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Nazi Officers Celebrated Killings with Beer, Music, and Mayhem
They used alcohol‑fueled parties and music to normalize atrocities and prove their “manliness.”
Marianna Kazmierczak was 17 years old when the Nazis took over Poland in 1939. Working at a restaurant in Zakrzewo, she witnessed first hand the way the Nazis would celebrate and unwind after a long day of rounding up, humiliating and killing Jews. She would serve beer to members of the SS as they danced and sang to celebrate the mass killings. She recalls with horror the joy these drunk men felt and how they’d push each other in chairs around the room in ‘chariot races’ like little boys. It’s shocking to think that these men were not horrified by what they did during the day but in fact, were proud of it and chose to celebrate it. Marianna spent those nights with the Nazi customers at the restaurant in great distress, fending off their sexual advances and swallowing her anger at their salacious comments and disturbing, incomprehensible enjoyment.
Unfortunately, what Marianna experienced was not isolated. Such celebrations were common among Nazis in occupied territories, where heavy drinking symbolized masculinity according to Nazi ideology.
Riled up after a night of heavy drinking, it wasn’t uncommon for SS members or soldiers to…
