![]() ![]() In short, it conveys the message that cruelty fosters more cruelty. Wiesel’s narrative portrays Nazis’ inhuman treatment of Jews, which ultimately leads the victims to believe that they indeed do not deserve humane treatment. This concentration camp acts as a processing center for new prisoners at Auschwitz and is known as Birkenau.Īmong the many concerns of Wiesel, one is that if humans are exposed to cruelty, it can lead to moral degradation and lack of human values in its victims. Later on, they realize that it is the smell of flesh burning. There is a putrid smell in the air, which the prisoners can’t make out instantaneously. From the windows of the train, the prisoners can only see chimneys of huge furnaces. In the middle of the night, the train reaches an area which is secured by barbed wire. She is treated in the same way as has been going on for the past few days. However, by the time it is night, Madame Schächter is at it again. The gullible prisoners believe it and feel relieved that all their concerns were unfounded. They are told that they have been brought to a labor camp where they will be looked after well, and they will work with their families. They try to get some inside information from the locals. The train finally comes to a halt at an Auschwitz station. A day later, Madame Schächter’s howling and shouting resumes. Some of the youngsters on the train beat her up while others support them in the act. Madame Schächter frees herself and warns of an imaginary furnace. Her son, close by, does not react and keeps on crying. When she does not stop, the prisoners tie her up and silence her. No one else sees the fire, but she scares the prisoners in the car with the feeling of looming uncertainty.īut just like Moshe the Beadle in the opening section, the Jews do not pay heed to Madame Schächter. She starts screaming and says that she can see a raging fire in the dark. Madame Schächter, a middle-aged woman with a 10-year-old son, wilts to the extreme oppression after three days. The doors of the cattle car are shut with nails, leaving no chance of escape. And if anyone tries to escape from the train, all of them will be killed. He issues a warning that Jews who do not hand over their precious belongings will be shot. Then, a German official takes charge of them. Here, they get a feeling that they are simply not being relocated, but there is something more to it. ![]() Some of them, men as well as women, start amorous activities, while the others chose to turn a blind eye.Īfter travelling for a few days in such inhuman conditions, they reach the Czechoslovakian border. ![]() The fear of the unknown creates a panic in them, and they start behaving erratically. All the prisoners are feeling hungry and thirsty. There is suffocation, intense heat, and little space to sit. The Jews are loaded into cattle cars and subjected to unbearable conditions. ![]()
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