Borowski, Tadeusz. “Ladies and Gentlemen, to the Gas Chamber.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature. 2nd Edition. Lawall, Sarah. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. 2002. 2773-86.The story “Ladies and Gentlemen, to the Gas Chamber” is also known as “This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen.” The narrator of “Ladies and Gentlemen, to the Gas Chamber” is a prisoner at the notorious Auschwitz, one of the death camps where the vicious killings were carried out. In order for the narrator to stay alive, he had to take part in the business of the camp. This included the murder of the Jews and other individuals. He helped his own survival by aiding in the death of other. The prisoners are forced to take part in carrying out the murders. If they refused to do their jobs, they would be killed themselves. The prisoners tried to show remorse to the people who were going to the gas chamber by deceiving them about their approaching fate. How can one be happy when killing precious lives? How can one say they were our enemies? Having to work 11 to 12 hours a day, given little food and water, no heat, no running water, and always monitored 24-7. These individuals were treated like animals instead of humans.
The theme of the story represents a surreal reality into confinement, destitution, torture, and death in the gas chambers. The narrator is strongly affected by the events that he is helping bring about. The narrator states, "Never before in the history of mankind has hope been stronger than man, but never also has it done so much harm as it has in this war, in this concentration camp. We were never taught how to give up hope, and this is why today we perish in gas chambers." These inmates hoped for better but instead got worse. Slaves of their hope and having to hold on to hope because what else did they have. This story confronts us with moments of dehumanization and terror of extermination; which leaves us morally speechless. “Ladies and Gentlemen, to the Gas Chamber” shows that Auschwitz was another world, one which we still do not understand and possibly will never understand.
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Sketch from Terezin
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Holocaust
Pagedar, Sudeep. Holocaust. Poets Against War. 2005
“Holocaust” is a talent, young writer poem about the madness, despair and the insanity of the Holocaust. This poems is asking the question, “How can you explain to a ten year old boy in the way he can understand that death is near?” Or should you even tell him at all?
The theme of the story represents a surreal reality into confinement, destitution, torture, and death in the gas chambers. The narrator is strongly affected by the events that he is helping bring about. The narrator states, "Never before in the history of mankind has hope been stronger than man, but never also has it done so much harm as it has in this war, in this concentration camp. We were never taught how to give up hope, and this is why today we perish in gas chambers." These inmates hoped for better but instead got worse. Slaves of their hope and having to hold on to hope because what else did they have. This story confronts us with moments of dehumanization and terror of extermination; which leaves us morally speechless. “Ladies and Gentlemen, to the Gas Chamber” shows that Auschwitz was another world, one which we still do not understand and possibly will never understand.
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Sketch from Terezin
Haas, Leo. Sketch from Terezin. 1941-1944. Expressionist, Terezin Pamatnik Muzeum, Terezin, Czech Republic.
This Sketch shows an almost photographic presentation of inmates watching with fear as children were marched past the barracks in the middle of the night, on the way to the bath house. The sketch conveys the sense of foreboding knowing that these children were going to the gas chambers. Small children were often killed upon arrival if they were to young to work and the children born in the camp were generally killed on the spot. The children that worked were very skinny, dirty and dehydrated.
Leo Haas provides observers with an insight into life at Theresienstadt. He was one of several artists who drew the egregious assaults on humanity that took place at Theresienstadt; which the Nazi’s called the Paradise Ghetto. Haas exposed through his art the façade Theresienstadt really was. He used his visual talent to try and show the world what was actually going on, even though many were unlikely to survive.
Leo Haas provides observers with an insight into life at Theresienstadt. He was one of several artists who drew the egregious assaults on humanity that took place at Theresienstadt; which the Nazi’s called the Paradise Ghetto. Haas exposed through his art the façade Theresienstadt really was. He used his visual talent to try and show the world what was actually going on, even though many were unlikely to survive.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Holocaust
Pagedar, Sudeep. Holocaust. Poets Against War. 2005
“Holocaust” is a talent, young writer poem about the madness, despair and the insanity of the Holocaust. This poems is asking the question, “How can you explain to a ten year old boy in the way he can understand that death is near?” Or should you even tell him at all?
How do you
explain that term
to a ten-
year old boy
who, one day,
hears it mentioned
by some relatives?
And even if
you do manage
to make him
understand what it
actually does mean,
do you also
tell him that
because he is
A GERMAN JEW,
perhaps, some day,
he might be
included in it...?
Or should he
just not be
told, so that
he remains calm
and doesn't lose
sleep over it?
But what is sleep,
in front of death?
Perhaps Death is greater,
perhaps the two are the same;
we do not know yet
but we'll know, by the end of the day;
the Chambers are yet some hours away.
"To die, to sleep...to sleep, perchance to dream..."
How did Shakespeare realize that?
Did he know some Jew
who was persecuted too?
Perhaps he was wrong,
maybe he was right...
Anyway, I suspect we'll find out
by tonight.
Would you tell your child or keep it a secret that his life would be ending soon? The more you try to explain it will only hurt you more; you and your child. It like where do you start, where do you begin. Trying to stay strong and trying to hide all your fears. Knowing that death was near will hurt you more than not knowing. What is sleep, in front of death? Many say “death is a state of dreamless sleep.” Or sleep and death are brothers? Is death a perfect sleep? Sleep is an imperfect fulfillment of death, nature's divination of the future death. Nightly we sleep, and therefore nightly we partially die.
"To die, to sleep...to sleep, perchance to dream…,” might there be peace in death. “In that sleep of death what dreams may come true.” The thought of someone finding out that the night is the night to die is unbelievable. Was it better to be put to death, then live another single day working to death?--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Forgotten People
Pearce, Ted. The Forgotten People. Zions Sake I Will Not Be Silent (Galilee of the Nations), 2002.
The Forgotten People is a song dedicate to the Holocaust of Jews and anti-Semitism. This song gives more dept into the human experiences during the Holocaust.
6 million people crying from the grave. Invisible people calling out their names
Beautiful people taken from their homes. Oh, scattered people no where to go
And the mother and fathers and the sons and daughters, they were carried away in trains
Their bodies are broken and beaten and burned and their ashes fell down like rain
They were branded with a number and a yellow star and paraded around in shame
They called it a crime to be born a Jew and in the name of god they were slain
Blessed people who tried to help while evil people schemed among themselves
Everyday people who ignored the news, oh...indifferent people sitting in the pews
And the mother and fathers and the sons and daughters, they were carried away in trains
Their bodies are broken and beaten and burned and their ashes fell down like rain
They were branded with a number and a yellow star and paraded around in shame
They called it a crime to be born a Jew and in the name of god they were slain
The forgotten people, 6 million people, The forgotten people, the chosen people
It's time to wake up from the pleasant sleep. Time to see our nakedness and begin to weep
Sound the alarm shouting “never again!”
Let a righteous revolution begin
History must never repeat itself so lift your voices and take a stand
United as one for Zion’s sake, undivided as the nations rage
We’ve got to rise like an army in the name of the nation that was born in a day
The forgotten people, 6 million people, The forgotten people, the chosen people
Can you hear them calling out again?
So many people were taken from their homes and stripped from their possessions. Only allowed to carry a few things which constituted their formal life. Starting a future that was unknown and with little knowledge of where they were going. Sacrificing a life with fire and taking away names and replacing them with numbers. Jews went through humiliation and shame daily. How can you slain a person in the name of God when you’re the devil? These where the “forgotten people”, the people with no voice, the chosen people, and the people who did not lost hope. The Holocaust is beyond words and understanding. No one can never forget this unbelievable, surreal, and horrible crime that slain over six million people. These people did nothing to deserve this. This song “The Forgotten People” gives us a deeper understanding into what these six million individual faced during the Holocaust.
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Schindler’s List
Schindler’s List. Dir, Steven Spielberg. Perf.. Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, and Ralph Fiennes. Film. 1993.A true story based on the life of Oskar Schindler, a German who was born and raised in Moravia. Oskar is a sharp businessman, a member of the Nazi party, womanizer, and war profiteer who travels to Poland to take advantage of confiscated Jewish property and slave labor. He become a very rich man and he develops a sense of compassion he never had before. In the end he goes completely broke trying to save 1200 Jews from the death camp. This film is a profoundly shocking, fact-based, three hour long epic of the nightmarish Holocaust.
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