History on Tuesdays：1944 - Should We Bomb Auschwitz【歷史二三事 : 二戰的抉擇 - 轟炸奧斯威辛】

History on Tuesdays：1944 - Should We Bomb Auschwitz【歷史二三事 : 二戰的抉擇 - 轟炸奧斯威辛】In April 1944 two Jewish prisoners miraculously escaped from Auschwitz. When they recounted what they had left behind their harrowing testimony revealed the true horror of the Holocaust to the outside world for the first time. The news they brought presented the Allies with one of the greatest moral questions of the 20th Century: Should We Bomb Auschwitz?As the killing at Auschwitz reached its frenzied climax, the outcome of the Second World War hung in the balance.  Should the Allies use their resources to push on and win the war? Or to stop the industrial slaughter at Auschwitz? There were operational challenges - was it possible to reach the camp to bomb it?  What would the Nazi propaganda machine say about such an attack? As well as complex moral ones. How many prisoners would likely die in such a raid? Can you kill friendly civilians in order to save the lives of those being transported towards the death camp? These were the hard questions faced by Churchill, Allied Air Command and the Jewish Agency.1944年4月，兩名猶太囚犯逃出奧斯威辛集中營。

隨住他們講敍述自己逃離的境地時，他們的慘痛見證亦首次讓外界知道大屠殺的真正恐怖之處。他們帶來的消息讓同盟國面臨20世紀最重大的道德問題之一：我們應否轟炸奧斯威辛集中營？奧斯威辛集中營的殺戮達到失控程度的同時，第二次世界大戰的結果亦懸而未決。同盟國應否將資源用於來改善戰情並贏得戰爭？還是該阻止在奧斯威辛集中營的工業屠殺？行動方面同時存在挑戰：是否有可能在營地上空進行轟炸？納粹黨的宣傳機器會如何反駁這種攻擊？當然還有複雜的道德問題。在這樣的突襲中會有多少囚犯意外喪生？殺死無害的平民，以拯救將會被送到死亡營的人是否合理？

這些都是邱吉爾、盟軍空軍司令部和猶太事務局一度面對的難題。