Putting Myself in Elie's Shoes

     In chapter 3, Elie and his family arrive at the concentration camp. In the chapter, Elie describes the process and events that he went through when he had first arrived and spent his first couple of days at the camp. Already, the concentration camp seemed horrible, especially if I put myself and my family in the shoes of Elie and his family. Reading the chapter creates an imagery of hell in my mind with a multitude of people getting killed in such an inhumane and misearble way. From a man getting shot on the spot to toddlers and infants being thrown into a pit of fire, what Elie describes in this chapter is already unimaginable. It seems as if the Holocaust is too cruel to have taken place in history. From first being separated and never seeing his mother and sisters ever again, being told that he was going to be taken to the crematories, seeing his father being beaten, and constantly being moved from camp to camp in order to avoid being founded, I can not imagine how Elie got through this. However, thinking of it now, I completely understand how Elie might have survived physically but not mentally or spiritually as it already scares and saddens be by just thinking of how my family and I would have gone through the Holocaust. 

     One of the first things that happened when the Jews were unloaded from the train were they were separated into two lines, one line that sent you to death, and another that sent you to become a labor worker. This was also the last time that Elie would ever see his mother and sister again. Imagining if I  was a male, and my mother was being taken to a separate line, away from my father and I, and being sent to death already makes me want to stop thinking about the rest of the process of the Holocaust. However, the difference is, I can stop thinking about whatever makes me feel disturbed or sad, but Elie had to go through everything physically. It still amazes me how he could physically handle going through the Holocaust. However, I am not surprised that Elie did not make it through the Holocaust mentally or spiritually. Not only does the thought of seeing my mother go to her death frighten me enough, but if I was told that I were to be burned to death in a pit of fire, I would be even more frightened. What made me the saddest was when Elie's father got struck in the face after asking to go to the restroom. Just reading about his father being struck was already saddening enough, but imagining my own father getting struck in the face just for asking to go use the restroom gives me an indescribable feeling of sadness, fear, and anger at the same time. Lastly, if my father and I were constantly moved from camp to camp to avoid getting rescued, I would lose hope. Being in a concentration camp was already bad enough, but when the Germans put in so much effort to avoid having the Jews being found, I would have thought that I would never make it out alive again. In the end, it amazes me how Elie had so much courage to go through all of this, and even though he did not make it out alive mentally, just the thought of him making it out physically already fascinates me. I would have not been able to handle it and would've collapsed and broke under everything that was happening to my family and I.