Bergen-Belsen Camp: The Suppressed Story - Essay Example

Elie Wiesel had just had an operation conducted on his foot and was still in the hospital when the rest were being taken by the Germans. He could not walk the around 50km journey in the cold weather and his foot and was therefore left behind in the camp to await the Soviet troops to come and liberate them. His father would not leave his son alone either and chose to remain with him.

2. What do you think of the design of the alleged gas chamber in question? What about the free-standing chimney?

The design was poor as it seems the gas chambers had been converted from something else probably a morgue as there were no doors, windows, or even any other form of ventilation. There were no signs of the place being coated to prevent gas from leaking. They lacked exhaust systems to let out the gas after being used and also lacked heaters or heating systems as well and hence the place was damp. The free-standing chimneys were not real chimneys to produce smoke from the gas chambers or crematorium. They were just there for show and hence the reason they were called “fake chimneys.” This was true because the smoke channel that produced the smoke was across the room and not where the chimney was located, hence the conclusion that the chimneys were just for symbolic purposes.

3. What do you think of the Phil Donahue interview?

The interview seems to be discrediting all that is there in history books and even movies and documentaries about the holocaust and Auschwitz in particular. The issue about the gas chamber for example leaves the listeners and viewers more in doubt and confused than ever before. The same is true about the liberation by the Soviet troops. However, to those not familiar with the holocaust history, then the interview sheds light on the subject and provides an account of the occurrences from another dimension which is educational and informative. It also provides the basics of the holocaust leaving the individual wanting to find out more about this topic than the interview provides.

4. Compare the two articles on Bergen-Belsen. What do you conclude as being true?

The article where David Cole was interviewing Dr. Franciszek Piper the director of the Auschwitz museum has some surprising information about the gas chambers that was not previously in the history books. The same is however not reflected in the other article on a first-hand basis leaving some information. What seems to be true in this case is the interview with the Dr. because as a director, he holds first-hand information about the camp which he passed to David. It is assumed that this story holds nothing but the truth which the rest of the public did not know about. This truth can be deduced from the way the questions are answered which also leads one to conclude that even though not answered directly, there is some truth to that information.