Freedom and confinement are two loaded concepts in Survival in Auschwitz. The folks in concentration camps are confined physically, but their lack of freedom is completely consuming—there's no question about it.
Questions About Freedom and Confinement
- What are the possible meanings of Arbeit Macht Frei? In what ways is it an ironic statement?
- Where do we see some of the prisoners retaining a certain amount of freedom? Who are the most successful at this?
- How were the Jews processed into the camp? In what way does this gradually strip away their freedom?
- In what ways do the dreams that Primo recounts provide him a small glimpse of "freedom"?
Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
After the camp is evacuated, the prisoners cannot yet escape because they are still imprisoned by the mindset of being animals and not men.
A lot of the prisoners simply do not understand that, by design, there's no way out of the camp except through death.