Chattahoochee River
Thursday, January 15, 2015
A journey
The thing that stood out to me most in this chapter was the Nazi's attempt to dehumanize the Jews. Throughout the chapter the Jews are being hearded from ghetto to ghetto and having all their belongings taken from them. The right to property is a basic human right and for all of their belongings to be taken away shows the extent to which the Nazi's would go to strip them of their humanity. Finally when they beat them and threatened them into the cattle car,they fit 80 people in one car. Even when they tried to get the woman into the hospital car a German officer said "she'll be there soon enough." implying her fate in the death camps.
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Queen Katherine, I definitely agree that the Nazi's subjection of the Jews through the institution of the ghettos and the pilfering of their valuables stripped the Jews of their humanity, as you stated. I also think, however, that compelling the Jews to the cattle carts, not only dehumanized them, but it made them even less than animals.
ReplyDeleteThe definition of humanity includes kindness to not only humans, but also animals, so by this definition, even subjecting animals to the crowded and filthy cattle carts would be considered cruel.
I also agree with the point that you made about the woman who repeatedly screamed about the fire.The Hungarian soldiers displayed complete disregard and apathy for not only the condition of the woman, but also that of all of the other Jews who inhabited the little cart. It just shows how heartless and corrupt they'd become, like they lacked a soul entirely.