Post 1

“‘I don’t understand,’ said Gretel. ‘Who would build such a nasty-looking place?’…’No,’ replied Gretel. She stood still for a long time staring at them[the huts]. She was twelve years old and considered to be one of the brightest girls in her class…and forced her brain to understand what she was looking at. Finally she could think of only one explanation. ‘This must be the countryside,’ said Gretel…” (pg 33)

This was said after Bruno, the main character, showed his older sister, Gretel, his view from the window. Bruno and his German family moved from their five-story home in Berlin to this house next to Auschwitz because his father, got promoted. However, Bruno and Gretel barely know anything about their father’s occupation, who works for the Nazi(but they don’t know that). The place Gretel refers to in this quote is the Auschwitz camp, which they(Gretel and Bruno) see as rows and rows of huts filled with people in striped pajamas. There are numerous sections of the reading that show the lack of knowledge Bruno and Gretel have about the Nazi and their father’s work, but this quote stands out because even a Nazi officer’s daughter questions the purpose in the existence of such a concentration camp, asking who would build such a nasty-looking place? However, what really makes this quote significant is that Gretel, who is already twelve years old, and is considered one of the brightest girls in her class, concludes with only one explanation for what Auschwitz is. It is the countryside. When modern humans look back at Hitler’s reign, we see how much difference there is between countryside and Auschwitz, yet a very bright girl barely sees any, even more so giving an idea of how little Gretel knows about the camps and what the Nazi are doing, and what her own father is doing. People lament over instances when people know but fail to believe in time and here is someone who, if anything, should know more about the Nazi’s nature than average Germans, but neither knows nor believes.

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *