What happens to human beings in concentration camps?
Finding the passage of Hanna Arendt to be densely written, I was able to pick out certain aspects of how human beings were treated in concentration camps. Arendt is strongly against the totalitarian form of government; her views on total domination are introduced in the first pages of the reading.
“The camps are meant not only to exterminate people and degrade human beings, but also serve the ghastly experiment of eliminating, under scientifically controlled condition, spontaneity itself as an expression of human behavior and transforming the human personality into a mere thing, into something even animals are not;” (Arendt 88).
Individuals forced into the camps were either worked till their bodies gave way, or they were thrown aside to be murdered. The camps were so atrocious, that it had its advantages against the inmates. The over bearing work and the long days with no food altered the souls of the people held under control. This cruelty would turn ones personality numb as if there is nothing left to exist for.
Arendt asserts, “Its horror can never be fully embraced by the imagination for the very reason that it stands outside of life and death. It can never be fully reported for the very reason that the survivor returns to the world of the living, which makes it impossible for him to believe fully in his own past experiences”. (94-95). These sentences stuck out to me the most, as I found Arendt stressed that there was no evil comparable to the life in a concentration camp. Any survivors, who managed to escape the “hell” could not explain their stories, but rather had a hard time believing themselves that they have returned to the outside world.
Works Cited
Arendt, Hannah. “Total Domination.” A World of Ideas: Essential Readings for College Writers. Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. 7th ed. New York: Bedford/St. Martins, 2006. pp85-97.
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4 comments:
The same sentences that grabbed your attention are the same ones that stuck out to me the most. I never thought of the concentration camps affecting people in that way. I think you did a great job in interpreting what Arendt meant in those sentences.
What I found most interesting in your blog was the fact that you said that the people in the concentration camps were completely numb because of what was happening to them. Not being able to eat, and working in terrible and inhumane conditions would cause them to lose their personalities. This is definitely not an idea I would have thought of and I'm glad I read your blog because it opened up my mind. I thought the only thing holding these people back was fear, but your blog gives me a whole new perspective.
You had many good examples in your blog about how people were treated in the camps. Your input on describing the affects that the camps had on peoples' identities were very vivid and real.
I thing what you explained about what happens to human beings in concentration camps is true but not enough. I believe whatever we say or imagine about concentration camps is not enough to see the fear and the pain that people went through in the concentration camps.
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