Essay Questions

Describe the suffering that characters endured in the book This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen.

The setting of the book is Nazi Germany. The characters in the novel went through emotional suffering, physical suffering and mental suffering. The characters were tortured by the regime in various ways that have been outlined below.

The regime had various people in camps who worked day and night to fulfill the needs of the government. These people endured physical suffering in terms of hard labor and starvation among others. The narrator tells the reader of how the prisoners at the camp worked all day and part of the night digging trenches. They were not allowed enough rest and were badly beaten if they were caught resting. After the work, they were fed very little food that barely sustained them the next day. The Jewish people endured physical suffering because they were either killed in the gas chambers when lethal gas was released or were shot.

The characters in the novel underwent emotional suffering and mental suffering . This was because they were forcibly separated from their loved ones. The prisoners at the camp also underwent emotional suffering when they were forced to march the Jewish people to the gas chambers. The prisoners were empathetic and traumatized by the experience of leading people to their death.

Describe various survival tactics that were used by the prisoners of Auschwitz.

The narrator tells of how the prisoners used various means to ensure that they survived another day or has their various needs fulfilled. These survival tactics include : stealing, borrowing and trading from each other.

The prisoners stole from each other regularly. The narrator of the story, A Day at Harmenz tells of how Ivan stole his soap so that he(Ivan) could trade it for lard from Mrs. Haneczka. Another instance when the prisoners stole was when there were new arrivals at the railway station. The prisoners would steal shoes and other items from the new arrivals who were destined for the gas chambers.

The prisoners of Auschwitz borrowed from a one another on various occasions. This was a show of solidarity and empathy. They helped each other out of love and understanding. For example the narrator of the story, Auschwitz Our Home( A Letter) borrowed the services of another prisoner in order to get his letters delivered to his lover.

Outline various jobs that were undertaken at Auschwitz.

Auschwitz was where two camps, a female and a male one were located during Nazi Germany. The jobs were divided according to race. The Germans had administrative jobs and the Polish and other nationalities had middle level jobs and menial jobs.

The Germans were the administrators of the camps. They were in charge of the prisoners and the supervision of the work that was done by those below them in rank. They were also in charge of punishing the wrongdoers and selecting those who would be killed.

The other nationalities that include the Polish and the Greek were given menial jobs that were very tiring. They unloaded people who arrived at the camps and collected the items that the new arrivals came with. They were then required to escort the new arrivals to the gas chambers where they would be killed by leth gas. The prisoners were also required to dig trenches where the death would be buried