It had come time for another selection which was called a "gift" by the Germans for New Years. Elie's dad had been one of the people selected to go and he gave Elie his only possessions, a spoon and a knife. His father luckily ended up living past the smaller more selective selection. Before Akiba was selected and killed he had lost all hope in getting out of the camp and in God. Elie had to go to the hospital to get his foot operated on, he had pus in it. He was faced with the decision of waiting two weeks to let it heal but having to wait in the hospital and have a risk of getting selected to go to the crematory. Selections happened a lot more frequently. He could also walk on the healing foot and do work but have the risk of getting an infection and then amuation and then probably be forced to go to the crematory. In my opinion he should just rick getting sent to the crematory and let it heal because either way he'll end up in the same place.
The selection was considered a gift because everyone else would get more food because more people were gone. This is very morbid and not completely true because the reason they needed to kill more people was because they were running out of supplies. The Germans cunning abilities are running low as more and more Jews find out that the Germans are quickly losing this war and more and more land is being taken over by the Red Army. It's very sad that Elie's only inheritance would have only been a spoon and a knife, that's all the they owned. The Germans had taken everything from them. When Akiba lost hope it caused lots people to lose hope also. there was groups of people that supported his idea that God was just testing them like Jobe and that they just needed to hold up their faith like in the past. All those people didn't have a leader to continue supporting them in the faith so they probably all lost hope too. Elie said that people like Akiba are weak. I agree in the sense that if you are in a concentration camp you simply just cannot put all your trust into God and not fight for yourself at least a little bit. The Germans were too cruel and trust in God would do anything for them at this point. Hoping and having faith in God along with fighting for one's self would be fine though and not make them weak or vulnerable. Outside of a concentration camp complete trust in God wouldn't make you weak like this.
You did a good job sumarizing everything that happened and giving your oppinion on everything. I agree with you that she should have just waited until his foot healed, because there is an equal chance for him to live and to die in both sitations, so he should have just risked it. It is really sad how the only things that Elies father owns is a sppon and a knife, but not very surprising. I agree with you when you said that putting all of your faith into God when in a concentration camp is not a good idea and makes you weak. YOu have to look out for yourself and make sure that you are doing what is logical and beneficial, and putting your time into praying, when you could be resting or working is not very smart.
ReplyDelete