— What did you learn from this story that you did not previously know about life in Nazi concentration camps?
–This story can be described as a kind of “initiation story” for the narrator. How is he changed or transformed by the events of the narrative?
–A tall, grey-haired woman who has just arrived on the “transport” whispers, “My poor boy,” to our narrator. What does she mean?
–“Are we good people?” asks our narrator. What is this exchange about? What do you think?
–Explain the significance of the story’s title, “This Way to the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen.” What seems strange about it?
–This story can be described as a kind of “initiation story” for the narrator. How is he changed or transformed by the events of the narrative?
Before the narrator assisted in the transport, he was content with simply taking in the spoils of his comrades’ work. Worried that there won’t be any more people to cremate, he fears he won’t receive the shirt and shoes he asked for. The casual way with which he brings up the loads of people who are unaware of their impending cremated fate is shocking, but only grows worse as the narrator witnesses the next transport for himself.
When the first train arrives, the narrator points out the inhumane conditions the Jews were forced to be in. They push to escape the cramped train car and some ask where they are. The narrator notes the stupefied silence the men who will escape death, for now, are in and the screaming of women and children who are headed for their deaths. After cleaning out the first car, the narrator questions his job. Henri ensures him that the anger he feels towards the people from the transport is natural, which only validates it. Another train rolls in and this time the narrator has no qualms about treating those coming off as anything less than human.
The only instance where the narrator’s humanity seems to remain is when a beautiful girl exits the train and he contrasts her beauty to the ugly death she will soon succumb to. At the end of the day, while the last transport arrives, the narrator must take a break. He dreams of being back in his comfortable bunk while describing this tragic routine of unloading those to their death as the “late showing of the same film.” To those surviving, and now thriving from their spoils, the transport was merely a loot.
— What did you learn from this story that you did not previously know about life in Nazi concentration camps?
I learned that many people are held in Nazi concentration camps.Not everyone will be killed. Strong and young people will be selected as labor, others will be sent to gas chamber.In this cruel situation, all people become inhumane in order to survive. The welfare of the prisoner-workers depends on the continuing destruction of the Jews. Mother can abandon their child.People lose compassion and make excuses for their brutality. Morality and humanity are so fragile in front of death.
A tall, grey-haired woman who has just arrived on the “transport” whispers, “My poor boy,” to our narrator. What does she mean?
She means that this boy is having to go through so much devastation. Personally, he will not die, while the grey haired woman will die within a matter of moments. The point is that this woman through all her pain and suffering sees a boy who is witnessing atrocities like no other, which is why she says poor boy.
–Explain the significance of the story’s title, “This Way to the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen.” What seems strange about it?
When I just saw the tittle i thought of something good, I thought people are being treated well, However after reading it i saw it kinda ironic. Because this phrase is used in a amusement park or in a carnival not to guide jews to their death. Those visitants are being dehumanized and killed in concentration camps. The phrase is often used to represent happiness and respect towards the person, but here the author uses it a hypocracy or disrespectful towards the people that are being killed.
Explain the significance of the story’s title, “This Way to the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen.” What seems strange about it?
Actually, it is a way to lead people to death. However, the writer makes the title in such a formal way. It feels like people are going to party but in fact, they are going to die. It gives me a very conflict feeling but I think the author did it on purpose. He tries to create a sense of irony. In order to express his disgust with the camp and strongly disagree about everything that happened in the camp. This contrast makes me even more hate the behavior of this concentration camp.
What did you learn from this story that you did not previously know about life in Nazi concentration camps?
Shockingly enough the job title concerning Canada is new information I learned. I knew that during this time Jews were loaded on to mobile transports to be incinerated, disrespected, or worked to death, but I didn’t know there were people who had to clear these transports of dead bodies, excrement, and other vile things. I read and watched movies about the Jewish Holocaust from the perpectives of unfortunate Jews, fortunate Jews, and Nazi sympathizers. However the perspective of a guy who loads and unloads Jews and all that comes with them is new to me. The culpable hatred he expresses for the Jews is a new perspective to me.
–Explain the significance of the story’s title, “This Way to the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen.” What seems strange about it?
This title makes something horrifying seem welcoming and acceptable. In fact the title is inviting these individuals to the gas chamber. The title lack concern for this tragic event and is very dehumanizing. It turns a tragic action into something amusing and inviting. This is strange because, just like the title ,certain characters in the text do not feel sympathy for these individuals that are being murdered in such a dehumanizing way.
–Explain the significance of the story’s title, “This Way to the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen.” What seems strange about it?
When I see this title, I think it is ordinary and completely incapable of associating death because it looks polite. However, after reading this article, I think it’s ironic. It’s like a polite person who says “please, go to hell.”
— What did you learn from this story that you did not previously know about life in Nazi concentration camps?
I did not learn anything that I did not know before about the concentration camps. I Knew the terrible conditions people were kept under, how families were separated, how people were executed, used for experiments, tortured, and so on. What the reading gave me was another perspective and experience in understanding the camps and life in the camps. The story was different from other texts and mediums that have created my body of thought on the holocaust. Its narrative style, its perspective being that of a non-Jewish captive, and it being fiction all combined to give me a better understating of the holoucaust experience.