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Jorge Semprun Chapter Summary

Decent Essays

World War 2 was a time where the Nazi Germans exerted a huge amount of power over different countries in Europe. Jewish and other non-Jewish people were sent to concentration camps to or executed based on their physical fitness. The resistance was disbanded, and the fighters had become prisoners of war. Jorge Semprun was one of the prisoners. In this essay, I will be discussing about the voyage that the author had gone through and the transformations, which the author goes through as a result of them. The physical voyage that the author describes is the voyage to the concentration camp. “There is the cramming of the bodies into the boxcar, the throbbing pain in the right knee. (Semprun 9)” This trip is unpleasant for the author and other …show more content…

The memories are painful and somber as well. “The S.S. lied to the Soviet’s officer by saying he was going to take a shower, but then they send a bullet to his head. (Seprun 71)” Remembering this scene from prison is a psychological memory, because it bring backs the feelings that had gone through his head at the time. “He understood the S.S. mentality. (Seprun 71)” It would bring unimaginable pain for the author, because he saw Nazi ruthlessly murdered an officer. Then he went on to talk about other memories. He talked about how “two young partisans had opted for the possibility of dying and emerge from the war clean and pure of heart. (Seprun 80)” This means that while Manuel was imprisoned in the camps, he sees humanity at its finest. The two soldiers are willing to risk their lives. This would make the author have a sense of joy. There was an instance of trauma that this psychological voyage had left. “I still hear the voice, that echo of ancestral terror, that voice which speaks of the blood of the butchered, that viscous blood itself, which sings dully in the night. (Seprun 132)” The memories of the imprisonment will always be haunting the author, as he had witness a lot of massacre during his time. He can’t escape by trying to forget all these had

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