They visited the huge gas chambers that were used to accomplish mass killings easily. They also went to the area termed the "prison in the prison." In the center, there is a bricked wall where political leaders are tortured, beaten, and shot to death. Nearing towards the end of Chapter 3, they visit the museum, where the suitcases, shoes, and baby clothing are located.
2) Why do Oprah and Elie Wiesel refer to the camp as a "death factory?" How was it "industrialized?"
They referred to a "death factory" because every day, hundreds of people were killed. In every part of Auschwitz, people died. Mass killings were held in gas chambers. Doctors and nurses poisoned their patients and slowly burned them to death. Others were burned alive in ovens. Occasionally, the German guards would shoot at the people for fun. Others were worked to the bone and tortured until there was no longer a breathe of life left in them. It became a normal, day to day activity and the deaths soon became their "product."
The "death factory" was "industrialized" because in their mass killings, such as the gas chambers, they were able to increase the "production" of death.
3) What is the significance of the hundreds of labelled suitcases? Of the baby clothes? Of the shoes?
Before the Jews boarded the trains, they wrote their names on their suitcases, signifying the owner of the suitcases. They thought that their possessions would be returned to them, but when they arrived to the concentration camp, their belongings were thrown out. These suitcases represent all of the innocent lives that were lost as a result of the holocaust. The baby clothes were the most saddening because they did not have a chance to live their life to the fullest. They were killed instantly. The shoes' owners could be identified by their styles and designs. Elie especially pointed out a red shoe in the pile and identified it as a dancer's shoe. The people who owned the shoes could have been successful individuals, positively contributing to the community and society, such as possibly finding the cure for AIDS. They could have influenced the lives of those around them, but their lives were cut short.
4) How is this video different in video technique and style from most videos or movies that you are used to seeing? (think about your answers to question 2 on the previous reflection)? Do you think the difference in style was effective? Why or why not?
It's very different from what I am used to seeing because the camera was successful in capturing Oprah and Elie's emotions and reactions. Everything was taken on location and instead of an interview, where the lighting is set up and the background is arranged neatly, Oprah and Elie have an emotional conversation as they take a step back into history. The difference in style is effective because there is more meaning conveyed. The viewer is able to grasp a better understanding of man's inhumanity to man and the video technique was clever in piercing through the hearts and minds of its audiences.
5) After watching the video and reading the book, what is your impression or response to this thing called the Holocaust? How did the experience of watching the video differ from that of reading the book for you?
The video was able to bring the book to life. I was able to see the horrors that happened during the holocaust. It's almost unreal because we label it as something inhumane, not normal, not human. The Germans were just like any other human being that lived on Earth. They had a love for culture, they loved their families and yet they had the audacity to murder millions of innocent Jews. I think to myself: How can they have no feelings at all? What was going through their minds? Are they mad? Have they gone crazy? And it's unbelievable because it's real and it actually happened. The most frightening thought that continues to remain in the back of my mind is: Is there a chance that another holocaust may happen again? This is what I fear the most and I am hoping that history doesn't repeat itself.
