'This Way For The Gas, Ladies And Gentlemen' By Tadeusz Borowski

In the early 1930s, the residents of the picturesque city of Dachau, Germany, were completely unaware of the horrific events about to unfold that would overshadow their city still today. The citizens of Dachau were oblivious that their city was going to become the origin of concentration camps and of the Holocaust, the mass murder committed by the Nazi s in World War II. Dachau Concentration Camp, which would soon be placed on the edge of their community, would serve as a model for all Nazi extermination camps. This perfect prototype of a Nazi killing machine has come to represent the start of the horror-filled Holocaust and the Nazi's determination to achieve a perfect society during World War II.

The memoir,”Night”, shows the perspective of Elie Wiesel, a young boy that was sent to a concentration camp alongside hundreds of other Jews, that lost their valuables , faith and family.The terror within the concentration camp slowly deteriorate the Jews ,physically and mentally.The jews had a choice to be selfish or selfless,given the jews’ situation it is best to do what was in their best interest. Throughout Elie Wiesel’s memoir, “Night”; many individuals had a hard time navigating the brutality within the concentration camps.Through these times of brutality, many people in the camp had to choose to either be selfish or altruistic. Given the jew’s situation, it is better to act selfish than to be altruistic.

The concentration camps from World War II are part of a painful and tragic incident that we have learned about in school for many years. And while we are taught the facts, we may not fully understand the emotional impact it had upon the humans involved. Upon reading Night by Elie Wiesel, readers are given vivid descriptions of the gruesome and tragic behaviors that the Jews were forced to endure inside he treacherous concentration camps. Among all of the cruelties that the Jews were exposed to, a very significant form of the callous behaviors was the demoralization of the prisoners. Each inmate was given a tattoo of a number, and that tattoo became their new identity within the camp. Every prisoner was presented with tattered uniforms that became

“Words can sometimes, in moments of grace, attain the quality of deeds,” Elie Wiesel, the late author of the Holocaust based memoir, Night. Wiesel spent May 1944 to April 1945 in the death camp of Auschwitz and as marching prisoner of the SS. During that awful year, he witnessed and experienced horrors unlike anything anyone should have to endure. These times changed him and his perspective on the world around him. Humans committing such inhumane actions on their fellows forced him to observe the effects that such treatment had on both the human condition and their actions and thoughts.

In the annals of history, the Holocaust registers as one of mankind’s most “unspeakable” offenses. And yet, over the past seventy years, survivors have strived nonetheless to transform torture into language—to verbalize the violence against man’s body and spirit that occurred at the hands of the Nazis.

The Holocaust, yet another unpleasant time in history tainted with the blood and suffering of man. Human beings tortured, executed and starved for hatred and radical ideas. Yet with many tragedies there are survivors, those who refused to die on another man’s command. These victims showed enormous willpower, they overcame human degradation and tragedies that not only pushed their beliefs in god, but their trust in fellow people. It was people like Elie Wiesel author of “Night”, Eva Galler,Sima Gleichgevicht-Wasser, and Solomon Radasky that survived, whose’ mental and physical capabilities were pushed to limits that are difficult to conceive. Each individual experiences were different, but their survival tales not so far-reaching to where the fundamental themes of fear, family, religion and self-preservation played a part in surviving. Although some of these themes weren’t always so useful for survival.

There are people crowded, shoulder to shoulder, expecting a shower and to feel water raining down their bodies. Sighs of relief turn into screams of terror as innocent people are gasping for their last breaths of air inside of the gas chamber. This was a daily occurrence for Jewish and other people involved in the Holocaust. This was just one horrific event of many that had happened to women, men and children. Some of the survivors have used their voice to speak out about their own background during their time spent in Auschwitz and other concentration camps. Elie Wiesel, author of the book Night, is one of the many who did so. Wiesel talks about his personal experience and shares his feelings, thoughts and emotions that he went through with others during the Holocaust.

When the train arrives at Auschwitz, they smell burnt flesh, and they can see the smoke. They know now that it is too late and that Mrs. Shachtner was right about the fire.

It has been days. I stumble, foot over foot to the crack of sunlight that beams into the car. I feel the train rock back and forth, side to side as we tumble over the tracks to a “better life.” A better life. More bread. They care about us. I hear the screech as the cars stop as we are all tossed forward. “Welcome to Auschwitz, Jews.” I hear a man scream be strong. I hear the crack of a whip and gun shots. I know they lied.

Everyone experiences emotional and physiological obstacles in their life. However, these obstacles are incomparable to the magnitude of the obstacles the prisoners of the Holocaust faced every day. In his memoir, Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, illustrates the horrors of the concentration camps and their mental tool. Over the course of Night, Wiesel demonstrates, that exposure to an uncaring, hostile world leads to destruction of faith and identity.

“The camp looked as though it had been through an epidemic: empty and dead” (47); even when there is a break in between the horror and pain of working for Nazis in concentration camps and suffering from hunger, it is dead, empty and inhuman; this meaningful passage about the complete and utter truth of concentration camps comes from a memoir, Night, by Elie Wiesel. Vocabulary in this passage, is nothing short of exemplary, the words completely compliment the message being shared in this quote. Elie Wiesel describes the atrocious Buna camp as if it were through an epidemic, an outbreak, rendering people empty and dead due to starvation, lack of sleep, and over exertion. This paints a complete and thorough visual of how he viewed concentration

In this scene from Night, Elie Wiesel and his inmates are rushed out of their barracks at 5 A.M, forced to strip, and ordered run, naked and cold. Elie unveils that enslavement strips one of their personal identity leading to dehumanization. Wiesel observes “Mountains of prison garb” in the concentration camp. The use of hyperbole, exaggerating the amount of prison garb, emphasizes the high density of individuals in the camp. They are forced to wear the same uniform clothing, illustrating the destruction of individuality. The use of the word “prison” shows the birth of subjection. Wiesel also uses syntax to demonstrate the conformity of the camp, recalling the daily routine “Disinfection. Everybody soaked in it. Then came a hot shower. All

“…Imagine now a man who is deprived of everyone he loves, and at the same

INTRO:Tadeusz Borowski is a polish poet and short story writer who grew up in a time during the holocaust. He published most of his works for the underground press as they were brutally honest from his personal experience. He struggled in search of good moral values despite his Nazi occupation. In his short story “This way for the gas, ladies and gentlemen” was set in a concentration camp in Auschwitz. The narrator was a polish prisoner who worked under Nazi rule, we can assume it is based on Borowski’s real life.

Borowski was Polish and was taken to Auschwitz as a political prisoner. There he worked in “Canada” which was the place that the prisoners arriving to camp came through. His job was to unload the incoming transports to the camp. Because of his job he was able to take items from the trains to either eat or use himself or he could use the items to trade for other things that he may want to have. He was in a way privileged in the camp because he got more food than many of the other prisoners. However, as a result of his duties he also dealt directly with death. He had to move many dead bodies many of which were children. This close proximity to death greatly affected him. Borowski once wrote in a letter, “You know how much I used to like Plato. Today I realized that he lied. For the things of this world are not a reflection of the ideal, but a product of human sweat, blood and hard labor. It was we who built the pyramids, hewed the marble for the temples and the rocks for the imperial roads.... We were filthy and died real deaths… What does ancient history say about us?... We rave over the extermination of the Etruscans, the destruction of Carthage, over treason, deceit, plunder, Roman law! Yes, today too there is law!” (pg.25) Borowski sees life differently after he has been in the concentration camp. He no