To the Gas Chamber
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To The Gas Chamber
Tadeusz Borowski had firsthand knowledge of the harshness of concentration camps doing World War II. Camp Auschiwitz gave Borowski an early taste of deprivation and suffering. Reuniting with his parents in Poland during 1939 the reunion was short lived because Nazis soon took over. After his first publication he was arrested and tattooed with a camp serial number and shipped to Auschwitz. The choices were harsh you were faced with being sent to the gas chamber or the unendurable conditions of the heat, overcrowding, and labor such as stacking dead bodies or moving heavy baggage. Waiting for the day that you were set free or sentenced to death was what kept them going.
The heat of the camp and the mass of people made it so that even when they received clothing they did not put them on. Men and women alike would have be deloused and remain naked because of the heat and the many people. “Nonetheless both the former and the latter went about naked; the heat was terrific.” (2307) They were dehumanized and made to live like animals in a herd.
First he is faced with the horrible heat. As a result the men are all fully unclothed for comfort. This is not that out of the ordinary in the concentration camp. All inmates are striped form their clothing anyway. Not only was the heat an obstacle, but also putting up with the commotion of hundreds bunked up together under one roof. A Rabbi raves on and on and others are forced to listen. He is faced with horror at the loading dock that he agrees to go and help the Canadians unload. Some of the transport cars are packed so tight with people that it is hard for them to breathe and as the doors open they all pour out like sardines in a can. “Packed to the limit they were squeezed into terribly cramped quarters, fainting from the heat, being suffocated and smothering others.” (2313) He was force to experience that after mass of death from being trapped in such a tight place. He and his other group members had to clean the cars of the train that had the trampled infants and other remains of humans. The remains were carried by the bulk and the conflict within him and human nature yet lingers as he has to carry the deceased remains with the pile of other people that are on their way to the crematoria. He is forced not to tell the new comers of their fate and this cause conflict within also. A woman once again asks him of her fate and he must not answer and she walks to her death. During the unloading of the transport he un wraps a bag full of gold and realizing that his life has no use for such riches he can only look until it is taken from him by one of the guards.
He is so exhausted both mentally and physically when the transport has ended. He tells the Henri that he is unable to do any more transports but he is faced with the reality that he must continue to unload of face consequences