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Creative writing about holocaust
Survival in auschwitz by levi essay
Account on the holocaust
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Recommended: Creative writing about holocaust
The Holocaust was one of the most atrocious genocides we have seen in human history, an atrocity where the Jewish people were persecuted through intense torture, murder, and unspeakable injustices. Through the holocaust, many writers were able to express their experience as survivors so that people would never forget this tragic event. Personally, there are three stories that helped me transport myself into the moment and understand the pain, suffering, and fears of the survivor. The three different authors mentioned in this paper will demonstrate vivid imagery, metaphors, and allusions that express their own personal experiences.
Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi was written through his own point of view since he was a prisoner in Auschwitz
What is interesting is that he is very realistic with the reader in this story because not once he didn’t once hold back to decide which story or what experience he was going to share with the reader he specifically made his stories graphic so that the reader was able to feel the pain that he felt in Auschwitz and we can see that in the following quote “ The thought of the return journey struck in my heart.” In this quote, we specifically see how he knew that he might not be able to return home as he is making his way on to this new journey in his life where he is expected to do rigorous work and change his lifestyle. Levi depicts very vivid images of what it was like to live in Auschwitz through his use of allusions, metaphors the reader is able to get a glimpse of what his life was
The way that Auerbach writes this story is very interesting because she draws a comparison of the Holocaust to a natural disaster she starts off describing the tragedy that occurs in nature, a flood in the mountains that carries away the wooden huts along with the men, women and children she the quotes specifically “At a distance, one could see mouths gasping, but one could not hear the roar of the waters drowned out everything.” In here we see the comparison of the children, men, and women who were gasping for help but no one stood by their side, she describes the endless pain and loss of hope that the Jewish people faced during that time. Auerbach tone depicts a lot of pain because she describes an endless powerless and sadness because she knows that the family members of the people who perished won 't be able to say Yizkor for their love ones. Therefore, she takes it upon herself to take these mitzvot and say Yizkor for these people, but this is easier said than done because we see that she is overwhelmed by this task and wants to simply give up and stop writing she herself knows that it is not a possibility because she does not want to forget anyone as well as she knows that the people who perish are
More than 12,000 children below the age of 15 proceeded through the Terezin Concentration Camp, known by its German name of Theresienstadt, between the years 1942 and 1944. Out of all, more than 90 percent deceased during the Holocaust. To add on, Jewish children wrote poetry about their horrific experiences they went through in Nazi concentration camps. Additionally, the poet’s word choice produces the narrator’s point of view. For example, in the poem The Butterfly, it states, “It went away I'm sure because it wished to kiss the world goodbye” (stanza 2). In other words, Pavel Friedmann, poet, uses first-person point of view, so the narrator can be the main person in the poem by saying things from his/her perspective. From this, we can infer that the poet’s word choice in a way puts the narrator into their feet, in order for him/her to have a feeling as if they’re the one confronting this harsh obstacle in life like the poet had to challenge with.
It is interesting to read the connections of Night, by Elie Wiesel because they include the experiences of the Holocaust from other people's’ points of views. In A Spring Morning, by Ida Fink, it is shocking that the innocence has been stripped away from the child as the speaker reveals, “Fire years old! The age for teddy bears and blocks” (Wiesel 129). This child is born innocent, she has not harmed anyone, yet she has to suffer. Reading about the Holocaust is difficult, I wonder how others had the motivation to live during it. The description of a little girl getting shot is heartbreaking as the speaker explains, “At the edge of the sidewalk lay a small, bloody rag…. He [Aron] had to keep on walking, carrying his dead child” (Wiesel 133).
A story of a young boy and his father as they are stolen from their home in Transylvania and taken through the most brutal event in human history describes the setting. This boy not only survived the tragedy, but went on to produce literature, in order to better educate society on the truth of the Holocaust. In Night, the author, Elie Wiesel, uses imagery, diction, and foreshadowing to describe and define the inhumanity he experienced during the Holocaust.
Imagine being trapped in a ghetto, seeing communities leaving in trains, families being split up, never to see each other again.. The emotions that each and every Holocaust survivor must’ve gone through is overwhelming. Some things that are taken for granted, will never be seen again. While reading the two texts, Night by Elie Wiesel and “I Never Saw Another Butterfly” by Pavel Friedman, The two predominant emotions that prevailed most to Holocaust victims and survivors were hope and fear.
Most historical events, whether beneficial or detrimental to society, bear witnesses. Regardless of how many total were affected by the event, each person owns a personal account of what they endured during the event. Elie Wiesel, author of Night, expresses the personal account of Elizer, a Jewish teenager, who fought to stay alive during the holocaust, and shows the importance of witness accounts, the will to survive, and the remembrance of past historical events. Night encompasses the idea of “Literature of Witness” by simultaneously showing how millions of people were affected by the holocaust and how each person, principally Elizer, has their own personal story to tell to understand and remember that horrendous time.
...urvivors crawling towards me, clawing at my soul. The guilt of the world had been literally placed on my shoulders as I closed the book and reflected on the morbid events I had just read. As the sun set that night, I found no joy in its vastness and splendor, for I was still blinded by the sins of those before me. The sound of my tears crashing to the icy floor sang me to sleep. Just kidding. But seriously, here’s the rest. Upon reading of the narrators’ brief excerpt of his experience, I was overcome with empathy for both the victims and persecutors. The everlasting effect of the holocaust is not only among those who lost families÷, friends,
Primo Levi was taken from Italy to Monowitz, also known as Auschwitz 3, in the early spring of 1944 at the age of twenty-four. Unlike Eliezer Primo Levi had a vague idea of what transportation meant for those captured by the Germans, “Only a minority of ingenuous and deluded souls continued to hope; we others had often spoken with the Polish and Croat refugees and we knew what departure meant.” (Levi, 3) A reason for why Eliezer had not known what was occurring in the war before his transportation can be attributed to his young age and of the adults wanting to keep him unaware of the tragedies taking place. The rounding up of the prisoners within the camp of where Primo Levi stayed in Italy was also done in a very organized manner, “With the absurd precision to which we later had to accustom ourselves, the Germans held the roll- call.” (Levi, 4) Once the night had given way for dawn the horrors of what were to come in the concentration camp had already begun in the ways of roll call and being packed upon the train cattle transportation cars. Another resemblance of the opening chapters of the two memoirs is the fact that once again no one knew any information about what occurred at the camp they were headed to. As mentioned in Primo Levi’s memoir, “Auschwitz: a name without significance for us at the time, but it at least implied some place on this earth.” (6) The events leading up to the entry of Primo Levi and Elie Wiesel to Auschwitz were very parallel experiences with the main difference being in their backgrounds. Once they were within those barbed wire gates their lives would never be the same after witnessing the atrocities of what was to be known of
Authors sometimes refer to their past experiences to help cope with the exposure to these traumatic events. In his novel Night, Elie Wiesel recalls the devastating and horrendous events of the Holocaust, one of the world’s highest points for man’s inhumanity towards man, brutality, and cruel treatment, specifically towards the Jewish Religion. His account takes place from 1944-1945 in Germany while beginning at the height of the Holocaust and ending with the last years of World War II. The reader will discover through this novel that cruelty is exemplified all throughout Wiesel's, along with the other nine million Jews’, experiences in the inhumane concentration camps that are sometimes referred to as “death factories.”
Many different responses have occurred to readers after their perusal of this novel. Those that doubt the stories of the holocaust’s reality see Night as lies and propaganda designed to further the myth of the holocaust. Yet, for those people believing in the reality, the feelings proffered by the book are quite different. Many feel outrage at the extent of human maliciousness towards other humans. Others experience pity for the loss of family, friends, and self that is felt by the Holocaust victims.
...s advised early on that incurable illness lead to one’s downfall (Levi). When Levi contracts scarlet fever, he knows what is to come of him. Either he will die from the disease or will be put to death due to his inability to work (Levi). Luckily, the Soviet army pushes its forces closer and closer to the camp, leaving the chances of liberation possible (Levi). The Nazis lead an evacuation of the entire camp, except for those in the Ka-Be (Levi). Some believe that staying behind will only lead to their execution and decide to participate in the evacuation. Nonetheless, the Soviets arrived at Auschwitz several days later to liberate the camp (Levi).
...lyzes man’s internal and external issues which conveys mankind’s human condition. Survival in Auschwitz conclusively depicts how mankind reacts to the deepest and most torturous oppression within our past. He proves undoubtedly that the majority of man will fall to corruption or fail completely and give up hope altogether in the struggle for survival. His rather alluring account on how to truly survive in the camp and “documentation...of certain aspects of the human mind” relay the process of their dehumanization (Survival 9). Levi ultimately deems man’s reaction to oppression and the backlash of their means.
Primo Levi’s narrative of the Holocaust explains the true struggle and chance for survival for the Jews in camps, specifically Auschwitz. Separately, Levi describes the true chance people had for survival in that they could have been selected to or in some cases boarded alone either the train car going to work or the train car going straight to the gas chambers. This is similar to the bombing of Hiroshima where some people could have been in the city, such as Saeki visiting her mother in which she could have died, or Kuribayashi being lucky enough in the distance away from the city. As Levi worked in the concentration camp of Auschwitz, he describes the struggle and dehumanization Jews had to go through to survive including tattooed numbers on their arms which labelled them, prisoners stealing soup or shoes to keep going. The major difference between the Hiroshima bombing and the Holocaust was the torture before an end versus an end before a torture. The Holocaust was either a two-minute torture in a gas
Levi writes about memoirs of the people and the incidents that happened in the Lager. Thousands of individuals were known as the “muselmann” which meant those who were old and doomed to selection, despite the fact that there were those who influenced Levi to reach salvation. In Auschwitz, if you were old, sick or could not work, you were sent to the crematory. If you were lucky, you were sent to the Ka-Be for a doctor to examine you improperly to say the least. Levi spoke about a man named Elias Lindzin, who he described as the Hercules in the Chemical Kommando. Levi was fascinated that Elias, a 5-foot tall dwarf was able to escape death and survive like him momentarily. Elias, a tailor and carpenter was strong and was able to carry more sacks of cement than anyone in his group. Levi never saw him rest, quiet or ill, he imagined Elias a free man, but despite his fame as being exceptional in the Lager, no one could comprehend why this man’s life was ended by
Primo Levi: Survival in Auschwitz: The Nazi Assault on Humanity (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996) [first published as If This Is a Man], p. 86.
Primo Levi was an Italian Jewish Anti-fascist who was arrested in 1943, during the Second World War. The memoir, “If this is a Man”, written immediately after Levi’s release from the Auschwitz concentration camp, not only provides the readers with Levi’s personal testimony of his experience in Auschwitz, but also invites the readers to consider the implications of life in the concentration camp for our understanding of human identity. In Levi’s own words, the memoir was written to provide “documentation for a quiet study of certain aspects of the human mind”. The lack of emotive words and the use of distant tone in Levi’s first person narration enable the readers to visualize the cold, harsh reality in Auschwitz without taking away the historical credibility. Levi’s use of poetic and literary devices such as listing, repetition, and symbolism in the removal of one’s personal identification; the use of rhetorical questions and the inclusion of foreign languages in the denial of basic human rights; the use of bestial metaphors and choice of vocabulary which directly compares the prisoner of Auschwitz to animals; and the use of extended metaphor and symbolism in the character Null Achtzehn all reveal the concept of dehumanization that was acted upon Jews and other minorities.