Explain the significance of the story’s title, “This Way to the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen.” What seems strange about it?
I initially thought the title was humorous because the way it is phrased reminds me of an = a carnival where one is leading someone to a game or ride. However, in reality it trivializes how serious the gas chambers were and what they meant for millions of Jewish men and women. This title fits the odd nature of the Holocaust fiction where the author has the leeway to change the tone of his subject and create some levity. The author’s choice of a seemingly humorous title creates an uncomfortable feeling for the reader who is about to experience the Holocaust through his voice and I believe that was his purpose due to the nature of the subject.
“Are we good people?” asks our narrator. What is this exchange about? What do you think?
When the narrator asks this, it shows that he’s dealing with inner conflict. He has to listen to the Nazis and is tasked with making women take dead babies that aren’t even theirs. In this exchange, he questions whether he’s still the same person he was before the concentration camps. He thinks that the horrible things he’s doing is unforgivable and has changed him into an evil person. He is searching for hope that in his heart he is still a good person by asking his friend such a loaded question.
What did you learn from this story that you did not previously know about life in Nazi concentration camps?
With this story I learned that people being oppressed by the Nazi officials were oppressing people that had less power than they did. For example, in this story the Nazi officers were cruel to the people at the concentration camps but the people who were at the concentration camps were being cruel to the ones who were just arriving. That is horrifying to me because I did not think this was the case. I believed that the people already at the camp before new arrivals would be nice to the new people. It makes me question my previous views. This made me realize that they must have been so horribly oppressed that at that point, its “survival of the fittest” and everyone for themselves.
Rishi – I don’t think Borowski’s title is meant to inject levity into a painful scene. I think he is using irony here by drawing our attention to the gap between the expectations that are generated by the title (I agree with you that it reminds us of a carnival) and the subject – after all, no carnival would include gas chambers. The result of the irony is that we become even more aware of how barbaric the camps were.