Journal Entry 14

March 11, 2007

Chapter 14. Kraus

He does not yet know that it is better to be beaten, because one does not normally die of blows, but one does of exhaustion, and badly, and when one grows aware of it, it is already too late. He still thinks..." (pg. 132)

Primo Levi said that Kraus would have been a good boy as a civilian. Kraus was a hard-working hungarian boy. His ignorance toward what was smart and not smart to do in Auschwtiz eventually lead him to his graveyard - or atleast that is what Primo Levi had predicted. The passage above shows the inhumane conditions of the camp, and I felt bad. If you are a diligen worker in the society right now, you notified and acknowledged. However, in Auschwitz, that would have been an insane imagination. This once again gave me the image of Auschwitz as an alienated planet - something that was outside of the world. Everything in the camp seemed to go against the standard of the world. What was considered evil in the world was switched around to 'good' and most saddest of all: life was worth nothing.

My dad spanked me only up till I was in 4th grade, and afterwards he never even attempted to punish me with a stick. I remember crying so hard when I was young, and how much I hated dad for spanking me. It hurt and I knew I did something wrong. Now that I come to think of it, I am thankful that I was disciplined as a kid. But I wonder what it would have been like if I was hit for no reason. The men in Auschwitz were literally abused. There wasn't any particular reason for being beaten up, and I bet they were hit a million times stronger than how my dad had spanked me. This is something that is unimaginable for me. This time period, Holocaust, was more than an abuse, but it was atrocity. Through the chapter, I was able to rethink of the cruelty men can be on another human being.