Evan Califano
4/24/12
Modern Europe
An Analysis of “This Way for the Gas Ladies and Gentlemen” The short story “The Death of Schillinger” was a story about a First Sergeant whom ruled over labor sector ‘D,’ a laboring portion of Birkenau which was formally known as the Auschwitz extermination camp. Schillinger was a short stocky man and was truly evil at his essence; “He visited the crematoria regularly and liked to watch people being shoved into the gas chambers.” (pp.144) One day in August of 1943, the SS were unloading a transport and preparing to load stripped Jews into the gas chambers. However, before this could be done Schillinger took a liking to one of the nude women and grabbed her out of line; she threw gravel in his eyes, …show more content…

The boy also died of typhoid fever; Kwasniak continued to give the old man a green tomato and a cup of coffee. The theme I took from this story is that there was no escaping the Holocaust, suffering, and furthermore, death for Jews. While the delusional old man claimed the young boy was shot and killed, truthfully he suffered and died from typhoid fever while being held prisoner. This symbolizes the loss of innocence as well as the inevitability of death for the old man. The short story “Silence” was about a group of men living in prisoner barracks who were visited by an American soldier. The young American officer, with the help of his translator, ensured the European prisoners that the Nazi soldiers, officers, and prisoners would be punished accordingly. He also asked the prisoners to refrain from lawlessness behavior as it would only complicate things. The American continued to every other block in the camp to inform the prisoners of the same news. After the young American officer returned to his headquarters, the Europeans in the prisoner barracks pulled out a German soldier that they had kidnapped and gagged earlier. All the men in the barracks continued to trample and beat the German to death. This short story enlightens readers of the pure hatred that existed between the prisoners of war and the Germans. Even after the