From The Ashes Of Sobibor Moral Analysis

Nearly every aspect of life, for Jews and non-Jews alike, was altered by German occupation. There are the obvious changes - increased military presence, secret police, conspiracy, bribery… the list goes on. In tandem with the more ‘concrete’ parts of being occupied, there is also the way that interpersonal relations were shaped and impacted. Thomas Blatt’s From the Ashes of Sobibor provides the reader with an understanding of just how severely the daily lives of individuals were altered, interpersonally but also intrapersonally. Blatt comes into contact with many people on the path to survival. Some of these people were a great help, some provided him with a great disservice, and others managed to do both simultaneously. This memoir presents the reader with an ambivalent attitude toward non-Jewish neighbors, and this ambivalence sheds light on a much more broad moral question: can collective trauma bring out both the best and the worst in people, and what does that look like for those that are in need of aide? As mentioned above, Thomas Blatt meets a variety of different people that do or do not provide him with a variety of …show more content…
Thomas Blatt explores a multitude of reasons and justifications for providing this aide - some did it out of the good of their hearts, and others saw it as an opportunity to take advantage of a Jew since it was likely that there was no other option. Before Thomas is forced to enter Sobibor, he has a run in with his wet-nurse, the Christian Ola. Although there was the element of a pre-existing relationship, that does not necessarily indicate immediate sympathies. It was not uncommon for Jews to be betrayed (as mentioned above) by people they thought of as friends. Ola does this for Thomas out of compassion, and although it was something small, this illuminates instances of support from non-Jewish neighbors without an ulterior