Essay Questions

How does the lack of traditional meter in the poem add to its impact on the reader?

The lack of traditional meter is partly because of the intentional way of writing the poem, and partly because of the fact it is translated from first Romanian and then German into English. However, the way in which the sentences are somewhat unconstructed and not punctuated at all shows the way in which the prisoners are unravelling because of their dehumanizing treatment. They are barely able to think like people anymore and their days have become endless lists of what is going to happen, like the same day over and over. The deconstruction of the sentences increases as the poem comes to its climax and the ideas and thoughts that the men have are running closer and closer together as the men's thoughts get increasingly more desperate and panicked. The meter represents the thoughts of the prisoners and gives the reader the sense of desperation and of things being out of control, speeding ever faster to the inevitable conclusion.

Does learning more about the Holocaust prevent it from happening again, or are knowledge and morality unrelated, as the poet suggests?

The general explanation for the importance of written accounts of the Holocaust by survivors is that it is the only tool we really have for preventing something so horrific from happening again. From this logic, it also follows that becoming educated about something, and having greater knowledge, is the key to better morality; in other words, ordinary Joe in the streets of Germany had no idea that the Holocaust was going on around them, but now that they do, they can watch for the signs that will enable them to prevent this from happening again. If we are unaware that man is incapable of such evil, we cannot prevent it.

This is a logical and sensible argument...except for the fact that man is seldom logical or sensible, and also except for the fact that the Nazi guard is the most educated man in the poem and also the most sadistic and lacking in morals. The poem tells us that he is passionate about Romanticism. He loves literature. He loves music, particularly Bach. He has some of the prisoners play music as a background for the digging of graves. At night he writes, he dreams, he appreciates the simple beauty in nature as he contemplates the stars. He is a man of culture, of learning - and his is a man of evil and barbarism. This is true of many of those in positions of leadership within the Nazi regime; Hitler himself was passionate about Wagner (the composer was a renowned anti-Semite) This rather disproves the theory that the educated have a stronger morality than those without education or knowledge. Whilst it is very important that we learn from survivor literature, it is unlikely to prevent things like the Holocaust from happening again.