I want the reader to feel both anger towards the actions of this ‘beast’, but also at different times sympathy for his predicament. I want the reader to question their understanding of morality, and to ‘put themselves in the shoes’ of this man.
Concept
The form will be fictional short story, in prose. However, I plan to include real correspondence between military officials of the camp from the time. I wanted to use this idea to give the story some real meaning, and to remind the audience that people just like my character did exist. Most of the piece will be in third person, but I will include monologues of the characters’ thought processes. During scenes of increased tension, for example when the man is ordered to shoot a prisoner, I will include in between the dialogue the thoughts of the guard himself. This will hopefully engage the reader in the scene, rather than the reader being a ‘fly on the wall’, which would leave a wall between the reader and the characters. I would like to vary the style of language used, from short and punchy for tension and emotion to long and reflective for the monologues.
Inspiration
I chose to write a story on the holocaust because it is something that I would enjoy researching in detail, absorbing every scrap of information, and also I think it would be challenging to confront on my own terms. Reading the information I have already come across, I can’t help but feel so lucky to live in a free country, and in such a privileged life. A life where I am free to do what I choose, including writing this piece. I visited Dachau concentration camp in 2003, and this experience had a great effect on me. The feelings of disgust and general confusion as to “how this could happen” has probably lead me to be so interested in studying the topic today. I will use this experience to describe the surrounds of the setting, and some of the experiences of the prisoners.
The following is an extract of a speech given by Himmler regarding the extermination of the Jews. Reading it today, I find it strange and foreign. To better understand why Himmler would take this approach to the extermination of a whole race, I will have to research the culture and attitudes of his time in-depth. Also, the ideas held by this quote is what I want to base my character’s questioning on.
“I also want to mention a very difficult subject before you here, completely openly. It should be discussed amongst us, and yet, nevertheless, we will never speak about it in public. I am talking about the Jewish evacuation: the extermination of the Jewish people. It is one of those things that is easily said. "The Jewish people are being exterminated," every Party member will tell you: "Perfectly clear, it’s part of our plans, we’re eliminating the Jews, exterminating them, ha!, a small matter.”
—Heinrich Himmler, 4 October 1943
Links to Advanced & Extension
The idea for my piece came from researching the text “Romulus, my father”, in the Advanced course.
The piece will specifically tie-in with the concept of belonging in many ways. For example, my main character will be in a position where he is forced to belong to the regime, and to his position and rank. If he chooses to disagree with his superiors, or the regime itself, he will be shot. Also, nature of the holocaust relates directly to belonging, as anyone who belonged to the Jewish religion, was a gypsy or was disabled was persecuted and often killed by the Nazi regime. The regime aimed to wipe-out all those who, in the eyes of the officials, did not fit the requirements of a pure society based on the Aryan legend. However, the piece does not necessarily link to the topic of crime writing in the Extension 1 course in any way.
Research
I have read many articles and letters on various websites, which have been very detailed and very helpful in giving me a broad account of events and people surrounding the Nazi regime.
However, I will need to continue to research further in-depth into the holocaust and in particular the events and nature of the Dachau camp. I also plan to read Anne Frank’s “Diary of a girl”, to further understand the experience of life in a concentration camp. This text should provide the experience of a prisoner, with which I can use to contrast the ideals and experience of the guard. Over the holidays I will make a visit to the state library to find historical diaries and personal accounts of experiences in concentration camps.
I have trawled over hundreds of images from the Jewish Virtual Library. This has helped me visualise the setting of the piece, and try to imagine the conditions and experiences of the prisoners.
This website provides extensive material on the Dachau camp itself, and the events and people surrounding the camp.
This site is great, as it has many photograph’s of the camp post-liberation and of the trials of war criminals that followed.
This site has a number of fictional diary entries from primary school students. It is inspiring to read these interpretations of Holocaust experiences.
