Monday, February 14, 2011

Chapter 4 (pages 47-65): Moving

What do you think is the importance of forcing the prisoners to take showers as they move from camp to camp?

11 comments:

  1. While moving prisoners from camp to camp, it is important to shower them, so that if they have any infections they will get “cleaned.” Arriving at a new place, the inmates wouldn’t want the new people to be nasty and dirty. Although the camps were nasty and dirty, it would be worse if more and more dirty people came in. Also, making the prisoners shower before starting a new life (in a way), at a new camp, would help them get their minds together. Showering is like a way of washing away everything, so it would be easier and fresher for the prisoners to start after a shower. Although prisoners don’t ALWAYS get to shower, it would be good to shower from time to time. When I shower, I feel really fresh, so I think that making the prisoners shower was to make them “cleaner,” but also to help them feel better.

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  2. Well, personally, Carolina, I don't think disease and feeling better were the Nazis' top concerns. Please keep in mind that up to this point, the Jews have already been on the highway IN Hell... Keep in mind the genocide of the entire Jewish race... The Nazis will kill them all anyway, and already have inhumane living conditions... The only reason I can think for the constant showers is to just keep the Nazis themselves safe and alive... But then again... A discussion in class today recalled a terrible memory in my head... The nazi's used gas chambers... Rooms that would be filled with a toxic airborne gas... That could kill Jews by the dozens at once. With the constant showers... The nazi's are getting the Jews comfortable and used to them as a prelude... And then the Jews would be helplessly unaware for the *main event*...

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  3. I strongly agree with Chris. I studied a little bit on the Holocaust, and there is so much evidence saying that the Nazis used the showers as a way to get the Jews comfortable if they are ever put in the gas chambers. Many times the innocent Jews would be told that they were simply taking a shower. There were even some signs at the entrance of some gas chambers that read "Baths" for Jews to believe what they heard and read so they wouldn't fuss. The Nazis used this technique so people wouldn't try to escape. This technique is so inhumane, the Jews have already been through horrendous times between loosing their families, being beaten daily, fighting to stay alive, and now, these poor Jews don't have a fight in their lives. Unawarely, they are walking in to their own deaths without a fight. How inhumane and even ironic is this? These people didn't deserve this.

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  4. One form of extermination used during the Holocaust was the gas chambers. The Nazi soldiers force the Jews into these chambers, locked them, and release a toxic gas to suffocate them. This is a quick and easy way to annihilate several Jews at one time. These chambers resemble the showers the Jews are forced to enter every time they transfer from camp to camp. The soldiers make this a custom for the prisoners so that they will not be alarmed when they are to be moved into the gas chambers. The Jews found it quite routine to be asked to strip down naked and enter a large, empty room with many other prisoners just like themselves. They have no idea that the doors would be shut and locked tight. That the Nazi soldiers would then drop Zylon-B, which forms cyanide gas when mixed with the air, down into the chambers. They do not suspect that in a few seconds the air in their bodies will be poisoned and that they will struggle to breath. They do not know that the cold-hearted Nazis are standing and watching them suffer through peep holes. They are not aware that all of them will die and then have their bodies burned in the crematorium or dump into trenches. They do not and can not even begin to fathom the future that awaits them. The Nazis know this and use it to their advantage. It is just another one of their devious schemes.

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  5. In my opinion taking a shower everytime they move can be important to both the prisoners and the leaders. From the prisoners point of view, taking many showers can keep their heath at a tolerable rate. Since they sometimes shower many times a day the rate of certain diseases may be decreased. In the leaders eyes, showers are important because they are trying to fool some of the Jews. Since they are always taking showers they are never surprised or scared when the leaders tell them to strip down. In this case the Jews will never suspect that they could be heading into a gas chamber to face an excrutiating death. Since the gas chambers looked just like the showers the prisoners never knew if it was actual water or dangerous gas that would come out of the faucets. They would only realize what was about to happen once they were locked inside. By the time they realized what they were about to die it was too late.

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  6. I believe that what the Nazis had in mind is that if they have the Jews go nude and take showers, then thy would not think anything out of the ordinary when they go nude and go into the gas chambers. Just think about it, you never go take a shower, and all of a sudden your asked to take off your clothes and get into these shower-like rooms then you will know that something is wrong. So the Nazis knew that it would be easier and quicker if that was already a routine for the Jews. After a while I am sure that the Jews would not fight a shower, so it was good in their mind because they want to be clean. On the other hand, showers make conditions more sanitary even though the camps were far from sanitary.

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  7. I think the importance of them taking so many showers was so they weren't suspicious when they are told to strip for a shower that is really a gas chamber. The prisoners simply think it's to keep them clean and healthy, which is exactly what the Nazis want. It was a benefit for the guards and leaders because they were less likely to contract a disease even though the camps were contaminated. It was mostly given to them so many times so when the time comes to get in an actual gas chamber that is said to be a shower, no one will be suspicious and it will be completely unexpected.
    -tiana

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  8. I beleive the reason for the showers was partially so that they wouldn't spread diseases. Also to get the used to the idea of showering. So they wouldn't hesitate when they were told to take a shower when they were really about to be killed. It is very possible and likely that the officers really had no care for the Jews. Maybe they wanted the diseases to spread and for them Jews to die off. I mean they were in death camps. But I feel like they cared, even if it was just pity. I don't believe they were that cruel. The reasons for the showers were most likely to get them accustomed to it. To being forced to shower when told, I mean. So that when they wanted to kill them, the Jews wouldn't doubt their intent. At least until they couldn't do anything about it. They did it so the Jews would walk right into their traps and kill them, hundreds at a time. The Jews would think they were going to take a shower, but instead they were about to be stuffed into a gas chamber to die, and they had no idea. -vanessa gonzalez

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  9. I honestly think that even though the Jews took showers the disease wouldn’t go away anyway. As more and more people come to the concentration camps, more and more diseases come along. But then again, all most all of the Jews were killed at the “showers”. The Nazis actually told the Jews to get in the gas chambers. The Jews were instantly killed by the gas. The Jews could not get out of the gas chambers. Many Jews would get on top of each other to get the last bit of air, so that they could breathe and live for at least a second longer than others.

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  10. The taking showers didnt have any meaning because all the diseases and problems the jews had couldnt be taken away by an simple shower, that shower didnt mean anything just a change of a everyday rutine.

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  11. It was important for the German Nazis to shower the prisoners so that they will be more "ready" when they take their "final shower". A sort of mind trick used by a lot of people in the military forces among other things. If it were not for these easiness and readiness of these showers they surely would not have done this to their prisoners. To put it plainly it was a simple mind trick to better ready the prisoners.
    Michael L.

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