The Intense Humming Of Evil

"I am strongly in favour of using poison gas against uncivilised tribes..."

Winston Churchill, 1920

Did you know that the 'B' in ARBEIT is upside down across the gate? That was a wee protest by the victims that were forced to build and put it together...

sorry to say this but the opening sample has been written wrongly it is:

The court has come. The court of the Nations and into the courtroom will come the martyrs of majdanek and oswecim. From the ditch of kerch the dead will rise, they will arise from the graves, they will arise from flames bringing with them the acrid smoke and the deathly odour of scorched and martyred europe. And the children they too will come, stern and merciless. The butchers had no pity on them. Today the victims will rejusge the butchers Today the tear of the child is the judge, the grief of the mother is the prosecutor

this is an exerpt from the Nuremburg Trial in 1946 (i think). this is an AMAZING song, its quite simple really, its about the Holocaust, mainly focusing around the concentration camp Dachau. i could tell you what every single word means and what every sentance is about but that would spoil the wonder of the manics lyrics

Maidanek and Oscwecim [more commonly known, of course, as Auschwitz] were two Nazi death camps in Poland. This entire song is loaded with references to Dachau: Sigmund Rascher was Joseph Mengele's equivalent there, Arbeit Macht Frei was the adage inscribed on the gate, Harthheim castle was an extermination site for invalids prior to the war.

The song was apparently inspired by a visit the band paid to Dachau and Belsen. So there you go.

Arbeit Macht Frei directly translated means 'work free' or, 'work liberates'

this song freaks me out, although its great. where does the spoken sample at the start come from, obviously a film but from whiich one?

Arbeit Macht Frei means work equals/brings freedom. this is a VERY haunting song, this album has changed my life forever. btw the sample at the beginning is a sample from a narration from the Nurumberg trials of people who had committed war crimes. it's EXACT source i don't know.

Though the details and so on about Dachau are interesting, I think the ending to the song is key. It's similar to Mausoleum in that it's about the amnesia which is so tempting for everyone when it comes to the Holocaust. Everyone is keen to forget, to "drink it away". "Every tear is false" is obviously an exaggeration, but it points the finger at us as well as Churchill.

Today is the 60th anniversary of Auschwitz (the camp with arbeit macht frei or work liberates inscribed into the gates). I believe now more that everybody needs to hear this song, to hear the soundtrack to the intense humming of evil that went on in these camps of death. One of the most, if not the most, important Manics songs. It's changed my life forever.

I agree that the song is haunting, but not so much because it's a reminder of Nazi atrocities - I mean, what is the author trying to get at? 'Lives that wouldn't have changed a thing' simply implies futility, it's almost a celebration of death. There's also a suggestion of hypocrisy, which I think is the really troubling thing. Remember, the Nazis weren't just killing the Jews, they were also using the able ones as slave labour - it's not all that different to what goes on in African sweatshops, is it?