Sonderkommando Essays

So far, this Drama and Critical Literacy Class has definitely been one of the most nerve racking thus far! Since I had never been involved with any speech or drama in high school or college, I was anxious to find out what the expectations of the class would be. When we found out we would be responsible for writing a monologue and performing it, I was petrified! I had to think about what drama really meant to me and what direction I was going to take with my assignment that would be fitting in

Jew’s Rebellion Six million Jews in Europe dead in just a short period of four years. How is it possible that so many died so quickly? Did anyone try to stop the Nazi’s when they were commiting such crimes. Jews should arm themselves and train to combat Nazi tyranny. In the “Resistance During the Holocaust”, it describes how the Jews actively resisted with uprising in camps, Partisans, and rescuers. People can best respond to conflict by fighting by active resistance because to avoid later shame

Compare and Contrast The novel Night and the movie “Life is Beautiful” have two very different ways of looking at the Holocaust and the effects it had on each of the main characters. Looking back, Night has a more serious and heart wrenching way of telling the story of the Holocaust, and the movie is more light hearted and comedic because of the father’s attitude throughout the movie. Regardless of the way each story approaches the Holocaust the audience is impacted emotionally. These two stories

There are few times in human history where murder was committed with a magnitude comparable to that of the Holocaust. The Holocaust permanently affected human history, especially those who were victims of it. Henryk Mandelbaum was born into a poor Polish family on December 15, 1922 in Olkusz, Poland and in 1940 Mandelbaum’s life changed. Under domination of the Nazis after the invasion of Poland, Mandelbaum’s family was relocated to the Dabrowa Gornicza ghetto where Henryk was separated from his

In the book, Auschwitz: A Doctor’s Eyewitness Account, by Dr. Miklos Nyiszli he tells us his story of his time in Auschwitz. In May of 1944 the author, a Hungarian Jewish physician, was deported with his wife and daughter by cattle car to the Nazi concentration camp, Auschwitz. Dr. Nyiszli is a Jewish survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp which is located in Poland. Dr. Nyiszli eventually got separated from his wife and daughter, and volunteered to work under the supervision of Josef Mengele

Around 800,000 to one million individuals were killed at Treblinka Death Camp from July 23, 1942 to October 19, 1943 in Eastern Poland; 90 precent of all detainees was killed inside of two hours of entry. The bodies were then taken by Sonderkommandos to the open cremation pit on a peak. The pit had iron rails bound in layers inside of it like grillwork, on which the bodies were burned. Jews were intermittently forced to enter the pit and filter through the fiery remains for any bones that should

working in terrible conditions. Dr. Nyizsli officially became a member of the Sonderkommando. Members of the Sonderkommando has a better working environment compare to the others in the death camp. They get to wear comfortable clothing and eat better meals. However, in return they have to deal with special work which was helping Dr. Mengele’s terrifying experiment on Jewish human subject. The Nazi will start killing Sonderkommando every four months to erase every potential evidence. Dr. Nyizsli had experienced

Sonderkommandos who by Primo Levi standards were in a league with the SS officers, were the ones to put a stop to the horrors of Treblinka II, it made me question Levi’s testimony and question if his judgment was clouded by his opinion instead of facts. One thing that I know for sure is that Sonderkommandos may be viewed by many as perpetrators, but no one can question that they were heroes for having destroyed Treblinka II and stopping the killings of Jews by thousands. It’s essential to grasp

Holocaust survivor and author, Elie Wiesel in his thought-provoking speech, The Perils of Indifference, maintains the idea that indifference is dangerous and inhuman. He develops his message through the use of imagery, rhetorical questions, and anecdotes. Wiesel’s purpose is to warn readers of the danger that comes with indifference in order to instill a sense of urgency in the readers so that they can avoid indifference. He establishes a serious yet hopeful tone for readers by using stylistic devices

Imagine Claude Lanzmann’s pathbreaking “Shoah” shot in a hand-held, intimate, in-the-moment shooting style, all squeezed into 107 minutes of abject terror. Well, that’s exactly what László Nemes’s first feature, “Son of Saul” is, or at least, the filmmaker intended it to be. For readers unacquainted with world cinema, think of “Schindler’s List”, expunge the gloss of Spielberg-esque sentimentality, put in a substantial dose of mind-numbing macabre, and voila, you get an unfailing recipe for an Academy

Knock! Knock! “Mommy, what do we do?” “We go with these men. They can’t do anything to hurt us, they’re police.” “Okay.” Minutes later, Karolina, age 8, and her mother found themselves arrested without a reason other than the fact they were Jews. Hours afterward, they found themselves forced into a cattle car bare of any decoration or anything comfortable, not even food or water, and left to stand around in near darkness. For days, Karolina and her mother rode in the car, watching as old women and

In writing the book “The Good Ole Days: The Holocaust as Seen by its Perpetrators and Bystanders”, Ernst Klee successfully illustrates, historically, that the citizens of Nazi Germany played many roles, had similar motives for participating, and mostly had an awareness of the cruelty and barbarity of their actions during the Shoah. Ernst Klee, through first-hand accounts in diaries, photographs, letters and reports, successfully exposes the events of the holocaust and the actions of the persons involved

After being taken from their ghettos or homes, the jews or other people would be put in cattle cars and ride for days. There would be hundreds of people crammed into one car. They were brought in by the ten thousands. After a long ride, they would eventually arrive at Treblinka in the reception area. There they would undress and lose possession of all their belongings-which would eventually be sent back to Lublin, Germany for profit. People would than be sorted into different groups. The larger

such as killing Nazi soldiers to try and escape the death camps. There was also The Jewish Fighting Organization. This organization did things such as blowing up the gas chambers. Finally there was The Jewish Special Detachment, also known as Sonderkommando. They smuggled bombs to blow up the crematoriums. All these brave people faced harsh punishments such as being hung, shot, or killed with poisonous gas. To conclude, concentration camps did horrible thing to people just because Hitler did

Over the years, The Auschwitz Concentration camp has become synonymous with death, inhumanity, and evil. This particular camp was the largest mass murder site in human history. The camp claimed victims of all ethnicities, but Jews were the main group that the Nazis were trying to eradicate. Out of the many concentration camps set up by the regime, Auschwitz was the most lethal one of them all. Millions of people that the Nazis considered to be imperfect were brutally killed in this camp. The Auschwitz

Camp Sobibor The first commandant of Camp Sobibor was called Franz Stangl. Franz got his experience in being commandant for the camp was the Christian Wirth in Belzec. At the time the Christian Wirth was a death camp. It was estimated that the commandant had 20 to 20 SS soldiers that worked for Franz. Feldhendler was second in command. A very brave man named Lieutenant Aleksandr Pechersky, was made leader of a group of prisoners that were going to escape Sobibor. Camp Sobibor was constructed

was a hero among many of his connections around the camp. He introduced himself as Leszek Poczciwinski and explained that he has many friends working in various positions inside and outside of the camp. He then explained that the job of the Sonderkommandos was to remove the corpses from the gas chambers. Seeing Jacob’s confused expression, he told him about the terrible truth about what was going on in Auschwitz. He also told Jacob that everyone who was sent to the left side when they arrived

Indifference is tempting Indifference is the suffering of victims Indifference is more dangerous than anger and hatred Indifference is seductive Indifference is a blurred line between light and darkness Ignorant Eyes Don’t Open Their Eyes Holocaust survivor, Elie Wiesel in his speech, The Perils of Indifference, implies the dangers of indifference. He develops his claim by first defining the lack of interest as being a “strange” and “unnatural” subject which goes thru blurred lines in between

would work until their heart gave out. Muselmänner is the term of an inmate who was so undernourished that they were seen as the “living dead.” Inmates lived in overcrowded barracks and slept in bunk beds. Prisoner who were punished were called Sonderkommando.

The Holocaust was the mass genocide of 11 million people, 6 million of those people being of the Jewish heritage. With over 9 million Jews living in Europe before, these demoralizing events annihilated two-third of the Jewish population (Stahinich 7). The other 5 million people were those of different minorities and sub-categories such as Jehovah's Witnesses, Gypsies, people with handicaps, homosexuals, and Communists (Stahinich 8). The Holocaust took place in many different European countries. Many