One example in Borowski’s “This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen” that had a profound effect on me was on page 702 of his narrative. There, he was helping unload the trains of the new transports that were being brought into his camp. Their job was to help gather up everything that was brought on the trains – food, valuables, clothing, even bodies He describes the experience in one of the cars:

                “In the corners, among human excrement and abandoned wrist-watches lie squashed, trampled infants, naked little monsters with enormous heads and bloated bellies. We carry them out like chickens, holding several in each hand.”

When I came to that paragraph, it was one of those moments that you had to just pause and let what the narrator was saying sink in. Because part of my mind just couldn’t fully comprehend the words, couldn’t possibly visualize the horrific scene that he was describing. His wording was simple, almost nonchalant when he talked about finding “squashed, trampled infants” amidst the other personal belongings. It was such an embodiment of dehumanization when he talked about disposing of them like you would a chicken, carrying “several in each hand.” That’s what really got me. Growing up, my grandparents had chickens. Being a big animal lover, I was always so upset whenever they found an old one that had died. I hated watching my grandfather get rid of it, because he would never bury it like I wanted to. Instead, he would walk it across the street, holding it by its legs, and toss its body into the woods like it was nothing more than a bag of garbage.  When I was reading this, it brought me back to that memory, only here it was so, so much worse. Because here, Borrowski was talking about babies. Little infants who were being disposed of like they were nothing more than a dead bird. I think this is what made it so significant to the story, because it showed how completely devalued their lives had become. They were malnourished, neglected, and regarded as nothing more than a farm animal.  And not only that, but they were TRAMPLED – flattened by other human feet. The inhumane conditions and the panic and terror of everyone around them made keeping them safe a last priority, the complete opposite of what our human nature towards an innocent child is supposed to be. It made me wonder, had anyone tried to save them? Or were they just so desperate to stay alive that it wasn’t even a second thought? What about the mothers? Were the conditions so abysmal that even they put their own survival above their child’s? It was such a small excerpt from the narrator’s story, yet it’s one that made such a severe, lasting impression.