The Supper Borowski Summary

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In Borowski’s “The Supper,” the dehumanization of the Russians and subsequent inhuman portrayal of the Germans advances the theme of uncertainty and darkness during the holocaust. The Holocaust was a time of darkness that was focused on the persecution of the Jewish community. However, it was also a war machine which persecuted people from all sorts of backgrounds such as Russian war criminals. In “The Supper” the Russians are abhorrently treated and discriminated against. Their bodies “stood out incredibly clearly [...] as if carved in ice;” which is a stark contrast to the German kempt uniforms (153). Borowski portrays the Russian status beneath that of the German perfection. Throughout WWII the Germans use this disparity of status in society to …show more content…

They heartlessly commit horrible acts against other living, loving, human beings. For example, the Kommandant shouts “‘Achtung! Bereit, Feuer [Ready! Aim, Fire!]!’” without even a slight increment in his voice (155). The Kommandant heartlessly takes the lives of others without thinking about the fact that the Russians have people who care about them and love them--as humans should. This act in itself--the murder of other humans--is evil, yet the way the Kommandant does it is pure darkness. Another instance of sheer contempt or possible obliviousness is when one German soldier is patrolling the line and says the Russian “men, they are criminals!” (154). This exemplifies irony in its most basic state. The Germans are committing a dark act yet they believe that what they are doing is right. Even in the theatre of war, these acts are not right and totally against any drop of humanity a person must have. The Germans here are hurting their own humanity in a psychic sense--as much as they are physically harming the humanity of the Russians. The German destruction of their own souls equals the destroyed physical souls of the

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