Journal #9

Journal #9-from chapter 9 At Auschwitz, in 1944, of the old Jewish prisoners (we will not speak of the others here, as their condition was different), 'kleine Nummer', low numbers less than 150,000, only a few hundred had survived; not one was an ordinary Haftling, vegetating in the ordinary Kommandos, and subsisting on the normal ration. There remained only the doctors, tailors, shoemakers, musicians, cooks, young attractive homosexuals, friends or compatriots of some authority in the camp; or they were particularly pitiless, vigorous and inhuman individuals. Everyone knew even the little children knew that once you left for Auschwitz you never were coming back. You die if you go to Auschwitz. As the war ended, many Jews had lost their lives. Only a very few survived compared to the dead. Even if the Jews survived, usually the SS and Germans kept Jews that were useful. Doctors, shoemakers, musicians,and cooks were helpful to the concentration camps and to the Germans. However, other Jews that remained to be pitiless had a higher change to be sent to Auschwitz or the gas chamber. Many Jews may have wished or tried to fake as if they were a doctor,shoemaker, or musician. From this passage, I am also able to see that some of the SS were homosexuals. Some SS were especially nice to good looking boys and the purpose was because they were homosexuals. During this time, I wondered how many Jews would have wished to have jobs such as a doctor or shoemaker. Other jobs such as a teacher was meaningless to the Germans and started to be meaningless to the Jews. If a pitiless Jew survived, it was a miracle and some Jews may have been thankful or felt joy at that time for not being sent to Auschwitz or the gas chamber. Overall from this passage, I am trying to show how little people survived from the concentration camps and how so many Jews were killed. Even the Jews that were kept alive must have felt guilty seeing their friends and family members die when they were useless to the Germans. However, at the same time the Jews that were kept alive must have been thankful or felt relief that they weren't going to die. I also don't understand how the Germans can kill so many Jews and only a few hundred survived in Auschwitz. How can the Germans not feel any sympathy towards the Jews? Even if they thought the killing was necessary don't the SS or Germans have families themselves? Didn't they feel upset or sad when they saw family members cry when they were separated and begged not to be sent to the gas chamber? What makes me more upset is no one tried to stop the killing. Especially the United States and Canada were both a great nation, but did nothing to help the Jews in Europe. If someone took action, not many Jews may have died. However, as humans, we wait for someone else to take action. For the world to change it is depended on our actions. It is very painful to see how many Jews died today. We should now even take action for countries that are communist or countries that need to be developed. By your action a whole nation can be changed....