This Way for the Gas

in blurtstory •  3 years ago 

This is probably the most horrible short story I have ever read.

"It is the camp law: people going to their death must be deceived to the very end. This is the only permissible form of charity."
[...]
"A Red Cross van drives back. and forth, back and forth, incessantly: it transports the gas that will kill these people."

"This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen", the title story of the collection of the same name, by Tadeusz Borowski. (You can find and download the book at z-lib.org.)

The author holds a unique position in being neither the persecuted nor the persecutor - he is both.

The horror is in articulating that position - a sentient necrophoretic worker.

blurtstory books ww2 tyranny inhumanity
3 years ago by
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      ·  3 years ago  ·  

    We live on the cusp of two worlds. If we find an ethic that will have as its goal the welfare of man and not economic profit or the selfish interests of some race, nation, or social class, then, perhaps, we will be able to clear the rubble from our continent and provide education and comfort to people who crave housing, work, and books more than uniforms, guns, and tanks. If, however, we attach deluding ethics to evil, which can outlive the criminal, perhaps we will then find ourselves in the midst of a world so criminal and a life so terrible that the world and the life described in this book will appear to have been not so bad.

    From the Publisher, 191250, Anatol Girs, We were in Auschwitz.

    One key and very strong message from many such survivors is that the post-war blame game was a puppet theatre (however macabre and terrible) that still managed to ignore the strings and puppet-masters. Hence, by not having understood the dynamic, we are prone to repeat it.

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      ·  3 years ago  ·  

    I like this story

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        ·  3 years ago  ·  

      Congratulations, your post has been upvoted by @dsc-r2cornell, which is the curating account for @R2cornell's Discord Community.

      Curated by Blessed-girl

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      Enhorabuena, su "post" ha sido "up-voted" por @dsc-r2cornell, que es la "cuenta curating" de la Comunidad de la Discordia de @R2cornell.

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