Night Over Birkenau Powerful Impression

Night Over Birkenau Critical Essay

Task: Many memorable poems leave the reader with a powerful impression of a person, a place or an era. Using a poem which has left you with such an impression, explain what techniques are used by the poet to convey this impression.

“Night Over Birkenau“ by Tadeusz Borowski is a poem which leaves the reader with a powerful impression of a place. The poem describes the horrific atmosphere in Birkenau – Auschwitz. Borowski uses a range of techniques successfully throughout the poem to convey his experiences and feelings after seeing and living through the holocaust himself. This brings another level of depth to the poem knowing that the poet has been there and has felt these emotions. Tadeusz Borowski was born on the 12th November 1922, in 1943 he was captured by Gestapo agents and sent to a Nazi medical hospital where they performed experiments on him. In 1944 he arrived at Auschwitz, he worked there until the Americans liberated the camp in 1945. After the war he became a writer and continued his work as a journalist.

In stanza one the poet gives the reader a powerful description of the atmosphere and mood within Birkenau. In this stanza the poet conveys to the reader the idea that the atmosphere is very intimidating and oppressive. The writer conveys this successfully when he uses the technique of repetition on the word “Again”. This gives the reader the impression that there is no escape from the camp. They keep trying, again and again but they never succeed. This links in with another atmosphere the writer conveys, the idea that the camp is claustrophobic. The repetition of “again” gives the impression of there being no escape. They are trapped in the camp with no way out. The poet also uses similes effectively in this stanza to convey the vulnerability of the people trapped in the camp. The similie “like a crouching beast” gives the impression that there is a “monster” outside the camp waiting to attack. The connotations of beast tend to be of animals or monsters. These do not have human emotions and are cold, heartless hunters. This could possibly be a reference to the Nazi’s oppressors in the camp who felt nothing at the slaughter of millions of innocent people. Many animals will crouch and wait before attacking so this supports the idea of the beast and the animal.

In stanza two the poet introduces the first physical description of what Birkenau was like. In this stanza the physical description is introduced and an important technique for the poet in this stanza is personification. Borowski excellently uses personification to help give the reader a better and clearer picture in their head of what the camp looked like. This helps to immerse the reader in the poem. We see this when the poet says:

“The eyes of the crematorium blaze”

The crematorium obviously does not have eyes but ...

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“The eyes of the crematorium blaze”

The crematorium obviously does not have eyes but this gives the reader the impression that it is always watching the inmates, almost as if it were waiting for its chance to pounce. This is very similar to the beast in stanza one. Another viewpoint on this quote is the cruel irony that this place of death seems to harbour the only light in the camp. Light, which is almost always a light of hope and peace in the world, can only be found where death resides. This conveys the idea that death is a better option than life in the camp. These ideas give us the impression that some survivors in the camp envy the dead. Another use of personification in this stanza is when the poet states that the “transports growl in the darkness” This links back to stanza one and talking about the crouching beast. The growl is another connotation of attack and is often what animals will do before they attack to warn humans or other animals off. This continues the idea of cold, ruthless hunters. In this stanza also the poet starts the idea that the people in the camp felt abandoned and forgotten. This is shown when the poet says:

“blue orion – lost amongst the stars”

Blue orion is a very bright constellation of stars. They are so bright in fact it’s hard to miss when you look into the sky in the right area. This bright constellation was the last hope for many of these people. This symbolised God. Even though they were being put through this they could still rely on God to stay with them. Now, for them, in the battle to keep their faith it has been lost amongst all the other stars. This distinctive constellation was what set them apart from the rest and kept them strong. Now that this is gone they have nothing left to cling to.

In this poem we see the poet reliving his experiences in Birkenau. The poet relives his experiences from Birkenau mainly in his dreams. We see this when the poet says:

“It’s steamy, stifling. Sleep is a stone”

This has many references in it one of which could be attributed to how he now finds it difficult to sleep. The connotations of stone are hard and cold. These are contrasting to the connotations of sleep and do not fit. However this is probably not the main reference. Although this shows us how the poet relives his experiences when he goes it sleep at night it also describes how the conditions were inside the huts at Birkenau. The heat of having so many bodies in the one space stifles the body and makes it difficult to even breathe rather than relax and go to sleep. The alliteration of the s in this line and the next are used to symbolise the whispering of the people in the huts after dark. The only time they managed to talk with each other. This is perhaps not the most important segment of this stanza however. Perhaps the most important is when the poet says:

“This lead foot crushing my chest”

This brings both a physical reference and a metaphorical reference. The physical side can be attributed to how they were arranged in the huts. You would sleep with another person’s feet on your chest or in your mouth. After walking around the camp all day these would usually be lined with lead and this is a very heavy metal. This weighs down on you and makes it hard to breath. This helps transition into the metaphorical sense it carries. The guilt Borowski feels about all those who died yet he survived. He now lives his life with a heavy heart. The guilt weighs down on his chest, the, heavy, lead guilt. This gets at him right at his very core. Although he no longer has someone’s foot on his chest he still feels this weight every day of his life.

In this stanza we see how the writer sees his future being shaped by his experiences. In the first two lines of the stanza the poet tells us that:

“Night, night without end. No dawn comes. My eyes are poisoned from sleep.”

In these two lines we see how the poets current life is being drastically affected by his experiences. When the poet talks about night with no end he is conveying the idea to the reader that this darkness which he has over him now will never dissipate. This light which would bring hope and freedom along with a new start will never come. The darkness he sees is too strong to be vanquished with a dawn now. The poet then continues on to say that his “eyes are poisoned from sleep”. Sleep is supposed to be the one thing that replenishes you and makes you feel better. If you become sick one of the most regular pieces of advice is to rest. However when the poet rests this only serves to haunt him further. When he sleeps he relives all of the horrific experiences from Auschwitz. His sub-conscious brings back to him all of the things that in everyday life he can block out and ignore. In his dreams he cannot. For him sleep is doing the exact opposite of what it should do. In the next line the poet says :

“Like God’s judgement on the corpse of the earth fog descends over Birkenau”

This gives the reader the impression that the poet believes that God is allowing this to happen. When the poet goes on to talk about the fog descending we get the impression that God is trying to cover up this camp. Even he cannot bear to watch what is happening. The poet also mentions the “corpse of the earth”. The reader gets the idea that the poet believes that the Earth is dead. Whatever the poet believed about humanity before his experiences are gone now, he now sees a dead earth. There is no more spirit or anyone with a shred of decency to do the right thing in his eyes. They simply let it slide. There are no positives to be taken from this at all. Not a shred of good came of it.

“Night Over Birkenau” by Tadeusz Borowski is a poem which leaves the reader with a powerful impression of a place.