Nazi Labour Camps and Capitalism

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Throughout the communist era in Central and Eastern Europe, but especially in the first half of that era, capitalism was seen as immoral and inhumane. Capitalism, as discussed by Karl Marx in The Communist Manifesto, was the cause of many social ills in society and needed to be overthrown (Marx 221-222). In “This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen,” Tadeusz Borowski uses imagery and characters to compare and contrast the Nazi labor camp to capitalism. Although the ideology of capitalism is not as cruel as the Nazi labor camps, when put in practice it does have some similarities to these camps. Of course, Borowski wrote this story while he was a member of the communist party, which suggests that his opinion of capitalism may be skewed. Nevertheless, in the discussion that follows, I will argue that Borowski’s use of imagery in “This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen” was intended to portray the structure, motivations, and social interactions within the camp as similar to those of capitalist society.

In order to compare the Nazi labor camps to capitalism, Borowski begins to discuss the structure of the camp. Borowski stresses that the Nazi’s have the camp well organized and designed for efficiency. “The crews are being divided into those who will open and unload…and those who will be posted by the wooden steps. They receive instructions on how to proceed most efficiently” (Borowski 15). However, not only are the camp laborers divided into different positions among themselves, but the type of jobs performed by the Schutzstaffel (S.S. officers) and camp laborers are different. This is a portrayal of capitalist society because it was Henry Ford who developed the assembly line in 1913, which began the practice of the ...

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...after the war. This is mainly because he was pro-communist when he wrote this story. Due to this fact, it is unlikely that Borowski would compare communism to the labor camp, but highly likely that he would believe that capitalism and the labor camps are similar. However, Borowski portrays the similarities between the labor camps and capitalist society in a negative light, which is most likely done because he may have wanted to promote communist ideas. Borowski compares capitalist society to labor camps through the interactions and imagery presented in the story. Much of the interactions that take place and the imagery described relates to the way society is organized, which is one of the main complaints in The Communist Manifesto. Although there is no proof that Borowski read The Communist Manifesto, much of the story is relatable to what is presented in it.

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