Magneto: Auschwitz Sonderkommando
Cyclops 08/02/16
In my brief bio on Magneto yesterday, I mentioned briefly that he had lived through the Holocaust. Multiple references have been made over the years to this horrifying past.
But until 2009, readers had yet to see just what happened to Max Eisenhardt to drive him to the lengths he's gone to protect mutants. Greg Pak changed that with perhaps the most gut wrenching origin story ever: the Magneto Testament.
It starts not long before the Berlin Olympics. The Nazi Party has started mistreating Jews, referring to them as second-class citizens, but most remain fairly confident that it will simply pass in time. Max Eisenhardt is no more than a boy with a crush, on a gypsy girl named Magda, who helps her mother clean the school Max attends. Against all odds, small, scrawny Max manages to win a javelin competition at his school in hopes of impressing her. But as he soon finds out, the nail that sticks out the most is hammered down hardest.
Max's uncle was beaten severely by the authorities for "shaming a German girl". New laws were enacted every day, taking away Jewish citizenship in Germany, restricting their ability to travel, and, as Max's uncle was made aware, banning relationships between Jews and "real" Germans. In 1938, one Jewish man, named Herschel Grynszpan, decided to make a statement by assassinating a German diplomat named Ernst von Rath. The Germans retaliated.
Thousands of Jewish businesses were burned. Thousands of Jews were beaten and assaulted openly, and hundreds were murdered. Perhaps most ominously, the first wave of transport trucks took their undeserving captives to work camps around Germany. November 8th was the night the Holocaust began.
Max's family went on the run as the Germans began rounding up the Jews. They fled to Poland, but Poland was soon overran by the Nazi Blitzkrieg (Lightning War). Again, they fled. But this time, they were not so lucky. The Eisenhardt family was cornered by the SS.
Mutant powers are said to manifest as a teenager, often times as the result of extreme stress. In this aspect, magneto was no different than most. But he didn't know it was happening. He didn't try. He reacted, and his mind curved the bullets meant for him-straight into his father. Max fell with the rest of his family, and lay hidden amongst their bodies in a shallow grave until the SS left. But his empty freedom would not last. He was spotted in a nearby town, and shipped off to the most infamous camp of them all: Auschwitz.
Arbeit Macht Frei. Work makes you free. Perhaps the greatest lie ever told. Max received some quick advice and lied about his age, and the guards sent him to work instead of the showers. He toiled for weeks as a man tried to buy his way onto a better work crew. It nearly worked, but an officer noticed that this particular work crew had one too many people. Max was reassigned to the most horrific job of all: the Sonderkommando.
The Sonderkommando's task was simple. They dealt with bodies. Whether it was those who collapsed from starvation in the fields or those who died in the showers hoping simply for cleanliness and a warm meal after, the Sonderkommando had to dispose of them in the ovens. He saw rhousands of bodies. He learned how to burn children with adults to speed up the process. He would never, ever forget the smell. But the horror brought opportunity. A chance sighting of Magda through a fence gave Max hope. He began to collect bits of gold off the bodies to pay off a guard in exchange for Magda's safety. Through bribery and some coordination with a work crew in the gypsy camp, Max got his wish.
Max had been able to save her, save one amonsgt the millions. By the time the Soviets had liberates the camp, Max had developed a resolve and a burning hatred for those who would put themselves above their fellow man. Magneto was not born when he gained control of his powers. Magneto was born of pure, uncontrollable anger and a resolve tempered by the absolute worst humanity has to offer. Hatred breeds hatred. And in this way, at least, Magneto is more real than any other villain.
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