Jounral Entry #3
Chatper 3 : Initiation
“So we must certainly wash our faces without soap in dirty water and dry ourselves on our jackets. We must polish our shoes, not because regulation states it, but for dignity and propriety. We must walk erect, without dragging our feet, not in homage to Prussian discipline but to remain alive, not to begin to die.” (41)
Steinlauf states that prisoners should wash, walk erect, and act in a way as if they were proud, not losing their dignity. Being clean is essential to our life, and sanity also helps us keep healthy. In the concentration camps, however, sanity seemed pointless since nothing would actually keep the prisoners "clean." In other words, cleaning themselves in the camp didn't actually clean them, but it was like an act of rebellion trying to keep their dignity and propriety against the Germans. I think Steinlauf made some sense out of his words, but having hope seemed to be pointless also because there was no suck thing like hop in the camps. Having hopes, and holding on to human characteristics like dignity was probably a waste of time and probably made the prisoners weaker. Throwing away such human characteristics and pullnig out the inner beast inside would have helped the prisoners much more rather than hanging on to fragile human morals. Also, when the camp was a matter of life and death, would dignity and propriety matter? I thought that when death came, nothing mattered and no one would remember someone long enough that they had dignity in the camps. They were just to be remembered as "one" of the many pepole who died during the holocaust. So why not abandon the human characteristics for a while, become a beast, and survive?
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Journal Entry #2
Journal Entry #2
Chapter 2 : On the Bottom
"And do not think that shoes form a factor of secondary importance in the life of the Lager. Death begins with the shoes; for most of us, they show themselves to be instruments of torture, which after a few hours of marching cause painful sores which become fatally infected. Whoever has them is forced to walk as if he was dragging a convict's chain."(34)
In chapter 2, Primo Levi described how he felt like being on the "bottom" of life. He describes how they were treated like animals, and were being tested like experimental tools. After readnig this chapter, I realized that I was taking many things for granted, and I wasn't being thankful for a lot of things. Spoons and bowls may seem very ordinary in our lives today, but back in the concentration camps, spoons and bowls were a matter of life and death. The passage above states how death began with shoes in the camps. In our lives today, shoes are essential and protect our feet, but we do not consider them as a protection, but just as "shoes." In Buna, however, shoes were a matter of life and death. The shoes constantly tortured them, and the shoes represented shackles of a prisoner to the jews.
While reading this story, I wondered if Primo had any hope of surviving the camp. By his desperate, but hopeless tone, it seems that Primo had no thought of surviving through this camp. In class, we discussed whether having hope, or becoming a beast was the key to survival in the camps. In my opinion, I think becoming like a beast, and having no hope was why Primo survived the camp. Of course, luck was also a big factor that contributed to his survival, but letting go of any humanistic character was the key to his survival.
People these days not only take advantage of what they have, but they also greed for more and more when they have all the necessities of life. Primo helped me realize once again that all the things I had was so much more than i needed. Ironically, however, people forget this lesson quickly and live on with their extravagant life again. I think it's just a matter of fact of looking back at yourself, and being thankful for what you have.
Chapter 2 : On the Bottom
"And do not think that shoes form a factor of secondary importance in the life of the Lager. Death begins with the shoes; for most of us, they show themselves to be instruments of torture, which after a few hours of marching cause painful sores which become fatally infected. Whoever has them is forced to walk as if he was dragging a convict's chain."(34)
In chapter 2, Primo Levi described how he felt like being on the "bottom" of life. He describes how they were treated like animals, and were being tested like experimental tools. After readnig this chapter, I realized that I was taking many things for granted, and I wasn't being thankful for a lot of things. Spoons and bowls may seem very ordinary in our lives today, but back in the concentration camps, spoons and bowls were a matter of life and death. The passage above states how death began with shoes in the camps. In our lives today, shoes are essential and protect our feet, but we do not consider them as a protection, but just as "shoes." In Buna, however, shoes were a matter of life and death. The shoes constantly tortured them, and the shoes represented shackles of a prisoner to the jews.
While reading this story, I wondered if Primo had any hope of surviving the camp. By his desperate, but hopeless tone, it seems that Primo had no thought of surviving through this camp. In class, we discussed whether having hope, or becoming a beast was the key to survival in the camps. In my opinion, I think becoming like a beast, and having no hope was why Primo survived the camp. Of course, luck was also a big factor that contributed to his survival, but letting go of any humanistic character was the key to his survival.
People these days not only take advantage of what they have, but they also greed for more and more when they have all the necessities of life. Primo helped me realize once again that all the things I had was so much more than i needed. Ironically, however, people forget this lesson quickly and live on with their extravagant life again. I think it's just a matter of fact of looking back at yourself, and being thankful for what you have.
Monday, February 12, 2007
Journal Entry #1
Jounral Entry #1
Chapter 1 : The Journey
Chapter 1 was a kickoff of Primo's unfortunate events. Even though chapter 1 only described the deportation and selection process, I was still very horrified by how Primo described his feelings using many similies and metaphors. "We said farewell and it was short; everybody said farewell to life through his neighbour. We had no more fear." How can someone let go of hope of living and be afraid of nothing? It seems that the Jews knew what their destiny was going to be, letting looses of any hope that they had before riding the train. The train is very symbolic in this story since the train is the transportation the German's use to send the Jews to their "final destination." Primo Levi describes this gruesome journey as a journey towards nothingness, which is very ironic that the Jews are going somewhere, but that somewhere would become nothing to them. The process of moving the Jews at dawn, and stopping at dusk is very symbolic with the train also. When the day starts, the train also starts heading towards its destination. When dusk comes, the train also stops. We can compare the live's of the Jews like dawn and dusk also. Every day, at dawn, the Jews who survived through the journey for one day needs to get ready to experience hell in the train again. Just like the way the sun falls at dusk, however, the Jews who aren't strong enough fall dead also. I wonder how it was like being in one of those trains, feeling the stench and longing for just a drop of water in order to survive.
Though chapter 1 was only a beginning to all this, it still infuriated me how the German's treated the Jews. I wonder how it would be like off the train, and inside the factory of death.
Chapter 1 : The Journey
Chapter 1 was a kickoff of Primo's unfortunate events. Even though chapter 1 only described the deportation and selection process, I was still very horrified by how Primo described his feelings using many similies and metaphors. "We said farewell and it was short; everybody said farewell to life through his neighbour. We had no more fear." How can someone let go of hope of living and be afraid of nothing? It seems that the Jews knew what their destiny was going to be, letting looses of any hope that they had before riding the train. The train is very symbolic in this story since the train is the transportation the German's use to send the Jews to their "final destination." Primo Levi describes this gruesome journey as a journey towards nothingness, which is very ironic that the Jews are going somewhere, but that somewhere would become nothing to them. The process of moving the Jews at dawn, and stopping at dusk is very symbolic with the train also. When the day starts, the train also starts heading towards its destination. When dusk comes, the train also stops. We can compare the live's of the Jews like dawn and dusk also. Every day, at dawn, the Jews who survived through the journey for one day needs to get ready to experience hell in the train again. Just like the way the sun falls at dusk, however, the Jews who aren't strong enough fall dead also. I wonder how it was like being in one of those trains, feeling the stench and longing for just a drop of water in order to survive.
Though chapter 1 was only a beginning to all this, it still infuriated me how the German's treated the Jews. I wonder how it would be like off the train, and inside the factory of death.
Journal Entry #0
Journal Entry #0
Documentary Response
Why would anyone do this? What are the reasons behind this whole conspiracy?While watching this documentary, I thought the Germans were insane.Of course, they probably had their reasons for committing such a horrific crime to mankind, but how is that justifiable? What if the SS, gustapos, or whoever were involved in this factory of death just experienced half the pain the prisoners felt? Ideas do bear observable consequences, but how can one man's idea bring such a devastating result..? In my opinion, I think that all of the people who were involved in this unbelievable crime should have been executed. The fact that the people who were involved were still alive and they had the guts to openly interview infuriated me. What guts did they have to interview like they did nothing wrong? The extermination of the Jews wasn't just an "extermination." It is ironic how people call it the "extermination" of Jews when this was so much more than just "exterminating" the Jews. This was a crime against humanity, against mankind. I still can't forget the former Jewish soldier stating that he does not regret of what he had done to the SS, but he regrets what he couldn't do to them. How evil were the SS to the prisoners that a man can hate another man so much? I can't even imagine half the physical and psychological pain that these prisoners went through. I can't even imagine killing a person, but how angry was this Jewish man to regret not killing someone? Since we are not first hand victims to this crime, we may never imagine how it was to be a prisoner in the concentration camps. One thing, however, remains clear and certain: this should never happen again.
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