The book is one of the collections of short stories that were compiled during Holocaust in Germany. The story centralizes mainly on the experiences, misfortunes, and tortures undergone by the prisoners. The author of the book, Tadeusz Borowski, was not among the Nazi rebels. However, when his anti-Nazi girlfriend was captured he surrendered himself to the authority so that he could be captured too in order to stay together with her. Borowski writes what he sees and experienced at the camp. The stories are linked by various themes, which have been well enhanced by different characters. The main character of the book is Tadek who serves as the narrator, as well. The book is also about the ways in which the Nazi soldiers underwent during the extermination of fellow human beings.
Holocaust is known as an occurrence that led to the death of numerous individuals, especially the Jews. Any reader of the story will undoubtedly form a rigid mentality that the Nazi soldiers enjoyed seeing their subjects or opponents die. Page 2779 of the story, however, gives a contrary relevance. The soldiers never told those who were to die about it. They pitied for them and telling them such would really hurt them. “There is the law of the camp that people going to their death must be deceived to the last moment” (Borowski 2779). This implies that the Nazi soldiers had pity on the prisoners, which is unexpected of them anyway. In fact, it was the only type of sympathy that was revealed to the detainees. The German soldiers also protect the prisoners or cover their shame by labeling the van that they utilized to take the prisoners to the chambers. The mention of some kind words when the prisoners were being taken to the crematorium shows the presence of pity among the German soldiers. This takes away ant form of the fuzzy lines amid the soldiers and the prisoners. According to the above, it is succinct that the soldiers too had pity on the prisoners.
Switching places between the Germans and the Jews was possible. The outcome of the holocaust indicates that the 9million people who were murdered were not all Jews. The victims consisted of various groups; Communists, Greeks, homosexuals, Jehovah’s witnesses, Poles, Russians and others. A Jewish survivor, Elie Wiesel, says that, “While not all victims were Jews, all Jews were victims.” This implies that not everyone who faced extermination during the Holocaust was a Jew. There were even Germans, especially those who opposed Nazi, who were exterminated just like the Jews. Another example from the text is a quote by Hans Frank, the then General Governor when he said that, "As far as I am concerned, the Poles and the Ukrainians and their like may be chopped into small pieces. Let it be, what should be" (Borowski 1223). This is an indication that not all the Jews were murdered, but also the Ukrainians as well. Switching places was therefore possible.
The prisoners were not responsible for the Jews’ extermination. The prisoners, though German criminals, were chosen by the SS to control fellow prisoners, most of whom were the Jews. Other evidence from the book reveals that the first prisoner acted as functionaries within the prison system.
Wok Cited
Borowski, Tadeusz. This way for the gas, ladies and gentlemen. Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1976. Print.
