Survival in Auschwitz  (38-77)

Can Socrates’ conception of a moral universe exist in this environment?

Quote from Peter Weiss’ The Investigation on what happened to the good at Auschwitz.
  • Follow the absurd rules, work as hard as you can, accept only the food that is given to you, and what will happen? (What must you do instead?)
  • When you eat, you are so hungry and thirsty that you gulp down the soup as if you are an animal. (essen vs. fressen), but there is not enough.
  • Constant hunger, cold, and exhaustion from hard labor take hold of your body, and you start to look like "Du Jude Kaputt".
  • Leave your most prized possessions out of sight  (your bowl, your spoon, your shoes, your needle), and they are gone.
  • Hope for a good wound to sideline you for a few days in Ka-Be, but watch out for the daily selections, like the one that got poor Schmulek.
  • The limbo of Ka-Be offer some rest and warmth but reawakens "Heimweh" and dreams that your relatives cannot recognize you. 
  • Awakening to the sound of the prison band playing Rosamunda as the haftlings march back to the barracks through the snow in a herky-jerky motion. (the prison band and the Parade?)
What has happened to Socrates' conception of the moral soul in this realm?

What conclusions can you draw about the existence of good and evil in Auschwitz?

Can you possibly survive and not do ill?

YET....
  • Alberto lives and the culture of the Bunker Block on a long winter night is so human: