Talk:Robert Mulka

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A fact from Robert Mulka appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 15 July 2011, and was viewed approximately 11,300 times (disclaimer) (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that despite overseeing the construction of the crematoria and gas chambers at Auschwitz, what specifically shocked SS-Obersturmführer Robert Mulka at the camp was his colleagues' dress sense?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2011/July.

Wikipedia

Bad translation?[edit]

Is it possible that this passage is the result of a bad translation? "Mulka's tenure as Höss' adjutant began on July 1, 1942, and came to an end on March 30, 1943, when Hildegard Bischoff, the wife of the chief of the central construction agency, SS-Sturmbannführer Karl Bischoff (architect of the crematoria and gas chambers), made a derogatory mark about Joseph Goebbels." It makes no sense that Mulka would get in trouble because another man's wife made a politically unwise comment. (And while we're at it, "mark" should be "remark.") I do not read German. I've gone to the cited source (which is in German) and found the relevant passage, and obtained a computer translation (which is notoriously inaccurate, sometimes to the point of being hilarious). It says "from there because of a disapproving remark over Joseph Goebbels of the wife of the leader of the headquarters building direction Hildegard Bischoff denounces and arrested." In English, if she made the remark, we'd say "by the wife." "of the wife" is ambiguous. Is it possible that Mulka made the remark TO Frau Bischoff? That would make sense; he says something to someone else, who turns him in. If that's not it, is further information available as to why a colleague's wife makes a remark, and Mulka gets in trouble? (I looked up Herr Bischoff's article in Wikipedia, and HE does not appear to have gotten in trouble around this time, or at any time during the war. So how could his wife's remark rebound on Mulka but not her husband?)

Can someone who reads German check this?

Gms3591 (talk) 09:38, 15 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

http://saalbau.com/auschwitz-prozess/der-auschwitz-prozess/prozessbeteiligte/angeklagte/Robert-Mulka/Robert-Mulka-kurzportrait/ clears this up:

"Eine Denunziation beendete Mulkas steile Karriere, inzwischen zum SS-Hauptsturmführer befördert, in Auschwitz. Die Ehefrau des Leiters der Zentralbauleitung der Waffen-SS in Auschwitz, die Gattin des Baumeisters der Gaskammern und Krematorien, sagte Mulka eine abfällige Äußerung über Reichspropagandaminister Joseph Goebbels nach."

Translation:

"A denouncement ended Mulka's stellar career, who had made SS-Haupsturmführer by this time, in Auschwitz. The wife of the central construction site manager of the Waffen-SS in Auschwitz, spouse of the architect of the gas chambers and crematoria, claimed Mulka made a derogatory remark about the Reich's propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels."

Whether he really did make the remark or was falsely accused isn't specified, but given that he was actually (briefly) imprisoned and demoted he was at least not able to convince people of his innocence. 82.95.254.249 (talk) 10:22, 15 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you, so much. Well done. Gms3591 (talk) 08:47, 18 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

knowledge of homicidal gassings[edit]

At the Frankfurt Trial Mulka claimed to have no knowledge about homicidal gassings in Auschwitz. Shouldn't that be mentioned in the article? --41.151.115.90 (talk) 21:30, 15 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]