anymore - than from the cyanide cap- guard was even less impressed, and called Friedman many other
sules with which he committed suicide. names as he pistol-whipped him to death on Gesia Street.
Roleplaying Notes: You tried so hard, but still they hate Now Friedman leads Shabbat services and teaches a Her-
you. What they don’t understand is that there was nothing etic kabbalist cult. Many of Warsaw’s impatient Dead, seeing
else you could have done. They whisper behind your back, no way out of this purgatory and increasingly disenchanted
calling you a spineless quisling, don’t they? Well, if it hadn’t with the ZOB, have begun to turn to Friedman’s more spiri-
been for you they would have all been shot during the first tual offerings. Friedman himself has made contact with sev-
week of the occupation! Still, you suppose this whole ordeal eral mysterious but obviously learned wraiths of an occult bent;
is teaching you patience. One day very soon, everyone will one may only hope that in his studies he avoids the clutches
get their just rewards, yes? of the Malfeans more readily than he did the talons of the SS.
Nature: Traditionalist
[ebbe zishe Friedman Demeanor: Caregiver
Circle: Talmudic Wraiths
Background: Rebbe Friedman preaches in death what
Physical: Strength 3 , Dexterity 1, Stamina 4
he did in life: nonviolence and nonaggression. As a living
man in the Ghetto, he exhorted the young militants not to Social: Charisma 4, Manipulation 3, Appearance 2
fight their Nazi oppressors, but to resist morally and by ex- Mental: Perception 3, Intelligence 4, Wits 3
ample. This burden was G-d’s will, and only by suffering it Talents: Awareness 3, Empathy 3, Expression 4
with the stoicism characteristic of His chosen people would Skills: Etiquette 1, Meditation 3
Warsaw’s Jews be rewarded in His sight. Knowledges: Law (Talmudic) 3, Linguistics 4, Occult 4, The-
The young firebrands were not interested in the logic of ology 4
the old, and called the Rebbe a “passivesheep.” A certain SS Backgrounds: Artifact 3, Eidolon 1, Relic 1, Status 1

tion) 5 , Teach‘‘truth to all listeners (Fervor) 3, Abstain from
militancy (Pacifism) 2
Arcanoi: Argos 1, Castigate 4,Fatalism 4,Moliate 1 1
Fetters: Tattered prayer book 3, Forgotten photograph 1 he Warsaw wraiths become involved in
Willpower: 7 the politics of newly democratized Poland,
Pathos: 7 thus violating the Dictum Mortuum.Ten-
sions between the Hierarchy and the War-
Permanent Corpus: 10
saw Ghetto flare, and the characters ar-
Shadow: The Martyr ...
rive to patch things up or exploit the
Angst: 5 situation for their own ends.
Thorns: Pact of Doom Anielewecz makes a daring raid into the local
Shadow Passions: Study occult lore regardless of the conse- Anacreon’s Citadel, absconding with a valuable Artifact. n e
quences (Curiosity) 4,Trick People into avenging Frkdman’s characters are Legionnaires sent to go over the Wall and re-
death (Vengeance) 3, trieve the Artifact. But was the thief actually Anielewecz -
Image: Friedman presents the classic image of a Talmu- or a cunning Doppelganger?And if was the ZOB man who
dic scholar. His tall, gaunt frame is dressed in a severe black accomplished the feat, where do the characters’ sympathies
suit, and a long beard hangs well below his collar. His gaze is lie?
beatific and benevolent, and his expressive hands are usually Rebbe Friedman (or his Shadow) contacts a Spectral
clutched around a relic prayer book. hive, allowing the Shadow-eaten access into the Ghetto. The
Roleplaying Hints: You admire young Anielewecz and characters must “clean house,” thereby becoming involved in
are distressed that he does not reciprocate your feelings, but a harrowing game of cat and mouse amid the darkened streets
his way is not your way. This anger that the ZOB bears is an of the Wild Ghetto.
affront to G-d - no good, no final peace, will come of it.
-----------
Warsaw Ghetto

I

I 8
turning gray.
And I myself
am one massive, soundless scream
Above the thousand thousand buried here.
-Yevgeny Yevtushenko, “Babii Yar”

hen Hitler made the decision to invade the ernment in 1974, the 50-foot-high bronze sculpture features
Soviet Union, he initiated something several entwined figures that seem to disappear into the
much darker than a simple first strike monument’s base. Several scenes are portrayed by the char-
against the Red Army. As the Blitzkrieg acters. A young girl weeps over the slain figure of her boy-
rolled east along the Ukrainian steppes, in friend. A Russian sailor shields his mother from attack with
its wake followed the Einsatzgruppen - his own body. A young mother, her hands bound behind her
elite teams of SS soldiers under strict or- with barbed wire, still suckles her child. A Red Army soldier
ders to infiltrate towns and cities captured by the German and his partisan ally cast their steeled gazes of determination
divisions and liquidate the entire population of Jews in each and patriotism at an unseen enemy. The sculpture is charac-
one. These mobile death squads pierced through the villages teristic of hundreds that sprang up behind the Iron Curtain.
of the western Ukraine region, slaughteringJews, Gypsies and Its cast trumpets the eternal struggle and resolve of the So-
Communists in what was the beginning stage of the Holo- viet people, their die-cast Leninesque features implacable and
caust, the actual calculated program of the liquidation of Eu- rock-steady in the face of all enemies of the Motherland. An
ropean Jewry that would fell close to six million Jews and inscription at the base of the statue reads: “Here, in 1941-
millions of Gypsies, Poles, Communists,Roman Catholics and 1943, the German Fascist invaders executed over 100,000
Russian POWs. citizens of Kiev and prisoners of war.” No mention is made of
Babi Yar, a ravine near the city of Kiev in the Ukraine, why the people who perished here were killed.
was the site of one of the first mass murders of Jews. In Sep- In the Shadowlands, the ravine still looks very much like it
tember 1941, in the space of 36 hours, over 33,000 Jews were did on the day the killing started. The perimeter of the Haunt is
murdered by German soldiers and SS Einsatzgruppen com- encircled by a barbed wire fence, cordoning off the area in the
mandos, For the next two years, Jews, Gypsies and Soviet pris- Shadowlands just as the clearing at the ravine’s edge was cor-
oners were rounded up, transported to Babi Yar and executed doned off that morning. The fence is a tangible manifestation for
- 100,000 in all, in one of the first and worst atrocities of the wraiths who flock to this Haunt; it can fade away or solidify
the Second World War. depending upon the area’s collective Pathos and Angst. The ter-
1 1 r 1 rain of the Haunt is dotted by small balefires. These mark the
The Site and Its Surroundings spots of huge pyres upon which the SS burned the entire morass
of bodies during a mass exhumation, conducted in 1943 to wipe
away any evidence of the massacres which had taken place.
The centerpiece of the Haunt is a giant pit, the mass
abi Yar is situated in the northwestern part grave where the bodies were buried. Along its bottom runs
of Kiev, a large dirt-sided ravine, not par-
the unmistakable crack of a Nihil, the eerie humming of
ticularly noteworthy in its own right. Its
Oblivion resounding off its sleek chasmed walls. The clouds
middling-sized hills and slopes undulate
of smoke that billow up from the Nihil stink with the stench
matter-of-factly through the countryside.
of blood and charred marrow, an assault of rot and decay that
Sparse clumps of bushes and bracken in-
never seems to dissipate. The area around the pit is patrolled
termittently break the roll of the land-
by a group of wraiths under the direction of Alexander Renko,
scape, their bare, weather-beatenbranches doggedly intertwin-
a former captain in the Red Army. His troops keep a constant
ing within each other in defiance of the unforgiving climate.
vigil over the abyss, ever ready to sound the alarm and defend
The terrain itself is rocky and mostly infertile, its grayish-
the Haunt against any Spectres who climb up out of its depths.
brown hue echoing the dull, industrial clouds over nearby Kiev.
At one end of the Babi Yar ravine stands a small centuries-
old Jewish cemetery, marking the end of Kiev’s Melnik Street.
Among the crypts and memorials, stand broken headstones
history
or empty spaces where once grave markers stood. The miss- Kiev fell to the Germans on September 19, 1941. On
ing stones have a story of their own to tell; they were appro- that day, a 50-man advance squad of Einsatwuppen entered
.. . ?ration arrived with
I. C.lbLl . bodies.
.b.CLLLLU’
the rest of the unit, 200 soldiers in all. TIley secured a work-
ing headquarters in Kreshchatik Street, ari well as taking over
rge monument
Kiev’s Continental Hotel and the city’s dloctors’ club, which
1 DY me Brezhnev gov-
was converted into a meetine house for C3erman officers.

Five days after taking Kiev, explosions rocked the center assembled were mostly the elderly, the sick, and mothers with
of the city. The Kreshchatik Street building was blown up, as their children. The young men had evacuated with the re-
well as other dwellings being used by the invaders. Detach- treating Red Army. Rumors had been circulated, falsely started
ments of Soviet NKVD security police, secretly stationed in by the Germans, that the Jews of Kiev were to be transported
the city, had been ordered to sabotage the German command. out of the city and resettled elsewhere. The rumor, buoyed by
Many of the German forces, as well as inhabitants of the area, the fact that the intersection designated for the roundup bor-
were killed. To address the attacks, on September 26th, Ger- dered on a railway station, seemed plausible to the crowds.
man commanders held a meeting, at which they decided that Ushered along by armed guards, the tightly packed masses
in retaliation for the bombings, the Jews residing in Kiev were of humanity moved along the Streets of Kiev. Because oftheir
to be put to death. Carrying Out the order would be the men sheer numbers, the thousands of Jews did not reach the end
of Sonderkommando 4a, an EinsatwuPPen battalion consist- of Melnik Street until early afternoon. When they got to the
ing of SD and SIP0 security police, armed men of the Waffen Jewish cemetery at the end of the avenue, they found the
ss, and reinforcements from local and regional Ukrainian road had been blocked with coils of barbed wire and antitank
police battalions. obstructions. A narrow passage had been left in the middle of
O n the morning of September 28th, the Jews of Kiev the barricade, barely wide enough for two people abreast and
woke to find notices from the occupying force posted through- guarded by SS and Ukrainian police.
out the city: “All Jews living in the city of Kiev and its vicin- The SS ordered the Jews through the passageway. When
ity are to report by 8 o’clock on the morning of Monday, Sep- they reached the other side, the prisoners were ordered to
tember 29th, 1941, at the corner of Melnikovsky and hand over all their valuables and to strip naked. Those reluc-
Dokhturov Streets. They are to take with them documents, tant to do so had their garments ripped from their bodies, and
money, valuables, as well as warm clothes, underwear, etc. the clothes and valises were placed in two huge piles off to
Any Jew not carrying out this instruction and who is found the side. The naked victims were then forced to run through
elsewhere will be shot.” a gauntlet of SS men and Ukrainian police armed with clubs
The next morning, thousands of Jews assembled at the and truncheons and brass knuckles, who proceeded to beat
intersection. Most of Kiev’s population of 160,000 Jews had them savagely through the human corridor. The broken and

I 8
In the summer of 1943,the German army was being beaten the lost souls through the Shroud safely. When the killings at
back by revitalized Russian forces, and the commanderswho had Babi Yar finally stopped, the Nihil became quiet, and even
originally initiated the massacres at Babi Yar were sent back to shrank. Another surge of Spectres came with the eruption of
Kiev. They were under orders by the SS to erase any evidence of the bonfires, during the Nazis’ attempt to sweep away their
the carnage they had perpetrated. A special team of SS men ghastliness, but Capt. Renko and his soldiers defeated this as-
brought in over three hundred inmates from the nearby concen- sault with relative ease. For a while, all seemed calm.
tration camp of Syretsk and utilized these prisoners in a mass ex- The arrival of officials from the Hierarchy at the Haunt was
humation of the thousands of bodies decaying in the covered- greeted with more suspicion than relief by the wraiths residing
over pits. On August 18,1943,bulldozers were brought in to open there. A few wraiths went with the legates to Stygia, but the
up the mass graves, and the prisoners were ordered to drag the majority stayed put around the Haunt. When their comrades
corpses to large cremation fires, made from gasoline-soaked returned and told them of the multitude of wraiths still out there,
wooden logs from the nearby forests. There the bodies were in- and of the signing of the Covenant of the Millions, the wraiths
cinerated to ash, and the ashes sifted by the Germans for any of Babi Yar convened and voted to join themselves formally into
stray gold or silver. Tombstoneswere brought in from the nearby two Circles,to give some semblanceof organizationto their work.
Jewishcemetery and used as giant pestles to grind down any bones Babi Yar has become a gathering sitefor informationabout wraiths
that would not bum. The mass cremations ended on September who fell victim to other Einsatzgmppen executions. Rail lines
19th,on the second anniversary of the Germans’march into Kiev. connect the Haunt to other parts of the Shadowlands, providing
O n September 29th, the anniversary of the first wave of quick movement of people and data to other free Ghettos in
mass bloodletting, the remaining prisoners (recent ShadowlandsRussia, Poland, and the Baltics. Unlike other free
transportees, for the most part) learned that they were to be Ghettos, however, Babi Yar is no more than a way station for
executed the following morning. That night, they planned a most of the wraiths who come here. It is simply too dangerous,
breakout from their temporary jail, an artificial cave cut into considering the instability and nearness of the Nihil, to afford to
one side of the ravine. A few minutes after midnight, 25 pris- give long-term shelter to traveling wraiths.
oners broke out of their confines under cover of a fog that
blanketed the are. Fifteen men escaped. The other 10 were
shot during the escape or at dawn the following morning -
The Menders
the last victims to fall at the abattoir that was Babi Yar. The majority of the wraiths who remained at Babi Yar
call themselves the Menders. They are the victims of Babi
The haunt Yar, the souls of the Jews and others who cry out in the dark-
ness for respect from the Quick and justice from the Dead.
The Menders are also active in trying to bring back all the
The 36-hour massacre of the Jews of Kiev on the last
souls who scattered during the creation of the Haunt. The
days of September 1941 produced an immediate change in
Menders consider it their place to poke through the Shroud
the Shadowlands: the tearing open of a Nihil in the immedi-
to the Skinlands, and try to move the emotions of the living
ate vicinity. This released packs of Spectres, who were the
to remember and learn of the tragedy that occurred at Babi
first to get at these dormant spirits. The area was a shambles,
Yar. The wraiths of this Circle believe that they grow strone
as dozens of souls were almost instantly swept up by the ma-
ger with each wave of emotion that permeates the Shroud
rauding Spectres. Those souls not snatched by the horde were
from the Skinlands, and they wait for the day when the living
hardly able to adjust to their surroundings and the powers
will truly mark the horrors that happened during the war, ac-
they now possessed before they were forced to defend them-
cord the victims the dignity they deserve. This, the Menders
selves and the still-arriving masses. The fortuitous arrival of a
believe, will seal the Nihil up and bring some semblance of 1
I
group of Russian wraiths, formerly soldiers in the Red Army,
peace to this part of the Shadowlands. 1
added to their numbers, and a great number of wraiths were
able to withstand the Spectral onslaught.
Many of the remaining wraiths split off in every direction,
not caring to remain in the area lest they be attacked again by The nucleus of the Fallen Comrades is a group of Rus-
any straggling Spectres. Those who did stay guarded the pas- sian Red Army soldiers from Kiev who returned to the re-
sage of new souls as best they could, keeping watch over the mains of their homeland just after the creation of the Nihil
hole to Oblivion for months upon end. They were bound to and the flood of souls from the Skinlands began. They have
the site by a driving force, a burning need to help the rest of since considered it their dutv to protect the population of the

Haunt from the Spectres in the region, and to safeguard the vine and the occasional Hierarchy wraith still ventures out-
Haunt from the rumblings deep within the Nihil. The Fallen side the city to view the monument and the destruction it
Comrades have enlisted the help of other wraiths at Babi Yar commemorates.
and other sympathetic wraiths, who are willing to stand as Babi Yar wraiths who travel into the city rarely do so
sentinels. In addition to watching the Nihil, the Fallen Com- alone. The ill will that brews on both sides of the wall has
rades often venture outside the Haunt, patrolling the manifested itself violently many times over the years, and not
Shadowlands of the Ukraine for the lost thousands who are every Mender or Fallen Comrade who has gone to see a Fet-
tied to this place. ter in the city has returned.
At the ravine itself, small huts and barracks have been
The haunt Today constructed from the relics of the logs used in the great burn-
ing. Here is where the Fallen Comrades and the Menders stay,
Officiallv a free Ghetto under the terms of the Covenant and here is where they house the Haunt’s steady population
of the Millions, the area around Babi Yar is one of the least of transients. A great many records are housed at the Haunt
impressive of the sites thus demarcated. A rough wall, broken as well, and there is a constant of influx of wraiths seeking to
only by a gate at Melnik Street, divides the Necropolis of peruse this information.
Kiev from the area controlled by the Covenant wraiths. There There are also a series of guard posts around the Nihil in
is some little traffic across the wall; Mender and Fallen Com- the ravine itself. These are constantly manned, and by each
rade wraiths travel into the city for trade or to tend their Fet- one is an Artifact bell which is tolled at the first sign of Spec-
ters, visitors come from Kiev’s railway station out to the ra- tral activity.

that they are a part of this fatal legacy, that their actions were
In recent years, the fall of Communism and the breakup instrumental in the tally of dead, is still strong. It is a silent,
of the Soviet Union allowed the peoples formerly hidden be- yet powerful force in the progress of truth (or lack thereof).
hind the Iron Curtain to begin the process of rewriting their Although the wraiths of Babi Yar’s burden is slightly eased by
histories free from the censorship of party overseers. In the the absence of draconian opposition to the truth, the remain-
fall of 1991, Ukrainian officials decided to hold a series of ing passive opposition is still a potent force.
commemorative festivals to remember the tragedies perpe-
trated on their soil. Kiev played host to an international schol-
arly conference and set aside a week of remembrance to honor Diana bachev
those thousands of lives snuffed out in the fires of Babi Yar. Diana Ryachev was Jewish, but married a Russian, a doc-
Many former residents of Kiev returned to the city; memorial tor from Kiev, and taken hi:; Ukrainian surname. She had a
exhibits lined the streets; commemorativepins and medallions were good home, a loving husban.d, and a fun little sideline as an
struck. The genesis of reflection upon the evil that happened at Babi actress in the local amateur theater, playing modest parts in
Yar was underway, but it fell short of total acknowledgment. The comedies and musicals. Whesn the war came and the German
subject of those who collaborated with the Eimtwp@n, who de- army pushed into Russia, D iana’s husband did his patriotic
liberately gave their neighbors, fellow workers and friends up to SS duty and was shipped off to ttle eastern front as a medic. Diana
death squads was danced around during the week of remembrance. moved in with her parents, who lived on a predominantly
The tension regarding the legacy of Babi Yar still exists Jewish street. After the Gerrnans marched in and the trouble
in the Ukraine. Although Holocaust researchers are trying to started with local resisters, Cjiana worried for her parents, but
little for herself. After all, stle was Russian now.

Diana read the fateful notice that required all the Jews to
assemble on September 29th and hardly slept that entire week.
She and her parents discussed the matter, and they all agreed that
Diana would escort her parents to the square that morning, and
then remain in Kiev. Flight was impossible at this point, anyway.
The morning of the 29th, the streets were filled with the
entire Jewish population of the city, half awake and hurrying
to the departure place. Diana Ryachev and her parents were
in the midst of a sea of people, trucks and carts as relatives
and neighbors saw each other off and wished their Jewish ac-
quaintances well. As the crowds moved closer to the meeting
place, however, the vaguely hopeful atmosphere began to turn
sour. Diana heard the murmurs of those around her, worrying
and confused, and began to worry herself. She finally got close
enough to see what was going on, and her eyes filled with
terror. From a distance she could see the beginning of the
day's horrors. Soldiers were ordering the assembled people to
take off all of their clothing, and stripping those who resisted.
Suddenly, a German soldier walked up to Diana. He yanked
off her fur coat, a gift from her husband, and took it away.
Diana turned around and pushed back through the throng
of people to where her parents stood. They too had seen what
was happening, and told her to go back. Tears welling up in
her eyes, Diana made her way back to one of the guards, pro-
testing that she had been caught up in the crowd somehow,
and that she wasn't meant to be here. The soldier asked for
Diana's identity card, and upon reading it, screamed at her to see anything. Eventually one of the officers in charge walked
get her dirty Jewish hide back in line. Diana dropped her card over to the hill where Diana was and demanded to know from
and at last understood what was happening to the thousands the guard who these people were. When the guard said that
of people around her - they were being executed. they were Ukrainians who were here by mistake and ought to
Diana had lost her parents by then, but was determined be let go, the officer barked at the soldier to shoot the lot of
to get out. She marched up to one of the soldiers and de- them. No witnesses were to remain alive.
manded to see an officer in charge, repeating her story about The guard ordered Diana and the others up and marched
getting caught in the throngs. He asked for her card. She rum- them around the hill. They were not ordered to strip, but led
maged in her purse, and the soldier snatched it from her to to the killing site in their clothes. Diana and the others with
rifle through its contents himself. He did not find the iden- her, about 30 people, were marched over to the edge of a sand
tity card, but did come across a union card that simply gave quarry. Her head swam with adrenaline and the blood pounded
her name, Diana Ryachev. With that kind of good Russian last in her skull as she forced herself to look down into the pit.
name,the soldier thought, she was obviously telling the cruth. It was a sea of bodies - men, women and children, na-
Diana Ryachev was escorted to a small hill where a num- ked, broken, and drenched in blood. Some of the people were
ber of other people were sitting and told to wait. She sat there not yet completely dead, and Diana could see the hellish mo-
I, 1 9 . 1 . 1 . l,-
all Clay, WatCnlng tne Same nlgntmare repeat 1tSelt Over ana
1
tions in the pit of half-dead human beings. I.iving souls bur-

over again: people running through the gauntlet, stripped ied under dozens of corpses wailed and screanied as they tried
naked, marched Out of sight behind another hill. And shot. to claw their dying selves up to the surface, 1Diana could not
And shot. move, could not sense anything but the nightmare before her.
And shot. A part of her told her to look for her parent's, but she knew
By nightfall, Diana could no longer hear the shooting she would never find them. Diana Ryachev simply stood at
and the screaming and the dying. She could barely hear or the edge ofthe Pit, transfixed by the hell before her. She barely
felt the bullets that entered her chest and explloded her heart.

Diana Ryachev entered the Shadowlands so consumed
with guilt and fear that she was barely coherent. Her Caul you can about the Shadowlands in order to reunite yourself with
was taken from her at Babi Yar by a sympathetic wraith named your parents. Consequently, you devour any piece of infonna-
Alexander, a Russian soldier who had died on the front lines. tion that you come across -ignorance and lies are what brought
Somehow, she managed to communicate with him what had you here, and you are not about to be fooled again. The Menders
happened there that day, and Renko led the counterassault are appreciative of your knowledge and insight, but sometimes
that secured Babi Yar. you feel that they are going too slowly for your personal taste.
After the Covenant was signed, the area around the ravine
was made independent from the Kiev Necropolis,and a wall built
between the two. As she had been killed for her connection with
Nikolai Dimitrius
Not everyone follows orders. Nikolai Dimitrius was a po-
Judaism, Diana remained on the outside of the city and joined
the Menders. She continues to search the Shadowlands for in-
formation about her parents, simply to tell them how sorry she is.
young patrolmen, Nikolai knew many of the families and
Nature: Visionary
shopowners in his area well. He didn't really have any opinion
Demeanor: Judge on Jews one way or the other, but was always courteous and pro-
Circle: The Menders fessional toward them. A lot of his fellow policemen and ser-
Physical: Strength 2, Dexterity 3, Stamina 3 geants, however, had very strong opinions about the Jews, none
Social: Charisma 3, Manipulation 3, Appearance 4 of them good. Nikolai heard a lot of talk in headquarters and in
Mental: Perception 4,Intelligence 3, Wits 3 bars about the dirty sneaking Jewish this and the dirty sneaking
Talents: Alertness 2, Empathy 3, Expression 3, Streetwise 2 Jewish that, and after a while some of this hate began to rub off
on him. He became cooler toward the people on his neighbor-
Skills: Disguise (from her theater work) 1, Dancing 2, Eti-
hood beat. Reports of burglaries and vandalism somehow disap-
quette 3, Singing 3, Performance 2
peared from his notebook. Soon the antisemitism of his police-
Knowledges: Area Knowledge 4, Lore 3, Theater 3
man friends seeped into Nikolai Dimitrius, and poisoned his
Backgrounds: Allies 3, Contacts 1, Memoriam 1, Status 3 thoughts. When the Germans took the city, their commanding
Passions: Find and reconcile with parents (Love) 5 , Search officers co-opted the police force to serve as auxiliary guards and
for information on her missing husband (Love) 4, Show grati-
tude to Alexander (Loyalty) 3
Arcanoi: Embody 2, Fatalism 2, Keening 2, Outrage 1
Fetters: Babi Yar 5, The theater in Kiev 3
Willpower: 8
Pathos: 7
Permanent Corpus: 8
Shadow: The Martyr
Angst: 6
Thorns: Death's Sigil, Pact of Doom
Shadow Passions: Convince Diana that her parents will never
forgive her (Fear) 4, Double-cross Alexander so that he will

The day it all happened, Nikolai Dimitrius was stationed Nikolai pulled his prisoner down a few blocks, then
in the quieter sections of Kiev, making searches of abandoned shoved her into an empty house. He told her to watch care-
apartments for any leftover Jews. He was walking down one fully for any soldiers, and when she got the chance, to run.
of the streets when a truck pulled up and the German driver Then, turning his back on her forever, Nikolai Dimitrius left
told him to get in, that he was needed at the assembly site. the house and down the street into another deserted alley.
When Nikolai arrived, he was led to a group of women and There, he took out his revolver and shot himself.
children sitting off to the side. They were stark naked, and Nikolai Dimitrius returned to Babi Yar to end his night-
had been badly beaten. He was ordered to stand guard. mares. He knows that he cannot repair the damage he did,
Nikolai looked at the SS man as if he were speaking in tongues. but he has joined the Fallen Comrades, willing to help fight
He looked around him and saw thousands of people, all of them against the Spectres that boil up from this part of the Tem-
Jews, being beaten and kicked and stripped naked. He could hear pest. Nikolai has proven himself to be an able fighter, but his
people screaming and crying, and the steady rat-at-at of automatic dedication and fastidiousness can sometimes be a bit much
weapons. Nikolai demanded to know what they were doing to the even for the Comrades.
Jews. “We’re getting rid of them, you stupid bastard,”was the re- Nature: Child
sponse. The SS man pulled out his pistol and told Nikolai to stand Demeanor: Fanatic
guard or he’d get a bullet right in his head. Insensate with fear and Circle: The Fallen Comrades
horror, Nikolai went over to the prisoners and marched up and
Physical: Strength 4,Dexterity 3, Stamina 3
down, up and down, not daring to look into their eyes. This isn’t
hap$ming. This can’t be happening. I neve7 wanted this to happen. Social: Charisma 2, Manipulation 2, Appearance 3
Nikolai couldn’t take any more. While the Germans Mental: Perception 2, Intelligence 3, Wits 3
weren’t looking, he slipped away and made off down the streets Talents: Brawl 3, Dodge 2, Interrogation 2 , Intimidation 2,
of Kiev. Turning a corner, he saw two young girls, no older Streetwise 3
than fourteen, begging mercy from an SS guard. They told Skills: Drive 2, Firearms 2, Lockpicking 1,Melee 2, Stealth 2
him they were from the orphanage in town, that they had Knowledges: Area Knowledge 1, Investigation 2, Law 2
been brought there as infants. They had no idea what nation- Backgrounds: Artifact 1, Eidolon 1, Mentor 2, Status 1
ality they were. Nikolai watched the two fragile innocents Passions: Protect the Haunt and the wraiths (Duty) 5 , Win
crouched on all fours, kissing the soldier’s gleaming boots, the confidence of the other Fallen Comrades (Desire for Re-
wrapping their little frames in each other’s arms, begging this spect) 4
towering foreigner to allow them to live. He stepped back, Arcanoi: Argos 2, Castigate 3, Lifeweb 2, Mnemosynis 1
took out his pistol, and shot both of them in the head.
Fetters: The streets in Kiev where he walked his beat 5 , The
Nikolai Dimitrius was paralyzed as the soldier holstered alley where he blew his brains out 4,The station-house 2
his weapon and strolled away, leaving the two dead children
Willpower: 8
lying in the street, still embracing each other. Their commin-
Pathos: 7
gling blood rushed out of them and stained the cobblestone.
He watched for a long while, focusing on the two lifeless little Permanent Corpus: 9
girls, and was only jarred out of his trance by something tug- Shadow: The Sophomore
ging at his sleeve. It was a young man, about his age. “Come Angst: 7
on, we found another one,” the interloper said. Thorns: Aura of Corruption, Shadow Call, Tainted Touch
The man led Nikolai to the kitchen of a farmhouse, where Shadow Passions: Sabotage the Fallen Comrades (Treach-
two women sat, an old Russian woman with a pinched face who ery) 4,Release Spectres from the Nihil (Rage) 3, Find the
exuded both bitterness and triumph, and a young woman of about spirit of the young woman Dimitrius saved and throw her to
twenty, scared and shaking.They had found a Jew, the old woman Oblivion (Sadism) 3
said, and wanted Nikolai to take her away. He looked at the man Image: Nikolai Dimitrius is in his early 20s, with closely
and the old crone, and walked over to the shakingyoung woman. cropped black hair and some vestigial evidence of baby fat in
He took her by the ann and pulled her out the door of the house, his young face. He wears a policeman’s uniform and cap, and
dragging her kicking and clawing and screaming to the nearest carries with him a very special Artifact, the armband he wore
side street. It was empty, but he could feel the burning hatred of as a member of the auxiliaries. It is a memory of the evil he
the old woman’s eyes on his back. did that day -and the one instance of good. It is this memory
that strengthens him and pushes him forward.

Roleplaying Notes: You have attempted to sublimate all of
your nightmares into your duties with the Comrades, and as a
result are very regimented and disciplined in your behavior. How-
ever, deep down inside you are hounded by the horrors of that
day, by the scene of the two dead orphans and the cold hatred of
the old woman. You hold on to the one instance of good you did
that day, saving that young woman, and often wonder what be-
came of her. Perhaps some day she will one day end up here.
Volunteer for practically any assignment;show the other wraiths
that you can be trusted, that you were once a symbol of right and
justice, and can be so again.
Captain Alexander \enko

Alexander Renko was born and grew up in Kiev. His fa-
ther and uncles had fought in Moscow with Lenin on Red
October, and as a boy Alexander loved to hear the men tell-
ing stories about the fight for freedom against the Tsar. The
old revolutionaries would get choked up with emotion over
honor and patriotism and the thrill of a righteous fight, and
Alexander always wished that one day he would be able to
fight for his beloved Mother Russia.
When he was old enough, Alexander Renko enlisted in
the Red Army. He was a bright young man and rose through
the ranks quickly, eventually being promoted to captain. He
was put in charge of a platoon of young soldiers, all from his
hometown of Kiev. Many of them had grown up together,
endless wailing of 30,000 souls. The ghosts of old people and
and arguing about the folks back home and whose family was
children lamented and writhed in infernal hysteria. Even as
doing what and whose sister was the prettiest were frequent
they gaped at the horror, Captain Renko and his men were
occurrences in Renko’s platoon. The soldiers’ friendship and
assaulted by a pack of whirling Spectres, and barely forced
loyalty blurred the levels of rank and made them a real fam-
them back into the pit they had sprung from, a gigantic, seeth- ‘
ily, far more than the sum of their parts. When they were
ing hole at the base of the old Babi Yar ravine.
shipped to the front, the men of Renko’s platoon talked of
medals and packages from home, certain that they would re- Looking at the chaos before him, Renko came upon the
turn one day as heroes. None thought they could be killed. figure of a young woman who had just entered t h e
Shadowlands. She lay motionless on the cold ground and was
Many of them died at the front, including Captain Renko.
still covered in her amniotic Caul. He removed it from her,
Still, love and loyalty bound the Captain to his men. Rather
and the freed woman began shrieki
than leave immediately, Renko set out in search of his fallen
Renko the most horrible things -
men. One by one, he located a small group of the boys from
one, she said, right there in the pi
Kiev, each wandering through the hellish Underworld in
sake. Alexander Renko turned to w
search of understanding and companionship. Still full of piss
turing and found that he could act[
and vodka, the remnants of the old Red Army platoon reas-
real world. What he saw chilled him
sembled and began t o make their way through the
Kiev, and were murdering its Jewish 1
Shadowlands, back to the hometown they loved more than
sands and thousands of them in an
life. However, the Nazis advanced more quickly than the
it all like some horrible cinema: the
ghosts of Renko’s platoon walked, and the German army rolled
and the arrival of dozens of souls at
into Kiev well before Alexander Renko’s little command did.
Spectres and twisted monstrosities
When Renko and his men finally came to the place of the wraiths’ Cauls and trying to devc
their birth, they beheld a churning, fiery abomination. The Instinctively, Renko marshaled his
atmosphere was thick with pain and death, filled with the

terattack against the Spectres,keeping up the assault for hours Image: Alexander Renko is 26, but the war and the fight
until they had driven the creatures from the pit. in the Shadowlands make him look about a million years old.
With the battle ended, Alexander Renko could still see He wears the traditional olive-drab coat with red epaulets
into the Skinlands. He saw the smoky outlines of soldiers denoting an officer of the Red Army, and carries both a side-
chasing people through the streets, the Kiev police rounding arm and a short automatic weapon slung over his shoulder.
up Jews, the citizens of his home willfully handing their neigh- Renko is a caring man, but stem with those under his com-
bors over to the murderers. He was utterly furious at his towns- mand. His responsibility is too great for it to be otherwise
people and utterly frustrated at what he could see and hear Roleplaying Notes: You believe that fate brought you
and do nothing to stop. At that moment, Renko called his and the Fallen Comrades back to this place, not only to keep
men together and banded them together to form the Circle the Spectres at bay, but to atone in some manner for the cow-
of the Fallen Comrades. They pledged themselves to guard ardice and cruelty exhibited by your townsfolk. That statue
the souls who would die in this massacre from the demons in the distance, you secretly think, is justice served to the
who sought to kill them again. Captain Alexander Renko is murderers who destroyed your town and its people.
the leader of the Fallen Comrades. He and his men are the You are protective of your brothers in arms, but espe-
main defenders of the Haunt at Babi Yar, the watchers over cially of Diana, and are always on the alert for some scrap of
the activities on the far side of the Shroud and the Nihil that information about her parents. Remain professional and alert;
exists at the bottom of the dark pit. You are the first and last line of defense, and know well that
Nature: Architect Oblivion never goes on furlough. You are often seen standing
Demeanor: Director solo watch over the pit and the Nihil, willing to sacrifice your-
Circle: The Fallen Comrades self if need be for the safety of the Haunt.
Social: Charisma 3, Manipulation 3, Appearance 3 Marta karinska
Mental: Perception 4, Intelligence 3, Wits 3 Marta Karinska grew up poor and remained so all her
Talents: Alertness 4, Athletics 2 , Brawl 3, Intimidation 3, life. She lived on a small farm in the outlying regions of Kiev
Scan 3, Search 3 with her husband, an abusive boor who drank himself to death
Skills: Blind Fighting 2, Camouflage 3, Climbing 1, Firearms in their 16th year of marriage. This left Marta and her nine-
3, Heavy Weapons 2, Melee 3, Tracking 3 year-old son to eke out some sort of living on a patch of ne-
Knowledges: Area Knowledge 3, Bureaucracy 2 , Military glected acreage that produced negligible harvests. She and
Science 3, Poisons 1 the boy had little produce left over for sale after filling their
Backgrounds: Allies 2, Contacts 2, Eidolon 3, Notoriety 3 own needs, and they were rarely able to get any sort of good
price for her crops in the local Jewish markets in town. Marta
Passions: Guard the Haunt against Spectres (Duty) 5, Re-
Karinska cursed her husband for wasting his life and theirs,
unite the members of his squadron (Fraternal Devotion) 4,
and she cursed the Jewish shopowners who refused to offer
Protect and help Diana Ryachev (Love) 3
worthwhile prices to her. It wasn’t her fault that the harvest
Arcanoi: Castigate 5, Embody 4,Fatalism 3, Flux 2, Outrage was bad, so why should she suffer?
1
For years, Marta and her son Ivan tilled the rough land,
Fetters: The battlefield where he was killed 5, The house in +-,intn L-an --A =All A- ,-heap Jews
LLy.LL5 hLGp Ln- In=;-,
LU ,LULL,
a.,a-Ainm
L r L r y L L ’ r l l 5 , a11u
,U.7LLLS DLLLL L l l L L
Kiev where he grew up 4 in the city would not give her decent money for her crops.
Willpower: 10 They care only about their fat wallets, Marta said. 7‘hey’re the
Pathos: 9 ones who are killing us, she told her son. What right dcJ they have
Permanent Corpus: 9 to take the bread out of our mouths? Since when did thf iir precious
Shadow: The Perfectionist gold become more important than us good Ukrainians!
Angst: 7 Marta was in the city the day the notice of dt:portation
Thorns: Bad Luck, Dark Allies, Trick of the Light was posted, and couldn’t be happier. They were firially mov-
Shadow Passions: Sacrifice all the Fallen Comrades to ing the Jews out, she told herself. Now, maybe, she clould make
Oblivion (Envy) 4,Destroy the Haunt and thereby erase the ends meet a little easier. The next morning she seint her son
shame of what the people of Kiev did (Rage) 3 into town to run some errands while the mass exoclus of Jews
was underway. Ivan came running back to the f‘armhouse

saw him pulling the Jew along, Marta Karinska knew that he
wasn’t going to do anything with her.
Marta Karinska died after the war, a horrid and bitter
woman full of spite and anger at the world. When she reached
in life, Marta is determined to wreak havoc upon the assembled

communities at Babi Yar. Half a century later, she is still un-
able to let go of the hate she was so consumed with in life.
Nature: Monster
Demeanor: Conniver
Caste: Nephwrack
Physical: Strength 3, Dexterity 4,Stamina 2
Talents: Alertness 2, Awareness 2, Intimidation 4, Subter-
fuge 1
Skills: Crafts 1, Melee 1, Performance 3, Stealth 3
Knowledges: Area Knowledge 2, Occult 3
Backgrounds: Allies 3, Eidolon 2, Notoriety 1
nearly out of breath. They weren’t sending the Jews away, he Dark Passions: Destroy the stinking Jews (Fanaticism) 5, Use
told Marta. They were just killing them all, at the ravine at the negativity in the atmosphere to tear open a new Nihil
the end of Melnik Street. Marta couldn’t believe the news - (Destruction) 3, Lead as many wraiths into Oblivion as you
and she couldn’t believe her luck. The Germans were really can (Rage) 3, Corrupt Nikolai Dimitrius and make him fin-
taking care of things in Kiev, she thought. ish the job he failed at (Hate) 3
As she pondered this, Marta heard a noise coming from Arcanoi: Contaminate 3, Hive-Mind 2, Tempest-Weaving 3
the shed in back of the farmhouse. She and Ivan went out Fetters: None
back and found a young woman, a little younger than Ivan,
Being (Fanaticism): 8
trying to hide there. Marta demanded to know where she had
come from. She said that she had been on her way back to Permanent Corpus: 6
Kiev from digging trenches a long way away, and had spent Angst: 7
the night in the shed. Marta was not convinced. The tres- Psyche: The Confessor
passer was a]ew, she decided, and she deserved no better than the Psyche Passions: Help Marta realize that the Jewish wraiths
rest of them. Marta grabbed the young woman and marched are not the real target of her hatred (Hope) 5, Reunite Marta
I.%. ...-_..--.--
her intn the Gitrhen
L l l L V C&.- *_-----
2nd ___ __ find
cent lvnn offro ...._the
.
....nearest
.~~DO-
~
r. .---
with _----___
her snn Ivan and use
- . __. _.. the bonds of familv to achieve her
~~~
liceman. Ivan came back quickly, having found an auxiliary Redemption (Love) 4
right away. Fronds: Guilt, Mirror
Marta told the policeman that they had caught a Jew Image: Marta is a woman of late middle age, strong from
hiding out in their shed, and asked him to take the Jew away working the land. Her face is ratlike and fanged, the product
and shoot her. The policeman looked at the trembling young of Oblivion’s effects and years of living in a shell of hate and
woman, and at Marta Karinska. Marta saw something in the spite and loneliness. She is often seen skulking around the
young soldier’s look, something that bespoke fright and dis- soulforged statue at Babi Yar, feeding off the negativity di-
gust at her and her son. This was not what she had expected. rected toward what the sculpture represents.
She grew indignant, snapping at the policeman to get the

Roleplaying Notes: The Jews are still around, and they’re in advanced stages of rot and decomposition. Other bulldoz-
playing those soldiers for patsies. Even better, that little runt ers were doing the same thing all over the ravine, unearthing
of a policeman is with them. How fortunate. All the links are several mass graves.
now in one chain, and all you have to do is find the weakest Along with two dozen other men, Melki Somokov was
one. You can do it. You’ve got time on your side, and you can ordered to climb down into the pits and bring up the remains
feel the power of their rage coursing through you, swelling of all the dead. The prisoners were to drag the piles of rotting,
up, invigorating you and the others of your caste, ready to infested flesh over to several huge bonfires that were burning
burst through the Nihil and destroy everything in sight.. .not nearby, and do so until all of the pits had been emptied and
yet, though. Not yet. Let them settle themselves, let the Jews all of the corpses had been reduced to ash.
think that they’re finally in control. Then you will strike. Somokov and the rest of the prisoners exhumed the con-
tents of the graves in their entirety. For nearly six weeks, Melki
MeIki Sornokov Sornokov dug up thousands of human beings, thousands of
his people. He saw each face, swollen and slimy with decay.
Melchizedek Somokov, known to everyone as Melki, was
He saw each blackened joint, the grin of each skull. Breath-
a tailor from Chernigov, a town to the north of Kiev. He was
ing nothing but the repulsive odor of death, he carried hun-
arrested by an advancing German squad and transported to a
dreds of bodies out of the ground, maggots covering his limbs
concentration camp near Kiev called Syretsk. There, Melki
and the smoke from the pyres stinging his eyes. Each night
was given a hard labor detail. He had been in the camp for
the men were marched into a small cave cut out of the ravine
almost a year when the commandant put Melki in a select
and locked inside, and left alone with their nightmares. No-
group of over three hundred men and handed them over to a
body spoke of the day’s work, or of the morrow. Melki and the
visiting group of SS soldiers.
rest of the men who worked the same pit knew exactly what
The prisoners were herded into the backs of trucks and
they were doing: destroying the evidence of Nazi barbarism.
driven out of the camp. They arrived a short while later in a
The pits were finally cleared in late September. O n the
clearing on the outskirts of Kiev, where the SS had brought
29th, the men were told that they would be shot in the morn-
in bulldozers and other large clearing equipment. As Somokov
ing, to silence any witnesses. Melki and the others in his work
watched, the machines rumbled forward and took the top layer
crew decided that they had to escape. Someone had to live to
of soil from a large section of terrain. The digging had ex-
tell the world about what had happened here. That night,
Melki Somokov and his fellow workers smashed open the lock
on the cave opening and took off across the ravine. It was a
foggy night, and the sounds of German exclamatives and gun-
shots came from every direction. Melki Sornokov was hit in
the knee by a stray bullet and fell to the earth, unable to go
any further. The next morning, he and a few others who had
attempted escape were shot by a firing squad.
Once in the Shadowlands, Melki Somokov had to see
what had become of the place where he had been forced to
erase the truth. The sight of Babi Yar and its dark hills and
fires did not surprise him. Here was the evidence he had la-
bored so hard to destroy, and a part of him was glad that some-
where it remained. Eager to restore the memories he had been
forced to erase, Melki soon aligned himself with the Mend-
ers. Now he works to ease the destruction in the Shadowlands
while attempting to restore the memory of the truth in the
minds of the Quick.
Nature: Traditionalist

Social: Charisma 3, Manipulation 2, Appearance 2 Circle, perhaps to go over to the Fallen Comrades, or to leave
Mental: Perception 3, Intelligence 3, Wits 3 the Haunt altogether.
Talents: Awareness 2, Empathy 3, Expression 3, Guile 2
Skills: Crafts 4, Etiquette 2, Meditation 2, Repair 2 Sergei pravdovich
Knowledges: Enigmas 2, Genealogy 1, Linguistics 2, Theol- Sergei Pravdovich was only 12 years old when the Ger-
ogy 2 man army rolled into Kiev, but the memories of the Nazi po-
Backgrounds: Contacts 1, Eidolon 2, Memoriam 2, Status 1, grom just outside the city limits haunted him all his life. He
Wealth 2 started a homemade diary to record what happened those two
Passions: Assist the Menders in keeping the memories of Babi days in September 1941, and continuously added to its pages
Yar alive (Duty) 4,Find forgiveness from the wraiths for what as the killings continued. No one knew of this diary’s exist-
he was forced to do (Desire for Acceptance) 3 ence, not even his parents, and he kept it hidden even after
Arcanoi: Argos 2, Embody 2, Flux 1, Keening 1, Puppetry 1, the Nazis retreated from the city. After the war, Sergei talked
Usury 2 to those who survived the massacres and the SS reign of ter-
Fetters: Babi Yar 4, The camp at Syretsk 4, His old tailor ror. Very few people spoke about those days, but those who
shop 2 did were very open with Sergei. These stories, too, he wrote
Willpower: 8 down in his tattered diary. With such a weight of evidence in
his hands, Sergei realized that he and his generation were
Pathos: 8
saddled with the burden of remembering and mourning the
Permanent Corpus: 7
dead. The only way to accord those who were sacrificed the
Shadow: The Paranoid proper respect, he decided, was to tell the truth.
Angst: 6 The Russia of Joseph Stalin, however, was not interested
Thorns: Aura of Corruption, Infamy, Freudian Slip in letting the truth come out. Sergei held onto his diary until
Shadow Passions: Convince Sornokov that the entire Circle Stalin’s death and Khrushchev came to power. Then, as a jour-
resents him for his part in the massacre (Fear) 4, Take advan- nalist living in Kiev, Sergei Pravdovich began to write from
tage of Sornokov’s discomfort and lure him into Oblivion his diary about the horrors at Babi Yar, demanding that the
(Confusion) 3 thousands of Jews who had been murdered there be somehow
Image: Melki Sornokov is in his early fifties, slightly memorialized. He met obstacles at every turn. Censor boards
shorter than average and mostly bald. He is dressed in the rejected his essays and articles referring to the massacre of
striped tunic and pants of a prisoner, with broken shackles Jews. Sergei was eventually fired from the paper he worked
around his legs. Although Melki is relatively strong, his Cor- for, but continued to speak out about the injustice that the
pus is bony and emaciated. His visage reflects the palpable Soviet government was inflicting upon the memory of the
thinness of undernourishment so prevalent in a concentra- dead. The future was too important for the truth of the past
tion camp. to be buried like this, Sergei Pravdovich kept proclaiming.
Roleplaying Notes: What you saw of Babi Yar in the Sergei endured criticism from his neighbors and harass-
Shadowlands you considered almost fitting symbolism at first, ment by the police for years. His audiences grew smaller, as
but you have since learned that nothing in this world of the people did not want to risk angering the powers of the state,
dead is symbolic. It is both very real and eternal. You’ve al- but still Sergei fought on. Eventually, there came what he
ways been a decent and God-fearing man, and are uneasy about thought was a triumph. Over 30 years after the horrors at Babi
the extremist opinions carried by some of the wraiths in the Yar, the Brezhnev government acquiesced to putting up a
local Circles. You are especially concerned with the existence monument on the site of the massacre, commemorating those
of that statue; nothing good can come of its presence, and who had fallen. When it was unveiled, Sergei Pravdovich was
you’re sure that whoever created it has more malfeasance up furious at the blatant doctoring of the truth the monolith rep-
his sleeve. resented. In the back booths of bars and the front pages of
Although you are a real member of the Menders and have underground pamphlets he ranted and raved, bent on expos-
truly been accepted by them, you still cannot shake the ing this travesty for what it was. He changed few minds, but
strained behavior patterns you exhibit around your fellow was loud enough to attract some unwelcome attention with
wraiths. Perhaps this is because you very likely pulled many his protests. This would prove to be Sergei’s undoing.
of their bodies out of the ground and destroyed them. This The KGB had been following Sergei for some time, and
discomfort has led you to entertain thoughts of leaving the arrested him at the foot of the monument as he attempted to

charged with slander against the state and activities inimical despair at his failures and make him succumb to Oblivion
to the Soviet Union, and his trial was a travesty. Shipped to (Fear) 3 , Discredit the younger, braver leader of the Fallen
an eastern gulag, Sergei perished there. Comrades, Alexander Renko (Envy) 1
In the Shadowlands, Sergei Pravdovich could not allow Image: Sergei Pravdovich appears to be in his late 40s,
his crusade to end. Mile by frozen mile, he made his way back with sandy, unkempt hair and piercing green eyes. He dresses
to Kiev, only to discover the horror that Babi Yar had be- in a rumpled dark suit and shirt with his tie hanging askew -
come. The first thing Sergei saw upon his return home was the epitome of Iron Curtain haute couture. Pradovich is a pas-
the Shroud-hazed monument, its damned cast of darkened sionate speaker, who holds forth to the members of his Circle
metal mocking the mass of humanity butchered at Babi Yar. with a booming voice and sweeping gesticulations.
The second was the sickening glow from the mouth of the Roleplaying Hints: You are a man possessed by the spirit
of injustice done to the memory of the wraiths at Babi Yar,
Appalled, Sergei joined the Menders, and has become and this obsession has colored your opinions about the other
instrumental in the dissemination of information from Babi Circles of Holocaust victims. You consider the Babi Yar Haunt
Yar to other Covenant sites. He has also consumed himself to be your new homeland, and can be very jingoistic about
with the idea of working through the Shroud, hoping to make the importance of its objectives over those of the many other
the living remember. It is his dream someday to make the me- free camps. For this you’ve drawn criticism from many in the
moria1 in the Skinlands a memorial of truth. Circle. Stick to your guns -the other camps have their own
Nature: Critic problems. What matters to you is the memory of what hap-
Demeanor: Driven pened here.
Circle: The Menders
Talents: Diplomacy 2, Expression 4,Instruction 2, Intrigue
2, Search 2, Streetwise 2
Skills: Drive 2, Fast-Talk 2, Leadership 2, Misdirection 1,
Knowledges: Bureaucracy 1, History 2, Investigation 2, Jour-

nalism 5, Politics 2
Backgrounds: Allies 2, Artifact (Pravdovich’s diary) 2,
Eidolon 4,Notoriety 3, Status 4
Passions: Stick up for the community among the other free
camps and the Hierarchy (Loyalty) 5 , Provide a catalyst for
the Menders (Desire for Respect) 4
Arcanoi: Argos 2, Embody 3, Outrage 3 , Mnemosynis 3 , Phan-
Fetters: The gulag 5, The monument in the Skinlands 4
Permanent Corpus: 8
Shadow: The Workaholic
Thorns: Shadow Life, Spectre Prestige

Shadow Passions: Seize the leadership of the Circle and lead

0 4000
feet
A Lukjaniwka Cemetey
B Jewish Cemetey
C Other Cemetey
D Melnik Street
E Gate to the Ghetto/Kiev Border
F Babi Yar Ravine
G Rep'jakhou Tar
H Lukjaniwka Freight Station
I I Monument
Kiev I
I .- -- train lines
A ' 0 I m m o routes of Jews to Babi Yar
0 I
a
... ..................*.. 'P L
...-*' H
0
a
a
..
*
Story ideas reception from the local wraiths, who are convinced that the
Babi Yar dybbuks are plotting to destroy the Necropolis. 1
A wraith never before seen in Babi Yar makes his way

Nikolai is convinced that he has found the woman
inside the barbed wire perimeter. Nikolai immediately recog-
whom he let escape, and asks the characters to accompany
nizes him as Ivan Karinska, the son of the spiteful old woman
him in locating her and bringing her back to Babi Yar. The
in the farmhouse that fateful day. The former policeman has
group sets off, but has been spotted by Marta, who has gotten
been watching for Marta to reappear, and asks the characters
wind of the plan from Nikolai's Shadow and believes this to
to help use Ivan as bait to draw her out, allowing him to rid
be the perfect opportunity to try and destroy him.
the Haunt of her once and for all. Melki is opposed to the use
Diana approaches the characters and asks them to ac- of Ivan in this way, and attempts to convince the characters
company her to the Kiev Necropolis proper, claiming she has to assist him in finding a way to reach Marta's Psyche instead.
received a possible lead on the whereabouts of her parents. The characters must choose between the two options - and
The group arrives in Kiev to pursue the trail, but meet a cold who knows what Marta's ghost will say about all of this?

We are told that the American soldier does not
know what he is fighting for. Now, at least he will
know what he is fighting against.
- General Dwight David Eisenhower, upon
liberating the death camps
RBEIT MACHT FREI. For they had come to Auschwitz, greatest slaughterhouse of
Work will make you free. the 20th century, and the only way to freedom was “up the chim-
This motto, emblazoned in iron over ney”: their corpses stripped of resources valuable to the Reich,
a gate in southern Poland, greeted over hurled into crematorium ovens and carbonized to ash, then un-
two million men, women and children ceremoniouslydumped into the swamps and bogs of the Vistula.
labeled “criminals” and “subhumans” by Here two million people were systematically murdered.
the lords of the Third Reich. Ofthese forc- They were murdered with guns, with flame, with phenol in-
ibly displaced immigrants, the overwhelming majority would jections, toxic gas and phosphorus bombs. Some died from
not reemerge through that gate alive. disease, overwork, starvation, or the blows of a kapo’s trun-

cheon. They were forced to separate from their families, forced memory - the rifle butt splitting their skull, the slab of sau-
to strip naked in public, forced to stand rigidly at attention sage wrested from their enewated fingers by another prisoner,
for days at a time, forced to work barefoot in blizzards, forced the treachery that got them ousted from a survivable camp
to participate in sadistic tortures dubbed “medical experi- job in favor of a rival - and cradled it to their incorporeal
ments” by the Reich, forced to watch their children bum; bosoms, nurturing the pain as they did the babies whom were
but, frankly, such atrocities were tertiary. When all was said stripped from them and sent to the gas.
and done, when all the obscenities were hurled and the in- As in life, so in death. And thus, despite the best efforts
dignities were suffered and the horrors were inflicted, every- of a few, Auschwitz today is a seething hive of hate, hope-
one died. Kaput. Up the chimney. lessly compromised by Spectres. It remains to be seen if work
For really, when the final tally is made, murder is all that will truly liberate Auschwitz’s dybbuks - or if Oblivion will
Auschwitz was about. It was not, strictly speaking, a concen- prove their only freedom.
tration camp; that term implies a focus on incarceration -
the possibility, however slight, of reform, of eventual release,
of “freedom through work.” There was no hope of that in
Auschwitz. According to Nazi ideology, prisoners here were
biologically incapable of reform; no one was released from
A history of k d
this most secret of camps, and the fact that a prisoner was Mein freund! Es geht immer weiter, immer weiter! (My
willing and able to work remained relevant only insofar as it friend, it goes on and on, on and on.. ..)
postponed the inevitable. Once a prisoner passed under the - Dr. Josef Mengele, in a reflective mood, from Dr.
gates, had his head shaved and had his tattoo number inscribed Miklos Nyizsli’s Awchwitx
in the camp records, he was effectively under sentence of
death. Some prisoners ran the race better than others, but all
were essentially working toward the same end - the same
1940 - Mandate for Murder
n t h e spring of 1940, Reichsfuhrer
final freedom.
Himmler decided on the construction of
And so let us call Auschwitz-Birkenau what it was, and
a concentration camp in the conquered
is: a death camp. A murder camp.
nation of Poland. The selected locale
Auschwitz ceased its wholesale slaughter in 1945, but its rested in the marshy tracts surrounding the
ruins stand today, a memorial museum in Poland and the single Vistula River, on the site of what had been
largest Necropolis in the Western Shadowlands. Those who an Austrian stables and barracks. These
visit the museum, even 50 years later, complain of an eerie barracks lay close to the Polish town of Osweicim (German-
ambience, a palpable sense of oppression and apprehension. ized to “Auschwitz”),and thus did the institution that was to
And they are correct, for neither time nor death has dimmed become the greatest slaughterhouse of the Western world de-
the rage, hate and pain of Auschwitz’s incorporeal residents. rive its name.
Postwar Jews have concocted an ironic joke concerning To accomplish this task, Himmler appointed a gray, bland,
the fate of European Jewry: The pessimists went into exile; the banal functionary whom accounts have described as resem-
optimists went to the death camps. And most postwar survivors bling a clerk or grocer. But this man, Rudolph Hoss, was him-
concede that to stay alive in the jaws of Auschwitz, one had self a former prison inmate, had served in Sachenhausen camp,
to cultivate a certain mental and emotional exile, a certain and well understood the dynamics of running a concentra-
callousness - indeed, a self-centered will to live that bor- tion facility. Under Hoss’ direction Auschwitz would evolve
dered on the vicious. Those who tried to retain their higher from a stables housing a few hundred riffraff to the world’s
natures (or, God forbid, expected others to do so!), who re- largest killing center - and Hoss himself would become no-
fused to fight for that extra potato or that crust of moldy bread, torious as the greatest mass murderer in history.
who refused to look the other way when their bunkmate was
But all that lay in the future. The Wannsee Conference,
brutalized, who refused to step on the heads of typhus pa-
i e n t r iXI.n +hr=ir
cl,,.-I1W rtri>nnlr= L n r +Lo l-trinn - x w a l l thr=wA i n A
wherein the Third Reich passed sentence on all European
L‘1Ll. O b L U , 5 6 L b .“I L‘Lb -
I L l L I L I L b “L”, L‘LLY U L b U .
Jews, had not yet been held; thus, the camp was intended to
~
Auschwitz’s Dead know this doubly well, for a great many hold Polish political prisoners. After H~~~had inspected the
of them were on the receiving end of someone else’s struggle site, his subordinate, ~ ~Gerhard Palitzch,
~ arrived ~
for survival. Most of Auschwitz’s Dead have taken that last withAuschwitz~s first 30 prisoners -harderled German crimi-

.
‘ I
c-. a
P
?I-
l -
P .\
rials all. Palitzch appointed these prisoners as kapos. (Prisoner
--‘ I ’ .
c .-
ing dens of vice, where German guards feasted, smoked and
I
4~ 1Bruno
, Brodniewicz,was appointed “camp senior” and be- drank themselves sick on food, tobacco and viands stolen from
E:ame a great crony of Palitzch.) Thus began the dominance the dead.
C)f the green triangles in Auschwitz, a dominance that lasted As the population grew, so did the buildings: The first
t hrough the camp’s history and contributed in no small fash- crematorium - formerly a munitions bunker - raised its
ion to the future inmates’ misery. chimney above the Sola marshes, swiftly followed by the pun-
Seven-hundred and twenty-eight Polish prisoners were ishment block - the infamous Block 11. And punishment
t ransferred to the nascent camp in short order, and more was indeed in the works - the first executions of Polish po-
S teadily trickled in thereafter. Naturally, someone had to keep litical prisoners took place there on the 22nd of November.
ain eye on these criminals, and so the original 15 SS were As of 1940’s end, 7879 prisoners had been interred at
Swiftly supplemented by 100 more. In time, the SS would Auschwitz. By 1945, out of two million who passed through
rlumber over 3,000, and the barracks would become sprawl- the camp’s gates, only a few thousand still lived.

Reichsmarks per day for skilled workers and three for unskilled
workers. The wage was paid to the SS, of course, not to the
workers themselves.
Work usually lasted 12 hours a day -after the prisoners’
four-hour roll call. This labor was performed on 1,500 calo-
ries a day and three to four hours’ sleep. Prisoners were ex-
pected to march to and from their jobs -often several kilo-
meters’ distance - and, to prevent idle hands making mis-
chief, prisoners had to carry five bricks with them on the re-
turn trip (which was made in march step).
Special projects were undertaken by penal companies -
gangs of prisoners singled out for special punishments. Penal com-
panies worked on the camp’s most grueling projects, such as toil-
ing in gravel pits and digging canals. Work continued all day
long, even during other prisoners’ (admittedlyinadequate) lunch
breaks and rest periods, and, lest the prisoners shirk their duties,
the most sadistic kapos oversaw the penal laborers. Those who
collapsed or could not keep up were beaten to death by these
-
kapos and the pace of labor was deliberately designed to in-
duce such collapse. Essentially, assignment to the penal com-
pany constituted a prolonged death sentence.
So impressive was the nascent camp’s operation - and
so sweeping were Nazi gains in Eastern Europe - that
Reichsftihrer Himmler, following a visit to the camp, ordered
the facilities enlarged to house 30,000prisoners. Furthermore,
Himmler ordered the construction of a sister camp in the town
of Brzezinka (Germanized to Birkenau), which would hold
no fewer than 100,000 prisoners of war. These prisoners,
Himmler decreed, would work tirelessly for the betterment of
the Nazi juggernaut -laboring in fields of agriculture, indus-
try, crafts, and above all, munitions.
But even as the High Command made plans for those pris-
oners fit and able to work, it concocted darker fates for those not
so fortunate. Though the Wannsee Conference had yet to take
place, the first sprouts of what would become the Final Solution
began poking through the Lager’s bloodstained soil.
The killings started slowly, tentatively, like a new lover’s
first bashful caresses. The first to die were a contingent of the
ill and disabled, who were shipped to a mental hospital in
Konigstein and gassed with carbon monoxide. This proved
successful enough that other ailing prisoners began to be
tion of Slaughter murdered, but via injections of various chemicals -benzine,
phenol, evipan and hydrogen peroxide - into the heart. Fi-
off well for Hoss and the SS. Following
nally, as an experiment, a group of 250 sick prisoners and 600
itives of the I.G. Farben Company, the
Russian POWs were herded into the bowels of Auschwitz’s
:nt to supply slave workers for construc-
Block 11 and gassed with Zyklon B.
ictories in the nearby town of Buna. (To
Dperation, Auschwitz personnel deported At about this time the SS began mass executions, shoot-
i. Farben agreed to pay a wage of four ing prisoners in the back of the neck with using small-caliber

r- w ‘”1 r-
1942 - The Final Solution The Nazis employed other murder methods as well. Aryan
prisoners in Auschwitz’s hospitals and infirmaries still received
With the ‘CdiSCove$ of Zyklon B, H6ss quickly realized phenol injections in the heart, other prisoners were disposed
he had hit on something. Execution by Zyklon B was quick, of with bullets to the back of the neck, and in at least one
efficient, relatively cheap, and spared the SS from actually instance, a group of sick prisoners was herded into an enclosed
having to listen to the screams of prisoners cut down by gun- section of Birkenau and beaten to death with clubs. But Hoss
fire. It was the perfect solution to Himmler’s decree that knew efficiency when he saw it, and SO Auschwitz gradually
Auschwitz was to be the industrialized abattoir for the Jews of became synonymous with gas chambers and Zyklon €3.
the East. 1942 saw the camp swell exponentially, like a festering
And so, having greased the axles in 1941, the Nazis spun boil on the skin of a typhus patient. Cattle cars came from all
the wheels of murder inexorably into motion. January 1942 Over Europe - France, Slovakia, Belgium, Yugoslavia - to
marked an important event: the first mass gassing of Jews sent disgorge their human cargo, and it was during the spring of
specifically to their deaths. Following this “ribbon-cutting” 1942 that the first women came to the camp. To their dismay
ceremony, gassings took place regularly. These murders were and embarrassment, these women were processed in the same
conducted in a farmhouse especially converted for the pur- manner as were the men, and to clothe them, the Nazis pro-
pose (the days of the great crematoria were yet to come) and vided uniforms looted from dead Soviet POWs.
the bodies buried in mass graves.

1
8
“Cyclon” was an acronym taken from the names of the gas’s
primary components: cyanide, chlorine and nitrogen. Prior
One louse Can kill
to its use at Auschwitz, Zyklon B was a pesticide used to ex- Those inmates fortunate enough to survive the gauntlet of
terminate rats and cockroaches. It left a bluish stain when horrors that was everyday life in the Lager stillhad to contend against
sprayed, coloring the surfaces of the chambers where it was a legion of invisible threats. Diseasesof all sorts ranrampant through-
deployed. out the camp. Foremost among these were typhus and dysentery.
Though camp kommandant Rudolph Hoss, in his mem- T’hus is a loathsome disease characterized by suppurat-
oirs, describes the deaths as painless and the bodies as peace- ing sores, lesions and abscesses; blackened tongues; fever; the
ful, more unbiased accounts tell a different story. Various vomiting of blackish sludge; and cranial pressure. It was trans-
members of the Sonderkommandos assigned to loot and dis- mitted by body lice, which were endemic to the camp as they
pose of the dead spoke in no uncertain terms of “lattices of fed on blood and pus from prisoners’various untreated wounds
bodies”:mounds of distended torsos and tangled limbs sprawled and abscesses. Waves of typhus felled thousands -prisoners
to the ceiling, as stronger members trampled their weaker and guards alike - and inhabitants of typhus-stricken bar-
brethren in a frantic attempt to escape the gas; bodies cov- racks were often sent one and all to the gas chambers.
ered in bruises, lacerations and welts inflicted by the neigh- Dysentery is a gastrointestinal disorder characterized by
bors who attempted to use them as living ladders to gain a the body’s inability to retain food, which is instead passed as
few more seconds of air; fingers broken and arms dislocated gouts of bloody diarrhea. Sufferersof dysentery display discol-
in a frantic struggle to beat down the walls; blood from rup- ored, greenish faces and exude a rank stench. Dysentery is
tured lungs and sinuses burbling out the noses and mouths of not so contagious as typhus, but equally as lethal.
faces so blue and swollen as to be virtually unrecognizable;
and the whole tableau stained with urine and feces, as blad-
ders and bowels spasmed in the final death-throes. Death,
1943 - Devouring Flames
though certain, was by no means instant (particularly since In the spring of 1943 the Birkenau Kremas were com-
the ever-efficient Nazis utilized the minimum amount of gas pleted, one by one. These crematoria - four of them -
necessary to ensure a kill) and the bloated remnants of the dwarfed the one already in operation at Auschwitz proper.
victims’ faces spoke clearly of the agony they had undergone. Now the Final Solution could proceed in earnest.
Trainloads of Jewsfrom all over Europe arrived to meet their
I
T doom. Some trainloads were sent one and all to the gas; others
were sent through the sekktion mechanism and had the strong
culled from the weak. Gassing and burning continued day and
night (Hoss estimated that up to 20,000 prisoners could be ex-
terminated in one day), and so the black smoke and rank stench
of charred human flesh permeated the camp.
Amazingly enough, life in Auschwitz improved - albeit
marginally - toward the end of the year. Hoss’ actions as
kommandant of Auschwitz earned him a promotion to Inspector
of Concentration Camps, and to fill his jackboots the High - Com-
mand appointed SS Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Liebehenschel.
Liebehenschelproved somewhat mild, by SS standards:He made
efforts to curb the kapos’ random beating of prisoners; marginally
increased prisoners’ rations; and even installed a swimming pool,
with swimming privileges to be awarded to particularly well-be-
haved prisoners (Liebehenscheltook over in November -well
into the brutal Polish winter -but it’s the thought that counts).
Sonderkommandos
Naturally, the Nazis did not wish to stoop to the odious
task of disposing with the corpses of their victims, and so they
implemented the formation of special squads of Jewish pris-

No lead shielding was used, and subsequently the patient’s
genitals often erupted with burns and abscesses -which then
Sonderkommando tasks including bathing the recently grew infected due to the filth in which the prisoners lived.
killed with firehoses, in order to cleanse them of urine and This side effect usually occurred after the prisoner had been
feces spewed in the death-throes; cracking open the corpses’ sent back to his labor detail, and because such trifles were not
jaws and stripping the fillings from their teeth; shaving the permitted to interfere with work, those who could not keep
corpses and gathering the hair for use in Nazi industry; and up were summarily gassed. Those victims who were still alive
actually tossing the corpses into the crematorium ovens. two to four weeks later were summoned back to the medical
In exchange for these ghoulish duties, prisoners in the block and physically sterilized, so that their testicles or ova-
Sonderkommandowere treated considerably better than other ries could be analyzed and dissected.
prisoners. Thev were allowed to choose comfortable and stvl- Clauberg experimented with a different sort of steriliza-
ish clothes from the camp magazines instead of being issued tion process, using women selected from among the Auschwitz
the lice-infested burlap rags worn by their counterparts in the and Ravensbruck prisoners. (Accounts of the selection pro-
barracks. They received decent and ample food. They were cess indicate that physical attractiveness was one of the pri-
issued relatively spacious living quarters, and they had a greater mary criteria in selection of experimental subjects.) After
run of the camp than did the typical inmate. strapping the women into gynecological apparatus, Clauberg
But the Nazis did not wish to take any chances that news injected caustic chemicals into their uteri. (He must have been
of their crimes would reach the outside world - and so each extremely concerned about the thoroughness of the proce-
Sonderkommando squad had a lifespan of four months. At dure; subsequent autopsies of victims revealed that Clauberg’s
the end of that time, the Sonderkommando was led into the injections often penetrated to the end of the ovarian duct or
nearby woods and machine-gunned to death. Indeed, the first even punctured the abdominal cavity.) Many of the victims
duty of each new Sonderkommando was to dispose of the died during the experiment itself or from subsequent infece
corpses of their predecessors. tion; those who did not were gassed.
t/assenhologie 1944 - The hungarian Massacre

As the Nazi war machine devoured enormous expanses But though conditions in the camp improved somewhat
of Europe, the Nazi High Command began to wonder about for Gentiles, the situation for the Jews was about to get much
what to do with the hordes of conquered prisoners. One of worse. The Final Solution now spread to engulf Hungary and
the primary reasons for beginning the war in the first place its massive Jewish population.
was to gain Lebensraum (living space) for German citizens, The High Command soon realized that such an impor-
and so the Slav nations of the east were to be colonized and tant mission of eradication could not be entrusted to the com-
their inhabitants displaced. However, the Nazi war effort was paratively humane Liebehenschel; accordingly, in May of
in need of slave labor, and the Slavs were not deemed to be 1944, Hoss was recalled to Auschwitz-Birkenau and given
quite so subhuman as the Jews. overall command of the Final Solution in Hungary.
The agreed-upon solution was to sterilize the populace Trains rolled in night and day, carrying thousands upon thou-
of Eastern Europe, thus keeping the current populace as labor sands of Hungarian Jews. Joiningthem were countless thousands
for the war while preventing them from breeding. Reichsfiihrer of Poles, survivors of the failed ghetto uprisings in Lodz and
Himmler began accepting all manner of proposals for quick, Warsaw. Often the trains’ occupants were not given even a pre-
rr. .
1
cneap, emcient Inethods of rendering large groups of persons tense of a sekktion, but carted away to the gas chambers regard-
such proposals -often amounting to bizarre less of health or age. Intellectuals and morons; rabbis and crimi-
or even fetishistiIC quackery - were authorized by the “race nals; men, women and children: It did not matter. Himmler had
Reich, with the living or dead bodies of con- decreed that Auschwitz was to destroy the Jews of the East, and
prisoners provided as experimental subjects. destroy them it did throughout that long bleak year. Never was.
octors Clauberg and Schuhmann went about the camp free from the stench of burning flesh.
the task of condticting sterilization experiments. In many ways, 1944 marked the apex of the murders. Nearly
foulest method involved the use of X-rays. 100,000 prisoners crammed amid enclosures of barbed wire, in
nt was ushered into a lab, and the prisoner’s barracks designed for a few horses. Entire sections of the camp
surreptitiously bathed with invisible X-rays. were summarily quarantined and sent to the gas, as the Nazis,
L L,

fearful of Allied invasion, began to sweep Auschwitz under the
rug. The pace of killing whipped into a frenzied maelstrom, as
the machinery of the Lager frantically sought to devour all of mained inoperative for the rest of the camp’s existence.
Europe’s Jews before the ever-more-certainend came.. .. Unfortunately, the SS was able to keep the various work-
Something had to snap. And in the fall of 1944 it did, ers of Kremas 11, I11 and IV from linking up. Scattered and
when a plan was put into fruition. The members of the 12th overwhelmed, the surviving Sonder men ran for the Vistula,
Sonderkommando were well aware of their limited lifespan; but fled in the wrong direction. They were recaptured and
having been informed by the camp underground that the hour summarily executed with machine-guns and flamethrowers.
of doom was nearly upon them, the 12th - alone among In the end, all 853 Sonder men had died - but they had
Sonderkommandos - made plans for a desperate escape. taken 70 SS men with them.
Working with members of the camp underground, the The vengeful Dead of Auschwitz could not have been
Sonderkommando smuggled gunpowder into the death cham- happier.
bers where they worked. Their plan was to blow up one of the
Kremas and, using that as a distraction, overwhelm the guards,
make for a section of the wire previously shut down by the
The Camp Underground
camp underground, cut through, and run for the loop of the Although from 1942 on, Auschwitz was specifically de-
Vistula. Once lost in the surrounding woods, they would at- signed to kill Jews, the camp still incarcerated its fair share of
tempt to join Polish resistance movements in the area. political prisoners. Furthermore, many other triangles of pris-
oners allowed themselves to be recruited into political move-
Ambitious, yes. Desperate, certainly. But what other
choice did they have? ments behind the wire. Accordingly, - . a large antifascist un-
derground movement sprang up among the inhabitants of
And so the 12th Sonderkommando rose in revolt, and
Auschwitz. This organization, which Hoss dubbed the “un-
two SS guards were hurled alive into the ovens. In a bizarre
derground,” was primarily devoted to the survival of its mem-
turn of events, the SS dogs refused to attack the Sonder men.
bers, but also strove to work against the SS in whatever small
(Ghostly intervention, or simply coincidence?) Krema 1V
ways it could.
’I
?
m-
8
The underground played a deadly game of human chess
with the green triangles and the SS. Underground life in
Auschwitz became a continual struggle to place one’s “pieces”
- prisoners loyal to the underground cause - in favored
positions in the camp, whereby they could “organize” extra
food and goods, “lose” prisoners too sick to work by burying
them in mazes of bureaucracy, and otherwise keep resistance
members alive. Often this was done at the expense of green
triangles, sadistic kapos or -less pleasantly -innocent pris-
oners whose crime was that they were not members of the
underground. More than one kapo or prisoner who offended
the underground was “mysteriously”summoned to the camp
infirmary and given a lethal injection in the heart.
Toward war’s end, the underground stockpiled guns and
homemade grenades, preparing for a revolt should Allied forces
draw near. This uprising never materialized,save in the aborted
escape attempt of the 12th Sonderkommando.
The SS, of course, was swift to retaliate against any
proven, suspected or presumed underground member. The cells
of Auschwitz’s Block 11 constantly rang with the screams of
prisoners brutally tortured by SS and Gestapo in search of
confessions or information.
By 1945, the sound of bombs could be heard roaring on the

horizon, and it was obvious that the war would soon be over. The
machinery of death, which had ground up so many people so
efficiently in 1944,began to grind to a halt. There were no more
sekktim; no more gassings; no more executions.
The impending collapsewas obvious. SS staggered around
openly drunk, and the crushing terror of totalitarianism was
replaced by a nerve-wracking anarchy. Rumors flew: Would
the SS kill everyone in the camp? Would the Soviets arrive
too late? Would the prisoners all be burned at once, so the
secret of Auschwitz would never be told?
Many things, indeed, began to bum: The camp records
burned, and the storehouses with their plunder from murdered Germany. (They were not told, of course, that once in Ger-
millions; and then the Birkenau crematoria erupted for the many they were to be executed, so that Auschwitz’s secret
last time in gouts of purifying flame as the SS blew them up, might remain forever untold. But most of the prisoners were
one by one. The Oswiecim power station burned, a target of already familiar with Auschwitz’s ways, and did not need to
Soviet bombs, and the camp plunged into darkness. be informed of something so obvious.)
The prisoners suffered a multitude of fates: Some were The prisoners did know - very well - that to disobey
summarily shot, while the weak and ill were left in the camp the SS was to die. And so they marched. Those who could
sans electricity, food or water. However, most survivors were not keep up were shot. Those who stumbled were shot. Those
rounded up by the SS,herded into ragged columns, and handed who paused to attempt to rub warmth into frostbitten feet
a sausage, a hunk of bread, and a blanket. Auschwitz was be- were shot. Those who looked as though they were going to
ing evacuated, they were told, and they would march into make a break for the woods were shot.

ers, kine, Quick - who had suffered and died and caused oth- cide gas used in the killing -lies impotent, its cargo of lethal
ers to suffer and die: They tried to forget, reacted with out- pellets spilling like wasp larvae from a hapless caterpillar.
rage, told themselves “We Wouldn’t Have Done This,” and Blocks Five through Seven continue the immersion pro-
in countless other ways tried to put an end to the hell incar- cess. Hills of shoes, mountains of spectacles, forests of human
nate that was Auschwitz. hair swell behind glass cases. In one exhibit hang the rags that
For the Dead it was only beginning. Auschwitz prisoners were forced to wear while toiling in subzero
temperatures - sum, of course, the swarms of lice with which
Geoyaphy - skinlands such rags were invariably infested. Block Six displays the cup of
soup, slab of bread and piece of sausage (approximately15oOcalo-
ries) with which each inmate was expected to fortify himself for
a 19- or 20-hour day of grueling labor.
uschwitz-Birkenau stands to this day - And everywhere the photos stare: grotesque tableaux de-
at least in part, for much of the camp was picting emaciated, naked creatures seemingly copied from an El
razed in 1945 by an SS desperate to hide Greco or Bosch painting. Truly it is as if some latter-day Bosch
their crimes from the inexorable Russian painted the denizens of Hell: whip-scarred,caked with scabs and
advance. Parts of the camp were subse- running sores, genitals obscenely mutilated. Only the painful
quently restored, and today the site houses thinness, and the ubiquitous tattoos, remain constant.
a museum - the Panstwowe Munum w
The visitors react as they will; some weep, some stare
Oswiecimin-commemorating the victims of the Holocaust.
blankly, some turn away. Few remain unmoved, particularly
when the camp’s former denizens attempt to conjure all man-
Auschwitz ner of poignant Phantasms, hoping for a snippet of Pathos.
The gate, with its ARBEIT MACHT FREI motto, still Kapo Ficzka contemptibly compares this behavior to the beg
welcomes visitors to the museum, as it welcomed the prison- ging of semidomesticated bears at a national park, but this
ers half a century ago. The watch towers still rear to the sky, does little to deter the ravenous Dead of Auschwitz.
and miles of rusting barbed wire still encircle the grounds, It is perhaps in the notorious Block 11, spiderweb of the
although the machine-guns no longer claim victims, and high- Gestapo’s atrocities, that the emotional resonances are felt
voltage current no longer crackles along the fences. most strongly. Nihil tributaries from Sheol web this area, the
The tar-paper barracks and lanes lie silent and sepulchral site of SS interrogations, executions and punishments. Here
in their orderly rows, though the grass grows rampant, no were interred the victims of the Stehdles (standing cells):
longer neatly pruned. On particularly calm days, it is difficult cubicles whose width and breadth were 90 centimeters each.
to conjure the roar of trains and trucks, barking of dogs and Prisoners confined to the Stehiylles could not sit or lie down
guards, shots, screams and wet sounds of metal and wood on and were provided with no bathroom facilities; this last in-
skin and bone that once echoed through the camp. Even more dignity soon did not matter, however, as these prisoners were
difficult to imagine, as the tourist inhales the crisp air of a neither fed nor given water.
Silesian autumn, are the frightful smells that once wafted along
these streets - the stench of thousands of unbathed bodies,
many fallen to injury or illness, and over everything the smell
Zum krematorium
Altogether, seven buildings were used to carry out the
of burning meat.
Nazis’ genocide, although only four - the crematoria in
Here, behind the endless wire, in these barracks where Birkenau - actually conform to the stereotype of the giant
so many lives came and were snuffed out, the museum’s per- industrial death factory commonly imagined by students of
manent exhibits lie on display. Here in Block Four - the the Holocaust. The first and oldest crematoriumlgas cham-
“Extermination” exhibit - is the Hall of Nations, displaying ber, Number I, was located in Auschwitz itself and was con-
the flags of those countries whose citizens were shipped to siderably smaller than Kremas II-V. These enormous edifices,
their death. Here also sits a sculpted model graphically - completed in 1943, were located at Birkenau. Additionally,
luridly - displaying the process of a gassing, from the herd- two converted farmhouses (the “red” and “white” farmhouses)
ing of the victims to the consigning of their corpses to the were used as gas chambers, but had no crematoria annexed to
crematoria. Behind one case, a tin of Zyklon B - the pesti- them. Victims murdered here were buried in mass graves or
burned in open pits.
I
And Birkenau also stands, and is also open to those who
wish to view the Third Reich’s handiwork. It is vaster than
Auschwitz, befitting its intended function as slaughter pen
for all of Europe’s Jews. It is a gargantuan spiderweb of wood
and mud and endless, endless wire.
If the overall ambience of Auschwitz is one of stifling,
alone or nocturnally at Birkenau may taste altogether too

much of the Shadow-eaten’spain.
It was here, not so long ago, that the cloudless azure sky
of a Polish fall was blackened by volcanic clouds of human
soot belching from four elephantine smokestacks. Today the
sky is once again clear, and only gaping pits remain to mark
the site of the great Kremas - though visitors viewing the
sites often feel as though they are being blanketed by an in-
Visitors enter- as did the prisoners, not so long ago -

through an edifice known as the Gate of Death. This struc-
ture served as a combination entrance and SS guardhouse.
And once inside, the visitor is treated to much the same
view as a newly arrived prisoner: rows upon rows of barbed
wire, signs warning against contact with the now-deactivated
electrified fences, and rows of dilapidated wooden barracks.
Now, of course, a silent tension replaces the roar of trucks
and dogs and kapos and flames; there are no sekktions to watch,
no swarms of zebra-striped skeletons, no corpses lying in the
Only a few sites are open to the public; the rest of the
camp slowly falls apart, as the world hopes that time will heal
even this most grievous of wounds. Far to the left lies an ex-
hibit displaying the suffering and travails of the penal compa-
nies; while poignant in and of itself, its emotional impact is
largely eclipsed by those simple holes in the earth, on which
the Kremas rebuild themselves in the viewers’ minds.
A 1 r . 1 r-1 . .__._ ..:-:
__-^ ..:,.....L- T+,,

L
&.. .T f‘ c.
7r r- 7r -\ 7 7 . - r---- ,IC
The pond into which the ashes from Kremas IV and V were vocably shattered. Though the raw Pathos of their deaths still
dumped still sits, and the slick whitish-gray film covering and chains them to the camp, these mindless ghosts lack the sen-
saturating it has not been thinned by time. Occasionally a Spec- tience to do anything except repeat the circumstances lead-
tral band, empowered by visitors’ revulsion at the sight of the ing to their demises. Most dybbuks simply let the mussulmen
human effluvia, uses a Dark Arcanos variant of Outrage to ani- wander as they will, eternally reenacting whatever bizarre

dead mothers robotically imploring long-dead SS men not to But no, the grayish mass is a monstrous cloud, choking
murder equally long-dead babies. and opaque as the twin mushroom clouds that - too little
These manifestations strengthen at night -particularly too late for these wraiths! -heralded the end of the Second
when the Spectres goad and orchestrate the mussulmen’s dra- World War.
mas -and thus the Quick can find the deserted camp a some- The cloud rises, and settles, and expands, and contracts,
what unhealthy place to explore after dark. and occasionally extends probing pseudopodia skyward, as
though the residents of the camp were trying to tap God on
The Dark kingdom of wre the foot and ask, “Why?” But it is never still. And, gazing
upon this phenomenon, the wise traveler becomes aware that
he is preparing to enter that problematic environmental haz-
ard known as the Great Miasma of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Sometimes the Miasma is the industrial cyan shade of
llegssunj Zyklon B; other times, litten by pillars of flame from the
ike other Necropoli, the Auschwitz- Kremas, it glows lurid crimson. Most of the time, however, it
Birkenau of the Shadowlands is intan- retains the combined hues of its constituent components:
gible, and any sensory data received from endless flakes of tattooed human skin, charred flesh, ash and
it are as much spiritual as physical. And bone dust. And so the traveler who would come to Auschwitz
so it is telling, perhaps, that the first thing must literally trudge through a blizzard of human tissue,
the Lager’s few visitors register, as they clammy and cold as a Polish winter.
sweep across the cracked clay of At its weakest, the Miasma hovers around the grounds
Shadowlands Silesia, is the wind-borne stench - the suffo- like a viscous fog. It lies relatively quiescent, though travelers
cating potpourri from two million bodies’ worth of singed hair, passing through a thick bank may be stroked by a cold ecto-
skin blasted to charcoal, rotting flesh and dysentery-tainted plasmic tendril which, though incorporeal, exudes a sense of
feces, all mixed with the singular odor of noxious fumes. The sliminess. Occasionally clouds of the stuff will detach them-
smell precedes sound, outdistances sight, and some wraithly selves to float against the moon or over the loop of the Sola
visitors aver that the odor lingers on the Corpus for days after River.
departing the camp, despite the best efforts one can make Sometimes, for no particular reason, the Miasma will
with Castigate and Moliate. Indeed, a few more somber mem- coagulate, growing stronger, louder and more odoriferous.The
bers of the Restless Dead swear that the smell never quite gas will roil with streaks of other colors, and the flakes will
leaves, and that the winds of Auschwitz carry a measure of coalesce into bas-reliefs of unpleasantly groping shapes. It is
Oblivion itself. wise to seek shelter at this time.
Then comes the sound: murmur-faint at first, like the But most of the time, the Miasma allows the visitor to
whimpering of a murdered baby, occasionally amplifying into pass with only minimal resistance. As the traveler nears the
a feverish crescendo. This, too, is a mClange: a babel of voices camp proper, shoving her way through the rain of skin and
sobbing,whispering, pleading, screaming, barking orders, curs- bone, tangible shapes become discernible. Four cylinders of
ing or gurgling in the death-spasm strain to make themselves darkness tower against the gray sky, and from their tops roar
heard over a cacophonous accompaniment of grinding gears, pillars of luminous radiance, briefly reminding the traveler of
shrieking winds, hissing current and crackling flames. Over lighthouses seen through the fog. But the light the towers
all, as if conducting the disparate sounds into a single pur- shed is the infernal scarlet of crematory flames, and despite
poseful madrigal, echoes a low, endless, oscillating groan, in- 50 years’ passage, the stink of scorched meat is still nigh un-
stinctual and animalistic, a sort of whalesong. And perhaps, bearable.
of all creatures, only the whales - themselves mechanisti-
cally hounded nearly to extinction -could comprehend the
intricate, mournful monotony that is the dirge of Auschwitz.
Auschwitz
The first sight springs on the traveler suddenly, and he And there it is:
might almost imagine that some waif of the Tempest has ARBEIT MACHT FREI.
spouted forth here - and perhaps, in some sense, it has. For Work will make you free.
surely the roiling ashen thing defiling the Shadowlands hori- The motto, cleverly shaped from half-molten weldings
zon is a Nihil or some other form of Tempestuous eruption. of animate slag, emblazons the moaning sky. Illuminated by
I
the glow from the crematory pyres, it warns, or beckons, from
a gunmetal gate that seems almost liquescent, like lava crys-
tallized in midflight. And there, eternally fused to the gate,
*-
4
the half-formed, weeping faces stare impotently, just as they
did at the war-crimes trials. Hoss is there, yes, and Moll, and
the Axe Queen of Budy, and others less notorious but just as
brutal. Still others - Mengele, Mussfeld, Grabner - have
thus far escaped the vengeance of the Camp of the Dead.
Work will make you free. That motto was a mantra for
P
Auschwitz’s architect and orchestrator,Kommandant Rudolph P
Hoss -the mission statement behind every one of the camp’s
two million murders - and so, the inhabitants reason, it is I
only fitting that Hoss’s molten, soulforged Corpus be used !
physically to inscribe the message that so inspired him in life.
In all directions stretch plains of cracked yellow rock.
Here and there a rock or plot stands in sharper focus: perhaps
the last boulder inadvertently dropped by an exhausted la-
ic.
borer who for that transgression subsequently fell under the
kapos’ truncheons; perhaps the last stone trod upon by a des-
perately fleeing escapee as a barrage of machine-gun fire tore
c
him to pieces; even, perhaps, the ground where a “parachut-
ist” broke open his head after a two-story swan dive for the k
sport of the SS.
And everywhere, there is wire. It coils in and out of the
fog, sprouting like kudzu over the endless rows of tar-paper
barracks, twisting and groping in every direction and from
the gate to the horizon.
For in the Shadowlands, Auschwitz-Birkenau has burst
its original boundaries, as the putrid core of a rotten fruit will
rupture its rind. If the original camp was by far the largest KZ,
in the Shadowlands it has become a virtual city. Mazes of
wire and mausoleums of bile-green tar-paper weave and wind
in serpentine parodies of streets. Signs proclaiming “Halt-stoj”
shine in the phosphorescent glare of crackling fences. the camp, twisting here and there and everywhere in crazy
The camp streets proper are a morass of mud and human patterns - the filaments of expertly braided and stranded
flakes, constantly seething and roiling. At times a half-formed soul-stuff,spidersilk-thin and diamond-hard; the razored edges
caricature attempts to detach itself from the stew: a mussulmn and serrated spikes, which occasionally drip with a viscous
drone mindlessly struggling to get up from the ground that pus; and, most frighteningly, the lethal current visibly crack-
became its enervated living counterpart’sdeathbed. Occasion- ling in ultraviolet waves down the fences, one jolt of which is
ally, the muck itself will groan from a spontaneously extruded 10 times enough to send the sturdiest wraith howling down
face, or grope at passersby’s Corpora with pseudopodlikehands. into the Labyrinth. When queried, the KZ’s taciturn
kommandos mutter of “channeling soulfire,” though no Arti-
Boundaries ficer among the Restless Dead, not even Ember himself, is
aware of such a process. Nor do the baleful energies sparking
Brutally utilitarian in life, the wire fences of Auschwitz from the wires resemble any soulfire known to Stygia’s
beyond the Shroud are clever constructs indeed, even by the craftspersons.
exacting standards of Stygia’s Artificers. More than one visit. Equally disconcerting is the fact that, in Auschwitz, the
ing wraith skilled in the art of forging has expressed amaze- barbed wire seems to be endowed with a peculiar animate
ment at the ubiquitous growth that winds mazelike through quality. No dybbuk has ever seen the stuff writhe and twist,
L

per se, but certainly Auschwitz’s residents, upon arising from
Slumber, have been shocked to find kudzulike growths of
razored, spiked darksteel caking entire barracks where the Nevertheless, there are certain areas of the Lager where
evening before there had been nothing. Indeed, some wraiths, sane wraiths do not go. The Puff is at best problematic, while
awed by Auschwitz’s sheer size, have proposing renaming it the “neighborhoods”around Blocks 10 and 11,Konigsgraben,
the Dark Kingdom of Wire. and any of the subdivisions near Sheol are frankly unsafe for
Needless to say, Auschwitz’s wire is unforgivingly sharp; those Dead not in service to Oblivion. Chilling howls and
most dybbuks bear Corporal scars from accidental contact, worse noises can be heard from behind the barbed wire at
and a few unlucky wraiths have been blasted straight to night, and incautious dybbuks wandering here after dark of-
Oblivion through stumbling into the deadly vines. Nonethe- ten vanish outright.
less, Auschwitz wraiths often “harvest” this “raw material,”
weaving it into all manner of vestments, whips and other uten-
sils; this extremely dangerous art is practiced by only a few
dybbuks, and they are valued for their skills. Auschwitz-Birkenau was a tremendously complex struc-
ture, a Chinese box of horrors, and so it is difficult to point to
The Blocks a “hub” or “center” of its evil. Was it Hoss? Himmler? The
Kremas?Block 1l ?The selektions?There are as many theories
To the horizon they stretch: endless rows of tin and wood
as there are experts.
and green tar-paper. Dilapidated, cramped, and in many cases
half-eaten by Oblivion, the blocks where Auschwitz’s resi- In the Shadowlands, however, Auschwitz-Birkenau has
dents suffered in life are the sites they call home in death. a very clearly defined nexus: that enormous Nihil which swal-
lowed the SS barracks at Birkenau in 1945, and which the
Despite the barracks’ repulsiveness, triangles and
dybbuks fearfully refer to as Sheol.
kommandos battle incessantly over these Haunts. Auschwitz-
Birkenau is an unhealthy place even for the Dead, and those If other Nihils are rifts in the fabric of reality, Sheol is a
who lack the friends, strength or cunning to force themselves gaping Mariana Trench spiraling down into what surely must

be the Void itself. Its bottom cannot be seen, though mutter-
ing, wailing and singing perpetually waft from the deeps, and
Sheol is the jumping-off point of most Spectral incursions.
Though the “eye” of Sheol is more or less centered on
the SS barracks, cracks and tributaries of nothingness peri-
odically wind through the camp, like the questing tentacles
Most of the time the Nihil lies relatively quiescent, rip-

pling, dilating and contracting in disturbing but harmless
pulses. But all dybbuks fear the random but inevitable “erup-
tions” when Sheol’s center swells like a vast black tsunami,
and a frightful collective scream rises fiom the depths. At these
times. Shenl vnmitr fnrth rwarmc nf Snertrs and neither the
4

The Gas Chambers and the client, a visit to the Puff can be ecstatic or a Harrow-
In the Shadowlands, one can also find the death cham-
ing-level nightmare.
bers themselves: Nihil-ridden, blue-stained rooms through
which dybbuks are loath to tread. Oblivion radiates from these Despite its dubious reputation and clientele, the Puff is
rooms in waves as noxious and tangible as Zyklon B, and de- often the only answer for those dybbuks too weak to assert
their rights to Auschwitz’s communal Pathos. All comers are
spite being Fettered here, most dybbuks prefer to leave these
serviced, though those who cannot pay in Relics or Pathos
abhorrent sites to the night and the Spectres.
must sign their names in the madam’s debt book, and the fate
These sites are veritable Pathos banquets, but the emo-
of those whose tabs run too high is perhaps best left a mystery.
tions obtained here are dark indeed, and most dybbuks view
the “drinking” of such Pathos as revolting and blasphemous. The madam of this establishment is one Cecile Gildeau:
But neither the censure of their fellows nor the darksteel a French Jew, a prostitute and a victim of the 1942 Budy Mas-
chains barring entrance to the “blue rooms” stop certain sacre. Gildeau is a past master of Usury, Moliate and Phan-
weaker dybbuks deprived of needed spiritual energy by their tasm. She is also an expert at reassuring nervous first-timers
ravenous brethren. These dybbuks, urged on by whispers from who might otherwise be put off by the weird entertainment,
deep within their Corpora -or perhaps from within the Ni- or by the fact that Gildeau’s head, hacked off by Budy’s noto-
hil-cracks fracturing the “blue room” walls - sneak into the rious Axe Queen, whispers seductively from its resting place
under the crook of her left arm. Her Corpus is lush and exag-
death chambers as evening falls, indulging in gluttonous feasts
of lurid trauma. geratedly feminine, dressed in diaphanous lingerie. This di-
verts viewers’ eyes from the ragged stump of her neck and the
Certain particularly careless feeders find themselves still
fact that Cecile’s severed head is an elaborately rouged and
within the death chambers as darkness falls.. .and their fate is
made-up, but still fleshless, skull. She and Steuben, while not
often ghastly indeed, even by the standards of Auschwitz.
friends exactly, have reached an understanding, and he oper-
The puff (The house of Dolls) ates his business from the House of Dolls’ bar.
Carnage and carnality often go hand in hand, and so even konigsgraben (king’s Ditch)
the Camp of the Dead had its brothel. Staffed by the absolute
This murky canal winds its way through Shadowlands
lowest caliber of prostitutes, the brothel was offered as a re-
Birkenau, suffused with the Pathos of legions of penal work
ward for good behavior; the SS enjoyed the idea of the camp’s
gangs who expired during its construction. Healthy dybbuks
emaciated scarecrows rutting themselves that much quicker
don’t go anywhere -near Konigsgraben’s waters, as the entire
into the grave. The whores also serviced the SS (rape of pris-
area is haunted by Spectres.
oners by the SS was harshly punished -not out of concern
for the women’s sensibilities, but rather because the moralists Unfortunately, Konigsgraben occasionally comes to the
of the SS found it revolting that sons of the Reich would de- dybbuks; during Maelstroms and Sheol’s upheavals, the canal
file themselves with subhuman sluts). often heaves itself bodily from its banks, twisting and writh-
ing like a great watery python. Shrieking Shades and
The Dead remember many things, and so the Puff still
Mortwights ride the flume, abandoning themselves to
stands in the Shadowlands. Fueled by copious quantities of
Konigsgraben’s torrent even as they empower it. Entire bar-
Pathos procured from their services, the residents of this place
racks have been lost, as the animate flood crashes on them
have turned the brothel into a den of opulent, if somewhat
like a fist (accompanied by Spectral shrieks of “Eme to go to
garish, majesty. Red lanterns made from the Corporal skins of
the showers, lads!”) and sucks them into the Tempest.
deadbeat johns grace the exterior, illuminating barbed-wire
sculptures depicting various prurient acts.
Inside, the House of Dolls is bordello, nightclub and caba-
Auschwitz iii (Buna-Monowitz)
ret. The main area features a stage on which a variety of en- The factory camp of Buna is firmly in the hands of the
tertainments are performed nightly, from obscene Phantasms Collective. It is here that Auschwitz’s Artificers forge much
of Wagner operas to bizarre tableaux involving “captive”Spec- of their steel and their wire, and it is here that captive Nazi
tres and SS Waffengeisten. From this main area, several door- wraiths or Spectres are brought to be slagged for darksteel.
ways and tunnels lead clients into private subterranean al- Buna is several kilometers from Auschwitz-Birkenau
coves, and most emotion-starved dybbuks venturing there do proper, and while this distances it from the worst of Sheol’s

eruptions, it also means that dybbuks here must often fend ing and dying some distance from the main camp. In the
for themselves. This they have done with commendable skill, Shadowlands, most of the subcamps were methodically cut
erecting barbed-wire barricades and relic walls from shrapnel off and devoured by spectral hordes long ago, which only fu-
bombed into the Shadowlands by Allied air strikes. els Buna’s paranoia. A few of these camps still house scat-
The great factory itself is an edifice out of a Fritz Lang tered triangles of eccentric dybbuks; how these enclaves sur-
movie: an enormous enclosed structure bristling with pipes, vive in the midst of the Spectre-haunted wastes is a mystery
gears, weaponry and bizarre engines. Through its clanking to the dybbuks of the main camp, who view such outsiders
corridors and tunnels scurry the industrious dybbuks of the with great suspicion.
Collective, performing their tasks with antlike precision.
Unlike its sister camps, Buna has a definite leader: Stefan
Brukovich, an old concentrationeryand Communistwho survived
10 years in various camps only to be shot by the SS in the days
before the evacuations.The crusty old dybbuk is a political master
Society
It was a world unto itself, a state within a state, a society
and shrewd bargainer, having been a union agitator before the
without h w . Men were flung into it to fight for their naked lives,
war. Under his leadership, Buna’s dybbuks have gained ample ac-
for mere survival.
cess to the Pathos wellsprings of the two more famous camps.
- Publisher’s introduction to Eugen Kogol’s The Theory
Over the years, the dybbuks of Buna have shut them-
and Practice of Hell
selves off from the teeming throngs of their sister camps. In-
he term “society” is at best a polite euphe-
creasingly isolationist and distrustful of the corruption creep-
mism here. Just as there is nothing one
ing its way through Auschwitz and Birkenau, Buna dybbuks
can realistically term “society” in a swarm
keeD to themselves and their work.
of flies, though they all buzz around the
same piece of compost, so the dybbuks of
Auschwitz eschew any sort of concrete
The greatest “forges” are the Birkenau Kremas themselves. system of government.
Dybbuks who work here turn gray rather than black, their Corpora There is no Hierarchy here: no Fiihrer to beguile the
encrusted with bone dust and skin flakes. These forges are insuffi- masses and bark commands. After all, who could presume to
ciently hot to forge darksteel, but are usefut in shaping wire, and are run Auschwitz? Certainly not those who ran it in life; the
of invaluable aid in Moliation and soulforging (all difficulties to vengeful Dead would hardly suffer the kapos to torment them
“work”with a wraith who has been immersed in a Krema oven are anew. The SS?Those few who were not immediately blasted
reduced by one). Needless to say, such a process is hideously painful. into Oblivion were hunted down and either tortured and
l Needless to say, when it comes to working with the Corpora of cap- slagged or shaped into Wuffengeisten. And Hoss? Well, the
tured Nazis, Auschwitz’s dybbuks wouldn’t have it any other way. former Kommandant can hardly be expected to dictate policy
The Shadowlands factory of Buna also has its forges, from the slag-gate to which he has been welded, half-molten
which clank day and night. These relics of industrial engines and shrieking, for all eternity.
are hot enough to permit the creation of darksteel, and so the No one has ever bothered to conduct a census of dybbuks.
dybbuks of the Collective ceaselessly chum out darksteel goods It is rumored that the one time this notion was suggested,
forged from the Corpora of captured Nazis. Obviously, such Roza Robota replied sarcastically, “What - would you have
material is scarce, especially after all these years (though the us line up for roll call, mein Herr?” Best estimates indicate at
Buna dybbuks are quite inventive in making their “material” least 200,000 inhabitants. I t is a staggering number, but
last for decades); accordingly, Buna has “contracted” several Auschwitz was if nothing else fertile soil for Restless Dead.
green and black triangles to “organize” raw materials for Auschwitz’s Dead refer to themselves simply as dybbuks or
them ...and the dybbuks of Buna ask very few questions re- geists; the distinction between wraith and Spectre is at best blurred
garding the source of their contractors’ soul-fodder. (“What -would you have us wear triangles or armbands, mein
i The Subcamps Herr?”). Nonetheless, certain dybbuks feel common bonds of
kinship or profession - or, more likely, feel the need to band
together to protect themselves from their ravenous comrades.
The entire Auschwitz network encompassed nearly a Auschwitz’ residents refer to these bands as “triangles” or
score of subcamps -smaller blocks of prisoners living, work- “kommandos,”in mockery of the Nazis’ institutions.
+ 4-Y
c

cultural and social niches, acting as guilds, circles and sects. would be an exercise in futility; a few of the most important
Many triangles, particularly those with political or religious divisions follow.
bents, strive to better their members and (in rare instances)
the Lager as a whole. Less savory are the triangles composed
primarily of greens and blacks; these wraiths, continuing the
practices of their mortal existences, often act as gangs of thugs The Nazis were nothing if not meticulous in the categoriza-
and extortionists. tion of their enemies, and so the Corporaof Auschwitz’s dybbuks
And so in death, as in life, a dybbuk is identified by a display a bizarre hierarchy of deathmarks. Even in death, most
bewildering array of symbols. Whether one is red or green, dybbuks still bear the dehumanizing numbers inscribed on their
Polish or Yugoslavian, kapo or victim, can mean the differ- arms (or other appendages), and many Corpora display the col-
ence between sustenance and starvation, power and victim- ored triangles imposed on them by their captors. (Indeed, cer-
ization. Those triangles that are strong, important or cunning tain Kabbalists skilled in the use of Fatalism perform numero-
enough to enforce their claims to housing, Relics and Pathos logical analyses on &e tattoos of willing dybbuks.)
survive and prosper -albeit marginally. It is best not to dwell But there is more, for the dybbuks of Auschwitz are a far
on the fate of the others.. .. cry from the peaceful Dead of most Necropoli. The horror of
Some triangles -such as the Dayan, a minyan ofJewish their deaths has left indelible marks on their Corpora. Many
Kabbalists skilled in Lifeweb and Fatalism - are groups of of these deformities are so grotesque that Auschwitz’s inhab-
dybbuks bound together by common interest and mutual co- itants are mistaken for Nephwracks -and perhaps this judg-
operation. As the threat of spectral incursion increases, how- ment is not so far off the mark.
ever, many dybbuks allow themselves to become vassals to a Over these deliberate marks crisscross scars from floggings
strong leader -a kaP0, if YOU Will -in exchange for Protec- (25 lashes on the naked buttocks being the standard punish-
tion and Secure housing. Alas, many kaPoS retain their char- ment for wrongdoing at Auschwitz), riding crops, truncheons,
acteristic brutality on this side of the Shroud, and thus the lot and other poorly healed injuries, so that many dybbuks are
of servile dybbuks is little better in death. virtual Frankenstein monsters of suppurating scabs.

The CoIIective Kunudu also serves a darker function. While the dybbuks
of Auschwitz would prefer to craft their goods exclusively from
The Collective harkens back to the days of the old Com- Nazi wraiths and Mussulmen, there are only so many to go
munists and the labor parties. Less interested in lofty rhetoric around. It is not unknown for Kun& to snatch wraiths from
and more concerned with practical gains for its “workers,” the Polish countryside, or even fellow dybbuks from the camp,
the Collective can back up its stance by its virtual monopoly and barter them to the forges as “captured marauders.” The
over the production of darksteel goods. Certain dybbuks dis- forge-dybbuks adopt a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy toward
trustful of the Collective call it a cabal of opportunists who this sort of currency, and so some of Auschwitz’s denizens end
sell to dybbuk and Spectre alike. When accused of this, the their afterlives as they ended their lives - as victims.
Collective’s taciturn representatives merely grunt and shrug.
4
The Sonderkommandos
The Greens The 13 Sonderkommandos lived and worked as groups,
and a disproportionate number of them ended up as Restless
One would hope that internment in a death camp, a vio- Dead -guilt-ridden from their service to the Nazis, not quite
lent end, and 50 years of purgatory in a monstrous afterworld evil enough to go to Sheol. So, in death, they haunt their
would reform even the most vicious criminal. Alas, such does barracks as groups, and most work in the Birkenau Kremas by
not seem to be the case. day ( t o work by night would be suicide). Most
Many of Auschwitz’s green triangles were made kapos; Sonderkommandos were Jews of no particular color, but their
those who were not often brutalized their fellows anyway, or opportunism has rendered them disagreeable to other dybbuks,
tricked or bullied others out of life-sustaining rations or goods and they are considered green.
for their own betterment. Accordingly, upon death they were A noted exception is the 12th Sonderkommando, the he-
forced to band together, lest they join Hoss and the other roes who revolted against the Nazis and blew up Krema IV. They
prisoners of the slag-gate. are treated reverentially, and their leader, Kapo Shlomo Ficzka is
as close to a camp leader as Auschwitz-Birkenauis likely to find.
Die Eingeisten
Die Eingeisten is a gang of former kapos, brutal opportun-
ists all. These wraiths avoided the vengeance of their fellow
Dead by dint of being “fortunate” enough to be machine- The wearers of the black triangle tended to survive by
gunned as a group. Crossing the Shroud at the same time, the obsequiousness and acquiescence to their Nazi captors; and
ex-kapos proved tough enough to fend off the assaults of their so in death they bear the epithet Die Scheissgeisten-the “Shit-
former victims, who eventually found more pressing concerns Ghosts” -with fair humor. Bottom-feeders in life, they firmly
to occupy themselves. Now Die Eingeisten occupies a Relic root their way into the Shadowlands muck, serving as go-
barracks on the periphery of the camp, venturing into “town” betweens, smugglers, gigolos and Pathos pimps. Some, Doll
only long enough to bully needed Pathos or Artifacts from Boys in life, master Usury so that they might metaphysically
weaker dybbuks. continue their profession in death. Some dybbuks aver that a
The members of Die Eingeisten are some of the toughest fecal stench indeed surrounds these wraiths, though others
dybbuks around, and to their credit are generally at the wire when scoff at this conjecture, pointing out that the entire camp
the Spectres howl up from the deeps. Due to an accord signed and everything in it is an affront to deathsmell anyway.
with Kapo Ficzka in 1948, Die Eingeisten agreed to serve as con- Still, it is foolish to underestimate the influence of D e
scripted militia in exchanged for not being hurled bodily into Scheissgeisten.From their base in the barracks borderingBirkenau,
Sheol. The kapos grudgingly uphold their end of the bargain. the Shit-Ghosts are often the first to hear of rumors or Spectral
incursions. Rumors of Spectre worship among the Scheissgeisten
kanada are generally dismissed. After all, the reds maintain, a Malfean
would have no need for such pathetic lackeys.
Named after (and basing itself out of) the collection of store-
houses where the plunder of Europe’s Jews was kept, Kuru& is a
green triangle devoted to the collection and distribution of Relics.
Striplings
Through a combination of guile and force, Kanada acts as a broker- It happened in the second half of October 1944...The chil-
age service and pawnshop for relics, Artifacts and other goods. dren had noticed the smoke from the chimney and they realized
L
I
that they were being led to their death. They began running hither alizing the Lager’sdesperate need for ghosts proficient in trades
and thither in the yard, in a dead fright, clutching their heads in and Arcanoi of all sorts, have taken it upon themselves to
master various crafts. Some of these triangles have reached
-written testimony of a Sonderkommando prisoner levels of excellence nearly rivaling those of Stygian
Auschwitz operated by many rules, and one of the most Guildwraiths, and such triangles collectively constitute an
ironclad was that only those who could work were permitted increasingly powerful faction in Auschwitz’s “politics.”
to survive for any length of time. As a general rule, selektion
proved fatal for those internees under the age of 14; most of The Gypsies
these were immediately disposed of in the gas chambers.
The remnants of the Gypsy camp prefer to roam outside the
Babies, in particular, proved highly diverting for the jaded wire, but when danger threatens they retreat to a fortified en-
soldiers of the Waffen SS, many of whom amused themselves clave within Birkenau. They contract themselves out for various
by tossing “Jewish lice” into the air and impaling them on projects that need doing, and perform their tasks admirably. Still,
bayonets; hurling them into the camp’s electrified fences and like the pinks, they are distrusted,and rumors of Spectral cormp-
watching them sizzle; or, eschewing subtlety or accuracy, sim- tion among the Gypsies sporadically drift through the camp.
ply tearing infants in two before horrified mothers’ eyes.
Some Gypsy wraiths also serve as messengers,trading news
Those children who did make it into the camp would of life beyond the wire in exchange for needed goods and rel-
probably have been better off dead. Orphaned children who ics. While such services make the Gypsies a necessary evil in
fell into the clutches of the black triangles often became “Doll Auschwitz’s eyes, the frequency of their sojourns beyond the
Boys” forced to service entire barracks. Some children were walls only fuels the incessant tales of Spectral compromise.
left outside in midwinter to freeze to death; others suffered
the opposite but even crueler fate of being doused with gaso-
line and burned alive. The purples: jehovahs Witnesses
It is no surprise, then, that Auschwitz suffers from un- A few “Bible Worms” still haunt the barracks where they
naturally high concentrations of those Spectral children died. These characteristicallygentle ghosts keep to themselves,
known as Striplings. Rare is the night that swarms of Strip- practice a Far Shores-based worship that would probably damn
lings do not screech down the Lager’s streets and whirl around them as Heretics outside the wire, and are among the voices sup-
the Krema towers, hysterically mocking the instruments that porting the lone Carmelite monastery on Auschwitz’s grounds.
sent them across the Shroud. A few Jehovah‘sWitnesses have taken it upon themselves
to become Pardoners for all seeking absolution - much to
the dismay of those Jewish dybbuks who still maintain their
faith beyond the Shroud. Certain Jews see the presence of the
Witnesses as a divisive element, and tensions between the
two sects swell nightly.
All too many of Auschwitz’sdybbuks maintain their ‘40s

moral stance toward the camp’s brutalized homosexuals -
somewhat ludicrous, given that these Dead are now quite in-
The Outsiders
Auschwitz was, at its heart, a prison -and, here as in most
capable of performing the activities that their counterparts
prisons, it is not good to do one’s time alone. This applies even
found offensive in life. These sad, stoic wraiths band and live
across the Shroud; loners are prime targets for Spectres or their
together, often in the dangerousblocks near the Kremas. They
ravenous fellows, and it is far too easy for an unaffiliated dybbuk
readily assist in all manner of public works, labor and military
to be snatched up by a black or green kommando and sold to the
activities, but are shunned nonetheless. Lurid tales of “Cor-
forges in exchange for relics or Artifacts.
poral buggery” in conjunction with obscene rites to the
Malfeans, while absurd, have their adherents among the more Nonetheless, there are some alienated Dead who prefer
to walk alone. Other Restless fear and distrust these outsid-
ers, branding them spectral conspirators or even Nazi
Of late, however, certain pink triangles have been grudg-
Doppelgangers. They must often live in the “DMZ” neigh-
ingly accepted into Auschwitz’s quasisociety by dint of their
borhoods near Sheol or take up residence outside the wire, in
impressive and much-needed skills. These pink dybbuks, re-
the Spectre-plagued subcamps.
C
Merits and blaws must make a Willpower roll (Difficulty 8) to tear yourself away.
If you fail, you will simply attempt to suck up as much Pathos
Tainted humors (I point Flaw) as possible to the exclusion of all else. After all, you don’t
know when you’ll next be fed.
erhaps you were one of the guinea pigs
honored for selection in the Reich‘s medi-
cal experiments; perhaps you reacted es-
pecially poorly to lungfuls of Zyklon B, or
perhaps you simply lingered for weeks as
typhus and dysentery corroded you from
the inside out. In any case, the artificial wicked enough to be punished more fully. These creatures,
or “natural” introduction of some contaminant into your body dubbed Die Wufiengeisten, are viewed as beings in a sort of
so shocked your system that it continues even after death. purgatory. Perhaps with time and forgetfulness their victims-
Whenever you gain Pathos by any method whatsoever, you turned-masters will relent and restore them to their original
must immediately make a Willpower roll (difficulty 5 ) . Failure shapes -but probably not.
immediately “taints”halfthe Pathos and transforms it into Angst, Those dybbuks of higher ideals treat Waffengeistencoldly
as your Corpus physiologically 6‘poisons’’
the sustainingemotions. but humanely, refusing to exact vengeance for the crimes they
A botch converts all the ingested Pathos to Angst. suffered in life. Criminals and the vengeful, on the other hand,
often brutalize their Wuffengeisten, Moliating obscene graffiti
Starving (4 point Flaw) on them, endowing them with grotesquely swollen genitalia
and mandrillesque buttocks, changing their faces to those of
In life, you adapted poorly to the KZs’ characteristic mal- swine, rats and lice (common epithets hurled by the guards),
nutrition, so that even in death you project the image of a and otherwise humiliating and torturing their watchdogs. In

any event, the afterlife of a Wuffengeist is far from pleasant; You have proved to our satisfaction that your role in the uni-
their masters provide them with barely enough Pathos to ex- verse is to be a mindless lackey; so be it. You have shown great
ist, ensuring both perpetual savagery and alertness. aptitude at hunting and snappingat the heels of your fellows; so be
Die Waffengeisten,unlike barghests, are fully sentient, but it. YOUhave demonstrated a slavish devotion to those in power,
vengeful dybbuks prefer to handle them with muzzled leashes and this YOU would do well to remember.
fashioned from barbed wire or bits of skin flayed from the And so they took him to Buna, and amid the great ovens
Corpora of high-ranking SS wraiths. of the dead he was melted and bent and reworked. The team
of Artificers and Masquers inflicted no more pain than they
had to ...and no less. Now Bauer leads the Wafengeisten in
the absence of his dybbuk masters, following orders with what
seems to be a measure of contentment.
Image: Bauer attempts to carry himself with dignity,
which only imbues him with an even greater measure of trag-
edy. His nose and jaw have been replaced by a tusked, por-
cine snout, and a squealing rat’s head and forequarters hiss
and writhe between his hindlegs in place of genitals. A pig’s
ackground: He was only following orders. tail swishes over his naked buttocks, which have been
Never particularly cruel to prisoners, Moliated with a swastika. In painful juxtaposition, his eyes
Bauer nonetheless displayed no particu- are beautiful and impossibly blue. About his neck is a collar
lar pity or mercy toward the fashioned from Auschwitz’s ubiquitous barbed wire.
Untennenschen he was ordered to guard Roleplaying Notes: The Dead of Auschwitz are your new
and herd and kill. He killed no more and masters now. Secretly you hope for redemption and bodily restora-
no fewer than would earn him his extra tion, but deep down you don’t expect either. Snarl suspiciously at
cigarettes and vodka, and so when he went down under So- any visitors to the camp -you’ve put down your share of Spectres.
viet fire in the final days and was dragged pleading before the
tribunal of those he had helped murder, the dybbuks deliv- Shlomo Ficzka -
ered this verdict:
Work BOSS of the 12th Sonderkommando
Background: No one in the 12thSonderkommandoknew
much about the kapo Ficzka; he held himself somewhat apart.
He was Hungarian -that they could tell from his name -and
a criminal and Jew -that they could tell from his badge. Amid
the forges of the dead, Ficzka worked maniacally, a tireless ghoul.
His strength was legend; he could lift a man-sized corpse under
each arm and hurl it unassisted into the flames. He was cold and
unyielding as marble, and, though not exactly a sadist, he would
not hesitate to punish any who defied him.
Ficzka never spoke much, and so when members of the
camp underground tentatively approached him concerning a
revolt of the Sonder men, he merely grunted his assent. Guns
and grenades were distributed among the partisans, and Ficzka
listened in sleepy-eyed amusement to the politicals’ inspired
rants. Something, he knew, would go wrong.
Indeed, many things were to go wrong on October 7,1944.
The revolt in Krema IV started earlier than was planned, aig-
gered by SS suspicion and Sonder panic. The men of Krema 11,
hearing explosions and shots but realizing the escape was not
~~ ~~

ample of poor planning on the politicals’ part - and Ficzka
took seven bullets during the recapture operation.
Ficzka came over in the fall of ‘44,when Spectres were
howling about the camp like hyenas. The dybbuks were in
need of strong soldiers, and Ficzka was more than happy to
fight. He met the two guards he had burned alive - now
Mortwights - and sent them down again, this time to
Oblivion. Dybbuks flocked to him, and Spectres scattered
before him like tattered rags.
Now Ficzka leads the collected Sonderkommandos, hav-
ing long since sent any rivals to Sheol. He was of the green
triangle, and while he maintains few relations as such with
the criminal triangles, his strength and brutality have ensured
their cooperation, or at least noninterference.
Nature: Survivor
Demeanor: Curmudgeon
Triangle: 12th Sonderkommando
Physical: Strength 5 , Dexterity 3, Stamina 5
Social: Charisma 4,Manipulation 3, Appearance 1
Talents: Brawl 4,Dodge 3, Intimidation 5, Streetwise 2
Skills: Leadership 3, Melee 4,Soulforging 3
Knowledges: Bureaucracy 2, Linguistics 1, Medicine 1,Politics 1
r- -A
n7 +
due to start for hours, gathered around Ficzka. What was going
I
Backgrounds: Allies 5,Haunts 5, Notoriety 3, Relic 3, Status
4
Passions: Guard the weak (Duty) 1, Refuse to succumb to
on?What had they not been told?Who had betrayed them? Oblivion (Pride) 5
Their huddle was cut short by the arrival of an SS guard, Arcanoi: Argos 2, Outrage 5,Moliate 4,Pandemonium 2
who began questioning Ficzka sharply. The guard was not so Fetters: Ruins of Krema I1 4,the entire camp 1
easily cowed as were the Sonder men; disliking Ficzka’s re- Willpower: 9
plies, the SS man smashed his cane over the kapo’s head, with Pathos: 10
sufficient force to shatter a lesser man’s skull. Ficzka only
Permanent Corpus: 12 (he’s huge)
grinned from a face turned to bloody smear, then whipped
out a hidden shiv and rammed it into the SS man’s chest. Shadow: The Monster
Grasping the gurgling Nazi, Ficzka hurled him bodily and still Angst: 9
living into the flames. Dark Passions: Brutalize all beneath you (Fear) 4,Send ev-
Another guard rounded the comer in time to see a pair of eryone to Oblivion (Rage) 4
booted feet disappear into the oven. This was the last thing he Thorns: Death Sigil, Shadowed Face
saw before Ficzka’s gnarled fist brought him to his knees. Ficzka Image: Ficzka is a classic Spook: lumpen, gnarled and impos- I
lifted the SS man under one arm, as he would a recalcitrant sibly huge. His head and upper body are one amorphous mound
poodle. He heaved the SS man in the oven, as he had heaved SO of ectoplasmic gristle, and his face still bears a deathmark-
many other corpses, and only a couple of onlookers saw him scar where it was split open. He wears Relic barbed wire about
roughly slap the guard on the way in -a resuscitative gesture, so his arms and fists, having fashioned the wire into crude ap-
that the guard would go into the flames fully conscious. proximations of cesti. He is always charged with Pathos -
Then the real fighting started, with the grenades and the even at the expense of other dybbuks - and so appears to
dogs and always the wire. Ficzka got his people through that crackle with ghostly vitality.
wire, and all the way to Raisko, but to no avail. The escape Roleplaying Hints: You prefer to speak in monosyllables and
attempt was flawed from the start, of course - another ex. commands. The folk can do as they please, most of the time,

the glorious uprising of the Sonderkommando. Of course, the
plot was quashed, and the Political Department’s ministra-
tions coaxed Roza’s name from captured participants. None
of her connections could save her then. She and her accom-
plices were taken to Block 11, brutally tortured, and finally
sentenced to be hanged. Her last word on the gallows was
“Nekama”(Vengeance).
Roza fights for her ideals as best she may on this side of
the Shroud. The Soviets’ actions in Poland and the Balkans
have eroded her faith in Communism, while constant vigi-
lance against Sheol’s Spectres is beginning to fray even her
iron nerves. Her Angst tightens nightly about her, like an
invisible noose, and she wonders whether she should just throw
herself into the Tempest and give herself to the workers’ par-
ties down below.
Nature: Fanatic
Demeanor: Architect
Triangle: Purtja
Physical: Strength 4,Dexterity 3 , Stamina 4
Social: Charisma 4,Manipulation 3 , Appearance 2
Mental: Perception 3 , Intelligence 3, Wits 4
Talents: Expression 4, Intimidation 2, Subterfuge 3
Skills: Leadership 3, Melee 2, Stealth 4
Knowledges: Politics 3
Backgrounds: Memoriam 2, Status 3
unless you see that something needs to be done. If that hap- Passions: Avenge Auschwitz’s atrocities (Vengeance) 4,Sup-
pens, you step in, and any who balk will learn that you can port Socialism (Fervor) 2
make their afterlives as miserable as their lives were. Arcanoi: Keening 2, Outrage 4,Pandemonium 2, Puppetry 2
Fetters: Site of gallows 5
otza tobota Willpower: 9
Pathos: 9
Background: Roza Robota had the misfortune to be a
woman, a Polish Jew, and a hard-line Communist during the Permanent Corpus: 10
Nazi occupation.Nonetheless, through sheer determination,she Shadow: The Abuser
clawed her way to respectable positions in the underground and Angst: 9
the camp pecking order. Robota worked in Birkenau’seffehenhger Thorns:
warehouses during the day and for the camp underground by Shadow Passions: Sell out everyone in the camp to the Spec-
night. Uncompromisingly political, she was an avid proponent tres (Vengeance) 3 , Persecute tourists (Outrage) 3
of armed rebellion, and so when the plot involving the 12th Image: “Red Roza” is all planes and angles. Death has robbed
Sonderkommando was formulated, she eagerly volunteered to her of what femininity life in Auschwitz left her, carving her
help. With three other women, she managed to steal gunpowder into a granite harridan. The acrid sting of gunpowder drifts
and explosives from the factory where she worked. Roza person- from her Corpus, and her head lolls drunkenly on her neck in
ally undertook the dangerous mission of smuggling the weap- remembrance of her hanging.
onry to the Sonderkommandomen, and neither electrifiedfences Roleplaying Hints: Vengeance. You have lived and died
nor SS guards would be suffered to stand in her way.
through it all, and you will suffer no one to intimidate or sway
The explosion of Krema IV was music more stirring than you. Deep down, a kernel of doubt gnaws at you, but for now
any Wagner symphony to her ears, and Roza rejoiced to see you defy your Shadow as fervently as you defied the Nazis.
L b I L ...I hl .

joachim Steuben Demeanor: Pusher
Background: Clever Joachim. All the women o n Caste: Doppelganger
Lutherstrasse called him clever. Even his lovely Mutti praised Triangle: Die Scheissgeisten
him, when he returned from his nocturnal forays bearing Physical: Strength 2 , Dexterity 4, Stamina 4
morphine and filial devotion.
Social: Charisma 3, Manipulation 5 , Appearance 5
Mutti was not clever, no; Joachim could not say that of
Mental: Perception 3, Intelligence 2 , Wits 5
her, though he loved her so. She was not half so clever as that
fine SR she tried to blackmail, and so Mutti was taken away Talents: Alertness 3, Brawl 1, Dodge 3 , Empathy 2, Intimi-
and Joachim never saw her again and that was that. dation 3, Streetwise 3, Subterfuge 4
Maybe it was for the best; after all, Lutherstrasse was not the Skills: Leadership 2 , Melee 2 , Stealth 3
place for scheisskopfen, even ones as beautiful as Mutti. And the Knowledges: Finance 3 , Investigation 2, Law 2 , Linguistics 1
young boys Joachim’s age - the ones with cajoling ruby mouths Arcanomark Arcanoi: Hive-Mind 1, Larceny 3, Moliate 2 ,
and backs whip-scarred from the officers’nocturnal caresses-well, Phantasm 3 , Tempest-Weaving 4, Usury 5
they were not half so clever as Joachim,or half so pretty as Mutti. Backgrounds: Notoriety 2 , Relic 5
Poor fools. They needed guidance, which clever Joachim Dark Passions: Acquire things (Greed) 5 , Acquire people
was happy to provide. In the Weimar’s inflation-sodden (Insecurity) 5, Degrade “uptight” persons (Maternal Love) 4,
economy, sex and lies were better currency than a wheelbar- Satisfy sexual cravings (Lust) 3
row full of marks; and a murder or two, a couple of short prison Fetters: Ground of camp brothel 1, Site of “Kunada”2
terms and countless deals later, Joachim owned Lutherstrasse Angst: 7
- the Doll Boys, the puffs, the cabarets. Soon it was known Psyche: The Agent
up and down the red-light district that Joachim Steuben was
Composure: 1
synonymous with trouble.
Fronds: Indulgence, Wraith Prestige 1
That lasted until the roundup came. The poli~eiwere look-
ing for trouble that day, and all of Joachim’scleverness couldn’t Image: Joachim has Moliated himself extensively. He appears
get him out of that mess. So it was off to camp for clever Joachim. as a top-hatted, androgynous dandy, vaguely reminiscent of
Marlene Dietrich in Morocco. A blond mane coils from under
Well, Joachim knew all about prisons, and the Lager
wasn’t half so bad, eh? A few cigarettes to the guard got that u, d 1 A/ - .I L

the hat to his shoulders, and his elegant threads are “tailored”
with barbed-wire “trim.” He is accompanied by a brace of his
own personal Doll Boys, leashed to him by barbed-wire
I
muzzles.
Roleplaying Hints: Even the damned have needs, and you’re
here to provide them. Pole, Slovak; German,Jew;dybbuk, Spec-
tre - who cares?Come in, sit down, and let Fritzi here warm
you up with a little essence of lust distilled from the twitchy teen-
ager staring stiff-legged at the photos of naked Gypsy children.
Oh, what do you mean you’ll be late on the payment?
Maha fhnydeskza
Background: The past half-century has borne witness to
several strange occurrences in which a Polish parent, roused
from slumber by a ghostly cry, will find her infant in the throes
of crib death, suffocating on a blanket, or suffering from some
other woe ubiquitous to the newborn. In most cases, the par-
ent is able to react in time to save the child - and indeed in
a few instances, the hysterical parent performs the necessary
resuscitative tasks with a mechanical precision, as though di-
rected by an outside force. The parents never tell anyone of
this marvel, just as they do not speak of the ghostly figure
they see hovering over the crib. Most simply assume the ap-
parition to be a hallucination, or an angel.
This “angel” is Malina Prmystleskza, in life a doctor prac-
ticing in a suburb of Cracow. Along with the rest of Cracow’s
Jewish population, she suffered through the Nazi purges, be- Well, the first thing Malina did was hush the poor goose
ing driven from her comfortable home to a squalid ghetto flat up. (If Mengek found out about this-!) Then, with the aid of
and finally into a cattle car on its way to Auschwitz. Her little several bunkmates, she cleared a hiding place under one of
Andrei and Danuta went up the chimney in short order; the beds. Even the blocowa owed Malina favors - she had
thoueh she never saw her husband again, she heard he suf- saved nearly
. .
everyone
. . .
from the hospital - and so no one
. .. . ~

born.” Teresa would cry all night, and then she would go to Roleplaying Notes: You are an ectoplasmic pillar of strength
work tomorrow, and Mengele would never know. for the dybbuks in your block. You are always ready to lend an
There were others after Teresa; some she saved, and some incorporeal helping hand or shoulder to lean on. Deep down,
went to the gas to join their dead babies. Eventually Mengele though, you wish someone would do the same for you. You’re
ordered the liquidation of Malina’s section and it was her turn on the verge of Spectrehood, and when you go under, the
to go. On the other side, her quiet courage gained her the whole camp may collapse.
respect of red and green alike, and Malina is one of the few
Lexicon
1 4
completely trusted dybbuks in the camp.
That might be a mistake. Because sometimes, when
Malina returns home from a mission of mercy, she chances to
pass by one of Sheol’s cracks; and reverberating from the
appel - roll call
depths, clearly audible even over the Miasma’s eternal sigh,
she hears the sounds of gurgling and splashing and singularly begrussung - welcome
high-pitched cries. Often she thinks she hears Andrei and blocksperre - a command; when it was uttered, no prisoner
Danuta among the voices crying out, and always the sound was allowed to leave the barracks on pain of death
draws closer. blocowa - block senior; the prisoner in charge of a given
Nature: Survivor barracks
Demeanor: Caregiver concentrationary - an older prisoner, one who “knew the
Triangle: None in particular ropes”
Physical: Strength 2 , Dexterity 3, Stamina 4 kapo - a “trustee” prisoner chosen to oversee and supervise
the other prisoners
Mental: Perception 4,Intelligence 4,Wits 3
kommando - a work detail
lager - camp
Talents: Alertness 3, Dodge 1, Empathy 3, Subterfuge 1
organize - to obtain needed goods through barter or clever-
Skills: Crafts (midwifery) 4,Stealth 2
ness, without directly disenfranchising another prisoner
Knowledges: Medicine 4,Linguistics 2, Occult 2
Backgrounds: Allies 5, Eidolon 1, Haunts 5, Relic 2
selektion - the process of picking prisoners to live or die
according to their perceived health
Passions: Save children (Regret) 5, Atone for “mercy kill- zugang - new arrival
ings” (Guilt) 5
Zyklon B - a pesticide gas used to murder prisoners
Arcanoi: Castigate 2, Embody 4,Moliate 3, Keening 1, Pup-
petry 4
Fetters: Birkenau women’s camp 3, photograph in distant fam-
ily album 1
Willpower: 10
StorylChronicle ideas
Pathos: 5 The characters are former political prisoners who be-
Permanent Corpus: 10 come enmeshed in the Skinland intrigues surrounding the
newly liberated Warsaw Pact nations. By helping their Quick
Shadow: The Martyr
descendants to build stable, just governments - or at least
Angst: 8 ones different from the totalitarian regime that enslaved and
I
Thorns: Shadow Call murdered them - the characters may resolve their Passions
Shadow Passions: Harm children (Envy)3, Make parents suffer and find peace. On the other hand, the Hierarchy may not
(Revenge) 4,Join the Spectres of the dead infants (Guilt) 4 look too kindly on such a breach of the Dictum Mortuum...and
Image: Malina appears as a strong-boned woman with red tensions between the Dark Kingdoms of Iron and Wire may
hair going to gray and only the slightest bluish tinge from the flare into outright war.
Zyklon B that asphyxiated her. Her face radiates maternal The characters are Heretics or other idealistic wraiths
concern, but if the situation demands it, her eyes can go cold in search of Transcendence. At some point during a story, a
and dead as a shark‘s. Storyteller-controlled wraith beseeches the characters to ad-
mit him to their Circle, claiming a desperate desire for Tran-
scendence. The wraith proves exceedingly useful (with an

AUSCHWITZ
A Commandant‘s House Prisoners‘ Camps

B Main Guardhouse Moin Guard-House ”Gate ofDeath”
C Commandant? Ofice 0 ”Pur Bathhouse “Sauna“
D Administration OfJice P Blockll Gas Chamber and Crematorium 2
E SS Hospital (SS Revier) Q Wall ofDeath Gas Chamber and Crematorium 3
F,G Political Section Gas Chamber and Crematorium 4
H Gas Chamber and Crematorium I Gas Chamber and Crematorium 5
I Guard House and Entrance Gate (“BIol$uhrerstube”) Storehouse ofthe Propeq seixedjom the Victims (“Kanada’’)
J Camp Kitchen Pool into which ashesjam Crematoria 4 a n d 5 were
K Building to Receive Newcomers (“Aujiahmegeboude’’) dumped
L Storehouse ofthe Prop@ seiedfrom the Victims
M New Laundy BIRKENAU
N Prisoners‘ Barracks
I
uncanny amount of skill in the Moliate and Castigate behind the wire to rescue him?And, most importantly, is the
Arcanoi) and seems very sincere. wraith at the center of the conflict really a camp guard at all,
Then, at Some later point, an enraged Triangle of an innocent caught in a web of mistaken identity or a clev-
Auschwitz dybbuks surrounds the characters, demanding that erly disguised Doppelganger?
they hand over their comrade. To the characters’ shock, the The characters are Spectres, probably victims of the
dybbuks accuse their companion of being none other than Birkenau Kremas, who inflict misery and terror on the Lager’s
the Restless incarnation of one of the camp guards at wraiths and the surrounding countryside. This chronicle may
Auschwitz. Do the characters hand the wraith over or pro- prove to be exceedinglyhorrifying (and short); alternatively, the
tect their comrade? How do the characters possibly justify characters may gradually overcome their hate and rage, becom-
forgiving their companion - especially to the dybbuks who ing wraiths and possibly even Transcending. Either option can
suffered so much under his ministrations? Do the dybbuks re- provide an extremely harrowing and moving chronicle, but this
sort to kidnapping the wraith, forcing the characters to go idea is best used only with mature and sensitive players.
~~ ~

When we started the Black Dog Game Factory line of
horror game books, we were a little nervous. We’d stretched
the conventional limits before, almost to the breaking
point. We’d had books banned from GENConB and
dropped by retailers and distributors nationwide. We’d had
trouble explaining our rather gory work to our maiden aunts
and in-laws. We had to ask ourselves a few tough quesd
tions.
How would the “For Adults Only” rating affect sales?
Would we alienate younger players?
Would we offend older players?
Should we censor our products to “give the hobby a
good image?”
Couldn’t we accomplish the same level of horror and
storytelling in a milder format?
Would this ‘hew level” of horror gaming merely shock,
or would it be what we really wanted: artistic exploration
of disturbing themes and stories. In other words, would the
new series be A r t ?
There were no easy answers. We decided to risk it (be-
cause that’s how we think around here).
First HOL appeared on your shelves, then Giovanni
Chronicles I: The Last Supper. Freak Legion, Dark Re-
flections: Spectres, Destiny’s Price and Giovanni
Chronicles 11: Blood and Fire soon joined them. And all
this time, we’re still a little nervous. The books were popu-
lar, it didn’t seem we’d offended or alienated anybody (no
more than usual, anyway) and we were certain that these
stories and issues needed that level of depth and terror.
But we still weren’t sure if it was ...Art .
8
GAME FACTORP..
This July, to our immense relief and overwhelming
pride, the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and De-
sign presented us with the ORIGINS Award for Best Role-
playing Adventure -for Giovanni Chronicles I: The Last
Supper.*
Vindication at last.
Because even if we still doubt occasionally, we can look
up at the plaque in our reception area and be reassured:
Whether these books are Art or not, they’re good.
*(&e: The Ascension Second Edition and the Mage Tarot Deck
won awards, too, but we weren’t worried about them.)
_ I -~ ~- ~ ___

WTWF WtO CharnelHousesofEuropetheShoah

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

WTWF WtO CharnelHousesofEuropetheShoah

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

WTWF WtO CharnelHousesofEuropetheShoah

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

I -

1 Houses of Europe: The Shoah contain

tommaso gollini (order #4786) 8

by jonathan hcke and [obert hatch

tommaso gollini (order #4786)

tommaso gollini (order #4786) 8

tommaso gollini (order #4786) 8

tommaso gollini (order #4786) 8

tommaso gollini (order #4786) 8

tommaso gollini (order #4786) 8

tommaso gollini (order #4786) 8

tommaso gollini (order #4786) 8

tommaso gollini (order #4786) 8

tommaso gollini (order #4786) 8

tommaso gollini (order #4786) 8

tommaso gollini (order #4786) 8

tommaso gollini (order #4786) 8

[ecommended \eading Death Dealer: The Memoirs of the SS Kommamlant at

and viewing Endurance: Chronicles of Jewish Resistance, by Amnon

Because of That War Night, by Elie Wiesel

tommaso gollini (order #4786) 8

tommaso gollini (order #4786) 8

tommaso gollini (order #4786) 8

tommaso gollini (order #4786) 8

At dawn on September 1, 1939, German tanks rolled

tommaso gollini (order #4786) 8

tommaso gollini (order #4786) 8

In February 1940, after securing their sector of Polish ter-

On June 22, 1941, the war took a significant step as the

all Jews remaining in Germany to concentration camps and

Nothint Short of hell: 1942-1945

tommaso gollini (order #4786) 8

tommaso gollini (order #4786) 8

tommaso gollini (order #4786) 8

tommaso gollini (order #4786) 8

tommaso gollini (order #4786) 8

tommaso gollini (order #4786) 8

tommaso gollini (order #4786) 8

tommaso gollini (order #4786) 8

tommaso gollini (order #4786) 8

EXTERMINATION CAMPS .Moscow

tommaso gollini (order #4786) 8

tommaso gollini (order #4786) 8

The citadel Theresienstadt

tommaso gollini (order #4786) 8

tommaso gollini (order #4786)

It was soon evident to all of the residents of Theresienstadt

tommaso gollini (order #4786) 8

tommaso gollini (order #4786) 8

tommaso gollini (order #4786) 8

tommaso gollini (order #4786) 8

tommaso gollini (order #4786) 8

,eudian Slip, Shadow Call, Trick of

nce Butterfly that no one cares about

tommaso gollini (order #4786) 8

tommaso gollini (order #4786) 8

tommaso gollini (order #4786) 8

tommaso gollini (order #4786) 8

tommaso gollini (order #4786) 8