Many historical people and events were referred to throughout the memoir. The most obvious of these historical people is Adolf Hitler. He was one of the driving reasons behind why the Nazi party and the Holocaust existed in the first place. In the beginning of the memoir, Olga talks about the beginning of World War II, when Germany invaded Poland in 1939 (Lengyel, 2014, p. 11). This was just the beginning of the rise of the Nazi party and the persecution of minorities in Europe. The city in which Olga lived was Cluj. At one point the city was in Rumania, but it was given to Hungary in the Vienna Award of 1940 (Lengyel, 2014, p. 11). This city was under German occupation, meaning there was a risk in just living there. However, Olga was able
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Because of the war, some Americans were sent to concentration camps. At Auschwitz specifically, a group of Americans was shot and many inmates who claimed to have American relatives were killed as well. Another American, Dr. Albert Wegner, was also a prisoner at Auschwitz (Lengyel, 2014, p. 180). The German army did not care whether a person was guilty of any crime or not, they just inhumanly treated anyone who opposed them. The Holocaust did not only cost the lives of the Jews, but also the lives of many other races and religions, including Americans. Olga described many times where she had to make a moral choice. One of these choices had to do with whether she would betray her husband or give in to temptation for food. This choice occurred when Tadek started giving Olga food. Eventually, he told her that he would only continue giving her food if she would engage in sexual relations with him (Lengyel, 2014, p. 60). For weeks she was able to fight off the urge for food. In the end she stayed faithful to her husband, but food was such a treasure in Auschwitz that it was hard to keep saying no to the opportunity to …show more content…
Olga is the first person that comes to my mind because of what she feels responsible for. She felt that she was the reason why her family died at Auschwitz and Birkenau. The first sentence in the book is “Mea culpa, my fault, mea maxima culpa!” (Lengyel, 2014, p. 11). Olga started with this Latin phrase that means “my fault.” This is indicating that she blames herself for the death of her children and parents. She puts herself at fault, even though she was not the one to kill them. This is how Olga had to feel her whole time in Auschwitz, like she had betrayed her own family. Tadek is one of the people in Auschwitz who only felt obligated to care for himself. He would only share food with women if they would engage in sexual relations with him. In this way, he only used them for one thing in exchange for something as valuable as food. Olga had to resist the temptation of good food to stay faithful to her own husband (Lengyel, 2014, p. 60). She had told Tadek what happened to her family, but he did not care because he was only looking for one thing. He only looked out for himself, which is why he had no obligation to anyone else in the
Because of the war, some Americans were sent to concentration camps. At Auschwitz specifically, a group of Americans was shot and many inmates who claimed to have American relatives were killed as well. Another American, Dr. Albert Wegner, was also a prisoner at Auschwitz (Lengyel, 2014, p. 180). The German army did not care whether a person was guilty of any crime or not, they just inhumanly treated anyone who opposed them. The Holocaust did not only cost the lives of the Jews, but also the lives of many other races and religions, including Americans. Olga described many times where she had to make a moral choice. One of these choices had to do with whether she would betray her husband or give in to temptation for food. This choice occurred when Tadek started giving Olga food. Eventually, he told her that he would only continue giving her food if she would engage in sexual relations with him (Lengyel, 2014, p. 60). For weeks she was able to fight off the urge for food. In the end she stayed faithful to her husband, but food was such a treasure in Auschwitz that it was hard to keep saying no to the opportunity to …show more content…
Olga is the first person that comes to my mind because of what she feels responsible for. She felt that she was the reason why her family died at Auschwitz and Birkenau. The first sentence in the book is “Mea culpa, my fault, mea maxima culpa!” (Lengyel, 2014, p. 11). Olga started with this Latin phrase that means “my fault.” This is indicating that she blames herself for the death of her children and parents. She puts herself at fault, even though she was not the one to kill them. This is how Olga had to feel her whole time in Auschwitz, like she had betrayed her own family. Tadek is one of the people in Auschwitz who only felt obligated to care for himself. He would only share food with women if they would engage in sexual relations with him. In this way, he only used them for one thing in exchange for something as valuable as food. Olga had to resist the temptation of good food to stay faithful to her own husband (Lengyel, 2014, p. 60). She had told Tadek what happened to her family, but he did not care because he was only looking for one thing. He only looked out for himself, which is why he had no obligation to anyone else in the