July 25, 1938 – Jewish doctors prohibited by law from practising medicine.

History: Germans placed a law upon the Jewish by banning students from getting an education in the medical field. It was created to restrict the “Jewish activity” in the medical field and legal professions. There were laws placed later on that meant the Jewish doctors were not being reimbursed for their health insurance money. Jewish doctors were not allowed to treat any patients that were not Jewish. It also meant the Jewish lawyers and notaries were stripped of the license and it disabled them to practice law. Any Jewish citizens were not able to receive an education in law.

Caption:(Jewish doctor giving a diagnosis and treating Jewish boy after World War II. As the kid was unable to receive treatment during the period of the Holocaust.)

Source:http://archives.jdc.org/about-us/articles/archives-fellow-delivers.html

Application: While reading the section in the novel “The Cage,” is known that the doctors have restrictions put on them when you see, Moishe takes Riva across the ghetto to see the doctor about her gallbladder stones. The doctors are not able to give out any medicine, so Riva was not giving any medication. Diseases are spread quickly because of the laws that disallowed doctors from giving any treatment. The doctor that was treating Riva got very emotional because he was not able to treat Riva. Many conflicts arose when the Nazi’s were in power though in this particular conflict. External conflict is shown when the laws were placed. Due to the amount of people that were affected by the diseases, the appropriate conflict is Man vs. Society, from the leader who had set the law put the whole population of Lodz ghetto in danger.

May 10, 1933 – Public burning of books written by Jews, political dissidents, other not approved by the state

History:  Nazi’s book burnings were lead by the German Student Union. The books were burned because they were views from the Jewish opposed to Nazism. It was considered propaganda of the German Student Nation. Over 25,000 books were torched and set on fire because of the “un-German” topics. Another cause to the German book burnings was that the Nazi’s did not want to make the Jewish remember happier times than before; it was considered “building censorship.”

Caption: (Jewish proudly standing over bonfire as they have started to toss books written by the Jewish into the flames.)

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/sep/10/book-burning-quran-history-nazis

Application: While the Minska’s transfer their house to the cellar, they agree that they should volunteer to have their house as the new hidden library. The Jewish have been disallowed of receiving an education, so they decided to keep books and have study groups behind the German’s back. If the books are found, they would be burned, and the Jewish would be punished. It was located in the corner of the room, so if the Nazi’s could have demanded a search, it would appear to be a closet. Knowing that the Nazi’s would have punished the Jewish, primarily the Minska’s, it would be considered a person vs. Person conflict. Riva stood up for the Jewish in an honourable way. The opposing side is the Nazi’s, who would have confiscated the books.

April 30, 1940 – The Lodz ghetto in occupied Poland is sealed off from the outside world with 230,000 people locked inside.

History: Around Jewish ghettos, there was a large barbed- wire fence. It was put there prevent the Jewish from escaping. German patrol officers were surrounding the perimeter, so there were no attempts to climb over and leave the ghetto. With a large number of people in the ghetto getting infections spread throughout the ghetto quickly.  Diseases like tuberculosis were contracted. It was easy to locate and to keep track of the Jewish with the fence surrounding. More than 1,000 ghettos with surrounding gates were formed.

Caption: (Giant fence surrounding the perimeter of the ghetto, little boy and girl are looking through the fence with defeated expression.)

Source: https://fi.pinterest.com/pin/565624034421548596/

Application:  At the beginning of the novel “The Cage,” in the ghetto, there is mention of a giant fence around the ghetto. Riva’s family is significantly affected by the fence because the diseases are spreading so fast. Riva’s brother Laibele developed tuberculosis and later died because the fence had enclosed them. Because of the ghetto that was similar to a prison, there were so many people in the Jewish ghetto with zero freedom than in the before. Fences play a huge role to people’s sanity. The emotional setting is set in place due to the ghetto that felt like a prison. People were so defeated and depressed because to the fence. The atmosphere was turned so dark so suddenly, and people were so fearful, Riva was so defeated that anyone that came back from her former life made Riva was so hopeful. The physical setting is a small little town that was turned into a prison. 

November 23, 1939 – Yellow stars required to be worn by Polish Jews over the age of ten.

History: Yellow stars worn by the Jewish was a star with six- points. The Star of David is represented by the Jewish by remaining on their left arm. Though as means of identification, the Jewish wore a blue star to represent their culture. It was often used against the Jewish as discrimination. The Nazi’s found this to be extremely helpful as it was now very easy to see who was a Jew.  The word “Jude” was inscribed on the star to identify.

Caption: (A Jewish family all wearing a Star of David for identification, Star is a six pointed star with a “J” in the middle.)

Source: http://numberthestars-factorfiction.blogspot.ca/2015/03/characters_29.html

Application: The Star of David is presented in the novel “The Cage,” when Riva’s cousin Saba was embarrassed to wear the star. The Jewish wanted to be proud of their religion, though they are fearful of what was going to happen to them. The Jewish then started to feel envious of the Nazi’s, because the Jewish felt like the Nazi’s was using their religious symbol as a way of discrimination. This event is a plot point towards the rising action in “The Cage” because the Nazi’s began to mistreat the Jewish further and abused the Jewish which was the reason of the abuse towards the Jewish. It began as a trait to be mocked for and then was turned into a reason to essentially torture the Jewish, because of their religious beliefs.

January 25, 1940 – Nazi’s choose the town of Osweichem (Auschwitz) in Poland near Krakow as the site of a new concentration camp.

History:  Auschwitz is the largest concentration camps. It has three main areas. All the camps centred on the prisoners to do forced labour. One of them was a focal point for killing the Jewish. The three camps were called Auschwitz I (Stammlager), Auschwitz II (Birkenau), and Auschwitz III (Monowitz). Camp authorities murdered around 1.1 million people.  The camp operated between 1940- 1945. Either people were killed for being Jewish or Gypsy, some for even being homosexual. Most people did not even die from being murdered but from starvation, exhaustion, and infections.

Caption: (Auschwitz concentration camp, opened in 1940. Inmates consisted of Jewish, Polish, and Soviet soldiers.)

Source: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/autoc.html

Application: Riva and her friends were sent to a concentration camp known as “Auschwitz.” As soon as they were transferred there, they are forced to remove their clothes and have their heads shaved. Riva tells her numbing experiences, like when she saw a little boy who saw his mother die. Their identities were taken from them, including their names and religions. Every Auschwitz member was forced to remember a number as their new identities. Family members were often split up, while Riva was determined to find her mother. Riva was convinced she saw her mother. It was very hard to tell since everyone looked the same. While Riva was calling out to a lady who she thought was her mother, a woman stopped her and mentioned that she was probably moved to a different camp or dead. This point could be considered the climax as Riva had lost hope and trapped in a concentration camp.

October 25, 1939- Forced labour decree issued for Polish Jews between ages 14 to 60.

History:  Nazi’s made the Jewish go through inhuman treatments. All throughout Poland there was forced labour being applied to all the Jewish. In Lodz ghetto, there were 96 factories full of forced labourers from a very young age. Once a Jewish person became unproductive a Nazi would execute the Jewish worker. It became easy to see economic gain from the amount of labour that was happening. The Jewish would work so hard they would work to death.

Caption: (A young Jewish boy being forced to complete labour for no compensation, the Jewish boy is clearly unhappy.)

Source:https://www.pinterest.com/pin/338473728214437843/

Application: Forced labour was issued to the whole Minska family in “The Cage,” Riva and her mother both worked ridiculous hours a day to produce clothes for the Nazi’s. The Minska’s received one loaf of bread for one week when they completed their labour. Laibele got extremely sick while doing his work and he never worked again, due to the working conditions. Part of the reason why Nazi’s captured the Jewish was that the Nazi’s wanted them to complete labour. Groups of Nazi’s in “The Cage,” known as the Waffen-SS, They were static characters as the Waffen-SS was constant on mistreating the Jews. The Waffen-SS would often degrade the Jewish, because of their religion. Their views never changed and always remain hostile.