The cost of the elements in a human body is about $160.00.
http://www.datagenetics.com/blog/april12011/
Looking at the actual components, such as bone marrow and hormones, you could theoretically get up to $46M.
But I don't buy that Auschwitz cost so little. Possibly the cost of the act of killing itself was minimal, but the cost of the system behind it had to have been enormous.
Shipping people all over Europe to kill them secretly, at a time when transport was desperately needed for military purposes, had to have an immense financial and military cost.
At its peak, the German armies, leaving out allies, numbered something around 10M. To kill all 6M Jews that died in the Holocaust, 3 of 5 soldiers would have to fire once.
Yet the Nazis spent immense sums to set up the camps, ship people to them, etc.
There is a common notion that the industrialization of killing in the camps was somehow more efficient than older methods. The opposite is true.
If I remember correctly, the maximum "output" of Auschwitz was around 25,000 in 24 hours.
The Mongols routinely massacred 50,000 or 100,000 or more in an hour or two. Some claims of 500k to 1M, but they may be exaggerated. No ammunition expended, except possibly some arrows. Mostly they just used edged steel.
The Rwanda massacres also demonstrate that to kill a lot of people quickly you don't need an elaborate infrastructure. You just need a whole bunch of willing killers.
We have been watching that Texas miniseries and last night watched the bit with the battle. In the era of muzzleloaders it would appear that firearms were not all that helpful. It looked more like a giant gang fight than anything else. I guess Fairbairn was right about a tomahawk being the most effective weapon for combat. It doesn’t need to be reloaded and works even better if a bit dull.
You know, reading your Bible and reflecting on what we learn from other historical sources our generation has truly been blessed. As I am thinking how fortunate I am to have been able to live my life and never having seen combat that is true for most of us. We may be the first group of people in human history that can say that. Yet this was the goal folks purportedly were trying to achieve yet that wasn’t good enough, we have to “fundamentally transform” things.
I guess the old phrase, it ain’t the size of the dog in the fight applies to armies as well.