Borowski's Short Story 'This Way For The Gas, Ladies And Gentlemen'

This extract is part of Tadeusz Borowski’s short story ‘This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen’, which was first published in 1959 (?). It is often used to serve as an indication of Borowski’s argument that the difference between victim and perpetrator was often blurred in the concentration camps, as a victim often had to act as a perpetrator, by valuing his life before anyone elses, in order to secure their survival. In this segment of text, which is towards the end of the short story, Borowski describes the ending of a successful transport cleansing. The transport was from Sosnowiec-Bedzin and the Canada men (the men responsible for sorting and clearing the transports brining new prisoners) are, in the extract, laden with food and clothing.
There is an almost sarcastic, bitter tone when he states ‘For several days the entire camp will talk about Sosnowiec-Bedzin. Sosnowiec-Bedzin was a good, rich transport’ . It is as if he wants the reader to be disgusted, first describing the dead with indifference and then describing the goods that the prisoners have obtained in greater detail, appealing to the readers senses: ‘smelling of perfume and fresh linen.’ He has dehumanized the dead, and shows little remorse towards his actions. It is evident that the Canada man feel little remorse as they do what needs to be done in order to ascertain their own survival. We can therefore argue, that in creating this distance within his writing, he is implying his feeling of guilt, despite knowing that the prisoners were faced with a choiceless choice . Whilst this may appear morally questionable one could argue that this shift in morals was necessary, in that the prisoners were obligated to carry out these tasks or face death. They also would not have been able share their goods for fear of then being left without enough goods to ensure their own survival. Their survival was therefore dependant on someone elses death. Nonetheless, it is noteworthy that this guilt is to be seen in retrospect, as at the time the prisoners would have perhaps felt
As aforementioned, the survivors guilt he feels is something that is implied within the extract, whilst not being explicitly stated. Survivors guilt, however, would not be properly researched until the 1960s. In writing his experiences in fictional stories Borowski creates a testimony that cannot be questioned – as he does not claim that what happened is true, however it is described in such way that those who read it do not dispute his claims, which is relevant as this book was published so soon after the genocide, giving voice to topics thusfar relatively unspoken