Chapter 3: Initiation
Many thoughts that I have never considered before crossed my mind as I read chapter three. While one certainly loses the will to stay sanitized when put into and environment like that of the concentration camps and therefore is often careless about trivial things, one can also simultaneously be very thoughtful of small things. In the chapter, for example, Primo Levi claims the act of washing one’s hand in the concentration camps as worthless and futile, considering the general unclean state of the camps. He then thinks deeply about the act in terms of obeying the codes and rules set by the Nazi’s in the camps. As worthless the act of washing one’s hands in the camps can be, Levi debates within him the significance of doing so. He thinks about the point of view held by the ex-sergeant Steinlauf, which claims that washing one’s hand provides a mental strength to survive the brutality of the persecution. So I thought when one is degraded to a severe level and can barely survive, one probably focuses on things only related to one’s survival, but also could contemplate about small things that one usually takes for granted, like washing hands.
I also thought about Steinlauf’s view on the significance of washing oneself. Levi states that Steinlauf thought that one should wash “not because the regulation states it, but for dignify and propriety. [One] must walk erect, without dragging [one’s] feet, not in homage to Prussian discipline but to remain alive, not to begin to die.” Here Steinlauf implies that washing is actually an act of rebellion rather than consent (with authority). I debated whether trying to disobey the Nazi’s in a way can be beneficial to the people in the camps, and I actually thought that it was better to obey the orders given, while still keeping alive one’s faith. Just because one obeys authority does not mean he is deprived of hope; a Jew in the camp can do what the Nazi’s tell him to do and still be vital enough to seek survival. I actually think Steinlauf is optimistic, which is good, but the way he reaches it will give a disadvantage to people. A person with a disobedient state of mind will only be harmed more than one with an obedient, yet hopeful mind.
In sun, I realized the mental change and complexity one faces when severely displaced from one’s usual life. Primo Levi shows the extremities of his thoughts at the camps in this chapter, those usually unseen in people living in normal conditions.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Thursday, February 15, 2007
"On the Bottom"
Chapter 2: On the Bottom
Primo Levi describes the condition of his mind in chapter 2. He states that he, along with the other prisoners, is in the lowest state a human can be. He says that they are deprived of virtually everything they have, including their name; they are given numbers. In my opinion, the Jews in the concentration camps were treated worse than dogs. I guess the Nazis did not actually see the Jews as humans. That is why Primo Levi says the Germans “give us nothing to drink, while nobody explains anything, and we have no shoes or clothes, but we are all naked with our feet and the water.” The Nazis were unconcerned about the needs or questions of the Jews.
I wonder if Primo Levi had any hope in surviving or escaping the camps. He states that anyone who thinks that he will survive in the camps is crazy, and all will eventually die, but I am doubtful of this assertion. Certainly he would have a bit of hope of returning to his normal life, even merely by thinking about the outrageousness or absurdity of his own situation. However, I understand the discouragement he would have had in such a degrading environment. The whole purpose of the Germans in sending Jews to the concentration camps was to make them feel that they are worthless.
I had to be thankful of what I am and what I have right now. There are many who value me including my family and friends, and therefore I value myself. Primo Levi in turn had none of this when he was sent to Birkenau. What I take for granted would have been of enormous value to him.
Primo Levi describes the condition of his mind in chapter 2. He states that he, along with the other prisoners, is in the lowest state a human can be. He says that they are deprived of virtually everything they have, including their name; they are given numbers. In my opinion, the Jews in the concentration camps were treated worse than dogs. I guess the Nazis did not actually see the Jews as humans. That is why Primo Levi says the Germans “give us nothing to drink, while nobody explains anything, and we have no shoes or clothes, but we are all naked with our feet and the water.” The Nazis were unconcerned about the needs or questions of the Jews.
I wonder if Primo Levi had any hope in surviving or escaping the camps. He states that anyone who thinks that he will survive in the camps is crazy, and all will eventually die, but I am doubtful of this assertion. Certainly he would have a bit of hope of returning to his normal life, even merely by thinking about the outrageousness or absurdity of his own situation. However, I understand the discouragement he would have had in such a degrading environment. The whole purpose of the Germans in sending Jews to the concentration camps was to make them feel that they are worthless.
I had to be thankful of what I am and what I have right now. There are many who value me including my family and friends, and therefore I value myself. Primo Levi in turn had none of this when he was sent to Birkenau. What I take for granted would have been of enormous value to him.
Monday, February 12, 2007
Start of a journey to the abyss
Chapter 1: The Journey
The first chapter of this book reveals much of the true picture of Jewish imprisonment to the concentration camps established by the Nazis. Especially since the book is primarily a first-hand account, it is likely that the author shows a lot of the general feelings that most Jews had when they were sent to the concentration camps, not just the facts of the process of the imprisonment. Most of these feelings were expressed as despair and hopelessness in the first chapter, as they were being sent to the camps on trains.
In the first chapter, I read about the frequently mentioned cruelties of the holocaust, including the disregarding of the German SS soldiers of Jews as humans. A quote in the book says, “Only a profound amazement: how can one hit a man without anger?” I was not surprised by the fact that the Nazi’s severely degraded the Jews’ statuses as humans, but only sickened again by this fact, which I have known for quite a while. I learned that atrocities like those of the Nazis on Jews cannot be easily forgotten or disregarded.
However, one idea that I haven’t known surprised me: that some Jews like Primo Levi knew that they will be captured on a specific day, and that they needed to prepare for the adversities they will face. Some of them “praying, some deliberately drunk, others lustfully intoxicated for the last time.” To me, it seems like they were preparing for death, doing anything they can to enjoy the last bit of free life left. The book says, “Dawn came on us like a betrayer.” I thought that it would have been very menacing to see the sun rise for the day that they will be captured and be used as slaves, tools, and eventually killed relentlessly. It was also ironical, since sunrise usually represents a new, bright, and hopeful start, usually with an optimistic tone, yet the sunrise the Jews in the book saw was the beginning of their doom.
The author’s detailed and vivid descriptions allow me to more deeply understand the mind state of the people in the camps, and picture the holocaust in general, since I can be clearly informed about the details of it. Hopefully I can grow more mature and not only be shocked or stunned by the extreme aspects of it.
The first chapter of this book reveals much of the true picture of Jewish imprisonment to the concentration camps established by the Nazis. Especially since the book is primarily a first-hand account, it is likely that the author shows a lot of the general feelings that most Jews had when they were sent to the concentration camps, not just the facts of the process of the imprisonment. Most of these feelings were expressed as despair and hopelessness in the first chapter, as they were being sent to the camps on trains.
In the first chapter, I read about the frequently mentioned cruelties of the holocaust, including the disregarding of the German SS soldiers of Jews as humans. A quote in the book says, “Only a profound amazement: how can one hit a man without anger?” I was not surprised by the fact that the Nazi’s severely degraded the Jews’ statuses as humans, but only sickened again by this fact, which I have known for quite a while. I learned that atrocities like those of the Nazis on Jews cannot be easily forgotten or disregarded.
However, one idea that I haven’t known surprised me: that some Jews like Primo Levi knew that they will be captured on a specific day, and that they needed to prepare for the adversities they will face. Some of them “praying, some deliberately drunk, others lustfully intoxicated for the last time.” To me, it seems like they were preparing for death, doing anything they can to enjoy the last bit of free life left. The book says, “Dawn came on us like a betrayer.” I thought that it would have been very menacing to see the sun rise for the day that they will be captured and be used as slaves, tools, and eventually killed relentlessly. It was also ironical, since sunrise usually represents a new, bright, and hopeful start, usually with an optimistic tone, yet the sunrise the Jews in the book saw was the beginning of their doom.
The author’s detailed and vivid descriptions allow me to more deeply understand the mind state of the people in the camps, and picture the holocaust in general, since I can be clearly informed about the details of it. Hopefully I can grow more mature and not only be shocked or stunned by the extreme aspects of it.
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Survival in Auschwitz: Journal #0
The video I saw in class was quite a shock to me, even though I probably knew much information I encountered throughout seeing the video. I was previously quite informed about much of the atrocities of the Nazis, but they seem to be so cruel and inhumane that they shock me every time I see them. The fact that one group of people can hate another like the Nazis did was unbelievable, and their atrocities are even more inconceivable.
It is said in the video that the Nazi’s “Final Solution” in dealing with Jews was basically extermination. Many Germans influenced by the Nazi’s regarded Jews as a dangerous national threat; even the children were regarded to be threatening. Jews were killed relentlessly without sympathy, even to hire special killing squads to murder them along with other people that the Nazi’s opposed.
One of the people mentioned by former concentration camp prisoners was a person called “Mangelo.” He was a German doctor who performed scientific experiments in Birkenau on the bodies of the prisoners. He barely considered morality when doing his experiments, coaxing and taking children of whom many would die because of the experiments. One of the former camp prisoners shown in the video said that Mangelo, after performing an experiment on her, said “Too bad, she is too young; she has only two weeks left.” This carelessness with which a person can say about another’s death struck me. I had questions like, “Where was his moral and ethical mind? Was he ever conscientious?”
Moreover, a former prisoner said that prisoners used to work in crematories, which burned bodies of the dead. I wondered if the Nazi’s knew about the disgust and horror that one would have felt seeing the burning bodies of his fellow prisoners. I thought that one would only worry about the day when one would be killed and burned like one of the burning bodies. Furthermore, since prisoners so often saw fellow prisoners die so instantly and hopelessly because of the atrocities of the S.S. guards, they were used to seeing people die. I have never seen a person actually die in front of me, and I was doubtful if I can see people die everyday, yet the prisoners saw death everyday. The physical and mental harm the Nazis did to the Jews and other concentration camp prisoners was overwhelming to me, and I thanked God that none of it actually happens today in most places of the world.
It is said in the video that the Nazi’s “Final Solution” in dealing with Jews was basically extermination. Many Germans influenced by the Nazi’s regarded Jews as a dangerous national threat; even the children were regarded to be threatening. Jews were killed relentlessly without sympathy, even to hire special killing squads to murder them along with other people that the Nazi’s opposed.
One of the people mentioned by former concentration camp prisoners was a person called “Mangelo.” He was a German doctor who performed scientific experiments in Birkenau on the bodies of the prisoners. He barely considered morality when doing his experiments, coaxing and taking children of whom many would die because of the experiments. One of the former camp prisoners shown in the video said that Mangelo, after performing an experiment on her, said “Too bad, she is too young; she has only two weeks left.” This carelessness with which a person can say about another’s death struck me. I had questions like, “Where was his moral and ethical mind? Was he ever conscientious?”
Moreover, a former prisoner said that prisoners used to work in crematories, which burned bodies of the dead. I wondered if the Nazi’s knew about the disgust and horror that one would have felt seeing the burning bodies of his fellow prisoners. I thought that one would only worry about the day when one would be killed and burned like one of the burning bodies. Furthermore, since prisoners so often saw fellow prisoners die so instantly and hopelessly because of the atrocities of the S.S. guards, they were used to seeing people die. I have never seen a person actually die in front of me, and I was doubtful if I can see people die everyday, yet the prisoners saw death everyday. The physical and mental harm the Nazis did to the Jews and other concentration camp prisoners was overwhelming to me, and I thanked God that none of it actually happens today in most places of the world.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)