By: Lia Fairbairn
While in Poland, I found myself drawn to glimpses of non-human life in Auschwitz history. One of the most memorable moments in the seminar was watching a family of deer running through the ruins of Auschwitz II. It was amazing to see the natural life taking over these spaces once again. I think focusing on nonhuman life, such as the use of the dog unit, was also a way for me to distance myself from the heavy examples of human suffering we were confronting each day. In my last semester of my degree, I took an animal history seminar which opened my mind to how we can use the lens of animals to understand more about our own history and relationships with nonhuman life.
All of these reasons contributed to me choosing to study the Hundestaffel. I wanted to bring together the varied references to the dog unit I could find in biographies, artwork, and archival documents.
I chose to make a video PowerPoint so I could use both visual and textual sources. My primary sources are diverse, and I wanted to use my own voice and narrative to tie them together.