An estimated six million Jews were killed in the Holocaust. 1.2 million of those victims were killed in Auschwitz alone. Auschwitz had about 65,000 survivors which a plethora of those survivor wrote their testimonies, for instance, Charlotte Delbo and Sara Nomberg-Przytyk. I was interested in learning more about the experience that camp survivors had and the impact between fictional versus reality. Charlotte Delbo was a non-Jewish French survivor in Auschwitz. She has written her personal testimony, but also fictional testimonies based on her memories of other prisoners. The excerpt is taken from Days and Memory about a fifteen year old girl who is deported to Auschwitz. The girl, who is never given a name, was not afraid when she was arrested
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Both happened in a concentration camp and explain their experience there. First of all, one difference in the two stories is the emotions that are felt. In Delbo’s story, the girl was not afraid of the train ride, selection or the camp itself. She never revealed any fear. The fear was replaced with longing for her mother. Then replaced for relief when she thought her mother had been gassed. On the other hand, Nomberg-Przytyk shows hopelessness of not being able to do anything. She demonstrates this when she unconsciously starts screaming with the other prisoners. In addition, Delbo does not describe the scenes that the girl saw. She implies it by just saying the “horrors” in the camp. I think that she might have done this because the girl was only fifteen, so she did not grasp what was happening, she just wanted her mother. Nomberg-Przytyk does use imagery to enhance what she is seeing. She describes the red sky, the choking smell, the hot summer, and the screams of the children. By describing the settings, I believed that the testimony has more of an impact because it makes you get into her mindset. Furthermore, Delbo wrote her fictional testimonies because she wanted the people to read several testimonies from different perspectives. She did not want to categorize the victims, but rather have each person be treated as an individual that suffered. Delbo stated “I don’t believe that anything cannot be spoken of, I believe that words have the power to touch everyone’s heart.” (Delbo1) Writing the testimonies, Delbo is able to spread the word of the holocaust survivors, even though they are not true, because she lived through that experience. She is able to write for the victims that did not live to tell their stories. “The reason being was not for the sake of Delbo, but for the sake of humanity.” (Barrows 1) Nomberg-Przytyk witnessed numerous accounts of
Both happened in a concentration camp and explain their experience there. First of all, one difference in the two stories is the emotions that are felt. In Delbo’s story, the girl was not afraid of the train ride, selection or the camp itself. She never revealed any fear. The fear was replaced with longing for her mother. Then replaced for relief when she thought her mother had been gassed. On the other hand, Nomberg-Przytyk shows hopelessness of not being able to do anything. She demonstrates this when she unconsciously starts screaming with the other prisoners. In addition, Delbo does not describe the scenes that the girl saw. She implies it by just saying the “horrors” in the camp. I think that she might have done this because the girl was only fifteen, so she did not grasp what was happening, she just wanted her mother. Nomberg-Przytyk does use imagery to enhance what she is seeing. She describes the red sky, the choking smell, the hot summer, and the screams of the children. By describing the settings, I believed that the testimony has more of an impact because it makes you get into her mindset. Furthermore, Delbo wrote her fictional testimonies because she wanted the people to read several testimonies from different perspectives. She did not want to categorize the victims, but rather have each person be treated as an individual that suffered. Delbo stated “I don’t believe that anything cannot be spoken of, I believe that words have the power to touch everyone’s heart.” (Delbo1) Writing the testimonies, Delbo is able to spread the word of the holocaust survivors, even though they are not true, because she lived through that experience. She is able to write for the victims that did not live to tell their stories. “The reason being was not for the sake of Delbo, but for the sake of humanity.” (Barrows 1) Nomberg-Przytyk witnessed numerous accounts of