English 263: Holocaust Literature
Introduction
The Holocaust experience remains something memorable in the world history as one of the worst events in the world. Various authors have come up with different literature pertaining to the Holocaust events and the experience. None of the literature can be deemed accurate compared to another. The experiences during this period by the Jews under the Nazi regime led by Adolf Hitler were extreme and in the modern civilized society, no person can subject to such torture and death without punishment. The Holocaust literature is thus an interesting topic for readers to study and understand. The two books under discussion “Survival in Auschwitz” by Primo Levi and “Auschwitz: True Takes from a Grotesque Land” by Sara Nomberg-Przytyk bring in different testimonies by the authors with regards to the Holocaust experience.
The paper looks at the comparison between the two books in their tales with regards to the Holocaust experience. The paper begins by providing a brief glimpse of what the two books focus about followed by a detailed explanation of comparisons differentiating clearly the topic sentences in the paragraphs.
Analysis
The book “Survival in Auschwitz” by Primo Levi narrates the author’s ten month experience of incarceration in the infamous death camp. The text is a harrowing sad story of systematic cruelty and the miraculous endurance of the various forms of torture. The book can be said to be a lasting testament to the unbreakable human spirit (Levi 3). On the other hand, the book “Auschwitz: True Tales from a Grotesque Land” by Sara Nomberg-Przytyk contains a painful and compelling story of the author’s two years imprisonment in the death camp. It is a recording of unimaginable atrocities and human compassion that stubbornly survived in the wake of the camp depersonalization and the quite eminent extermination (Nomberg 6).
Looking at the comparison of the two tests, the notion of survival in the face of death is prevalent. The authors to the two books undergo near death experiences in the infamous death camp where they are both worried if surviving is an option when faced with the worst ever kind of human degradation. When they survive Primo Levi and Sara Nomberg-Przytyk cannot understand how they managed to remain hopeful and determined despite facing such death wrecking, life threatening experiences. Primo Levi a twenty-five-year-old chemist of Italian descent and a Jew explores how the Nazi’s exterminated and at times stripped him of the very essence of humanity and life itself. He notes that in the midst Nazi’s inhumane practices he encounters moments of joy and hope and the optimism to face the next hurdle that come his way (Levi 1).
The two books look at hope at the main pillar that helps build a society. According to the books, without hope, there will be no developed. From the text “Survival in Auschwitz" the component of society’s hope is identified when Levi describe how he survived the Auschwitz praxis whose base principle was one portion of human kind, existence while it was a crime punishable by the torture, humiliation and ultimately death. The text brings out a new of social reorganization one that is determined to endure pain and agony to survive even when the prospects of survival dwindle. On the other hand, “Auschwitz: True Tales from a Grotesque Land” similar social response is seen to emerge as one of lack and hope in the midst of monstrous death masterminds. The book explains how being hopeful helped the author survive through the ordeal in the tyrant and cruel Nazi regime. The two books are significant in the emergence of a new social change and the perspective the Holocaust events offers to the paradigmatic framework that form basis for reflections, lessons and significance of those events in creating awareness and possibilities of hope in the most traumatic context.
The two books show evidence that the events of the holocaust are a watershed in the history of human culture through the story. The two books “Survival in Auschwitz” and “Auschwitz: True Tales from a Grotesque Land” are a true testament to what happened in the camps from a perspective of individuals who survived the mayhems and genocide of the century (Nomberg 23). The aftermath of the events still remembered even today as has been the most inhuman seen through human torture and extermination. The issues that were raised from the events described in vivid light and from a personal point of experience in the two books still continue to impact the society and our lives. The two books are able to bring out clearly the events that can only be described as horrendous and lack human empathy in all aspects. The cataclysmic events of the Holocaust destroyed the fundamental ideological significance of societies and friendship from the text “Auschwitz: True Tales from a Grotesque Land” Ms. Nomberg notes that when other prisoners are placed in charge of the fellow inmates the torture and treat them in the most inhumane manner imaginable. One would be forgiven to think because a fellow inmate has been promoted to manage fellow prisoners that would act more rationally considering the fact that they too have suffered under the Nazi commanders and soldiers, but as Nomberg describes, it was more disturbing to realize that some of the Jewish prisoners were more brutal than even the Nazis. They would threaten other fellow prisoners with death. She laments that some of them would became crazy with power that would aid in gathering of prisoners to be gassed (Nomberg 28). This captures the point on society disintegration.
The two books illustrate the consequences of occurrences such as Holocaust to course trauma to the victims in different ways. The two authors have shown how mentally they were disturbed by the events of their detention and ultimate imprisonment and living every day hoping you don’t die that day at least. According to the books, the events of Auschwitz left a long range of psychological effects on the survivors of the Holocaust (Nomberg 31). The authors detail the profound shock and disbelief of new prisoners as they were brought to the concentration camp. Levi from the first pages of his book “Survival in the Auschwitz” demonstrates what he calls “the demolition of man”. Through large and small acts of deprivation we follow the systematic removal of hopefulness, of dignity, luxury, and necessity. He laments the reduction of man to a hoarder of grey slabs of bread and scraping of soup. Additionally, the events have helped create a social environment of tolerance and mutual understanding in many societies that detested the events of the Holocaust. Allied countries offered to offer refuge to victims of the Holocaust, especially those of Jewish descent and helping them in the healing process.
In the analysis of the two books, “survival in Auschwitz” and “Auschwitz: True Tales from a Grotesque Land” we are tempted to define the history of the events of Auschwitz, this particular analysis raises fundamentally difficult questions about very issue human behavior and the context within which personal decisions are made. Besides, in the spirit of remaining objective on the issue of Auschwitz concentration camp it is important to state the possibilities of a completely objective stance are narrow or none (Levi, p 87). As have been discussed both people are a product of their environment, education, traditions and prejudices and so on. The subject of environmental influence can be disastrous if the events of Auschwitz are anything to go by, the sway of a regime and its aftermath impact could be unacceptable and out rightly against every fiber of human nature and human emotions and character as evident from the two books. Levi and Nomberg have demonstrated through their horrific tales, how the sway of an inhumane regime can work to destroy humanity and threaten the very definition of human nature and character.
Conclusion
The paper has shown the comparison between the two books in terms of the context to which they have discussed the events of the Holocaust and the experience in the Nazi regime. The authors provide a chance people to study the events of Auschwitz and make informed decisions on the issue of humanity and how to prevent such events ever happen in any country. Every nation should never have to put its citizens through traumatic ordeals based misogynistic views and discriminatory tendencies. The two books describe horrible events that should remind us of the importance of peace, tolerance on personal, religious, ethnic or race level. I find studying the two books as important when it comes to understanding the history of Germany and execution of the Jews by the Nazi regimes. The lessons learnt are applicable in the society today and in the events that people face on a daily basis.
Works cited;
Levi, Primo. Survival In Auschwitz. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2013, 2013. Print.
Nomberg-Przytyk, Sara, Roslyn Hirsch, Eli Pfefferkorn, and David H. Hirsch. Auschwitz: True Tales from a Grotesque Land. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1985. Internet resource.
