"This one had an iron gate with the overheard inscription:Arbeit macht frei. Work makes you free." Pg. 40
At the entrance of Auschwitz concentration camp, the sign read Arbeit macht frei, translating to work will set you free. The meaning of this, was taken by the prisoners of the camp to be mocking, for no matter how hard you worked, you would never be set free. However the phrase was explained as this "He seems not to have intended it as a mockery, nor even to have intended it literally, as a false promise that those who worked to exhaustion would eventually be released, but rather as a kind of mystical declaration that self-sacrifice in the form of endless labor does in itself bring a kind of spiritual freedom." In a different meaning, prisoners who constructed the sign made it so that the the upper curve of the "B" in Arbeit was larger than the lower one. This was thought to be a sign of distress, and to show that things were not in that place.
"Auschwitz." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2010. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 22 Feb. 2010
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"This one had an iron gate with the overheard inscription:Arbeit macht frei. Work makes you free." Pg. 40
ReplyDeleteAt the entrance of Auschwitz concentration camp, the sign read Arbeit macht frei, translating to work will set you free. The meaning of this, was taken to by the prisoners of the camp to be mocking, for no matter how hard you worked, you would never be set free. However the phrase was explained as this "He seems not to have intended it as a mockery, nor even to have intended it literally, as a false promise that those who worked to exhaustion would eventually be released, but rather as a kind of mystical declaration that self-sacrifice in the form of endless labor does in itself bring a kind of spiritual freedom." In a different meaning, prisoners who constructed the sign made it so that the the upper curve of the "B" in Arbeit was larger than the lower one. This was thought to be a sign of distress, and to show that things were not in that place.
I think is this very interesting. I never picked up on this but i agree that the Nazi's are mocking the Jews because they were never set free. The nazi's goals were to exterminate them. I believe that they did this so that the Jews would have motivation to work, profit off of this plan, and have a little fun. The quote you found is very interesting, the jews that created the sign tried to indicate the prisoners that it is not true and they will die. I dont believe Jews could figure this out because most jews came in not knowing what would happen to them. A small indicator like that would not have made a huge difference because it is hard to show without the Nazi's knowing.
I also agree that no matter how hard the Jews worked they will never be set free. I think it just said that at the entrance so Jews would work hard thinking that they would be free. If the Jews knew more about the Nazi and what they were going to do with them, they wouldn't be fooled that easily of getting free by working.
ReplyDeleteI think that this is actually a horrible statement. they say that work will set you free, but once you are there it seems that the only thing that will set you free is death. Although the Nazi's were horrible people, on top of that they had to make a mockery of the jews by saying that the more work you do the better it'll be. and in this case it is not true at all! Because its not like in the real world, when you do a good job at work you will get promoted; no matter how much or accuartley you do work, you are still a jew, and in the concentration camps you would be killed.
ReplyDeletethis too was one of my questions. i had no clue what it meant untill now. these men and woman at these camps were already treated horribly, and elezar has been seeing it all. this term is horrible to say in this case. the workers were treated in the worst ways and there was absolutly nothing they could do. the term arbeit macht frei i believe adds a more first person feel to the book because it is like slang in their world that showed their pain and suffering
ReplyDeleteIt most have been hard for them to realize once they were in there that what the sign when they entered said really wasn't the truth at all. How can you tell someone the harder they work than eventually they will be free even if you are only mocking them. It's just as bad as if you tell someone you'll give them a million dollars if they work for you until they die. By the time they can truely see the money they won't be there to enjoy it.
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