Reading through the first 100 pages of Survival in Auschwitz was really thought-provoking as to what a human's undeniable rights are. As incredibly awful as the Holocaust is by the sheer number of deaths, the most harrowing aspect of that monumental tragedy was in the way the victims were so inhumanely treated. I don't really feel like I need to go into detail as far as the German methods applied in concentration camps since we're reading about it, but what really struck me about it all today was how every aspect of camp life was so meticulously and violently cruel it all was. What was really powerful in the reading was the narrator noting that the German purpose behind all of the torture was to "annihilate us first as men in order to kill us more slowly afterwards." Every single trial the victims suffered was intentionally chosen by the German powers to demean them and strip them of any sense of humanity or individuality. This ties into the sentence on page 8 regarding how no man can be completely happy, but they also can't be completely unhappy, either. What makes that tenet of humanity reality is the fact that each person has the right to choose what that means for them, and what it means in this sense (in my opinion... I could be a little bit off here) is that Auschwitz' horror was amplified by the fact that the inhabitants had no choice to search out their balance of happiness. It was one of the closest things to hell on Earth that humanity has ever seen.
Edit: I commented on Hailey and Leann's posts.
Edit: I commented on Hailey and Leann's posts.
Comments
For a Jew to be pushed into seeking out their own happiness, while at the same time slowing coming to realization that the prison they are trapped in might very well become their grave is entirely damaging! Not only did the Jews have to endure physical pain and scars, but their emotional burdens grew heavier and heavier with each passing day.