April 1933- Jewish pupils are expelled from all non-Jewish German schools and decreased “Jewish Activity” in the medical and legal professions.
History:
– On April 1933, Jewish teachers were discharged from their work and Jewish students were dismissed from schools and universities after a German law has passed. In Germany, education was a large-scale apparatus in which Nazis use to endorse their racial policies. After the law has been passed, many Jewish individuals were inflicted with verbal and physical abuse from their fellow classmates, teachers, and co-workers. Textbooks were altered to support Nazi philosophy, which leads to increased antisemitism.
Image:
(This image shows a group of uneducated children that are unable to go to school for a bright future)
Source:
– http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3193520/Read-real-life-story-Auschwitz-prisoner-Helena-Citronova-falling-love-SS-guard-Franz-Wunsch-amid-controversy-Kate-Breslin-novel-Time.html
Application to novel:
– The Nazis did not allow books in the ghettos because they prohibited education. Many children were lacking knowledge because of the absence of education. The Sender family allowed the members of the adult socialist movement or the Bund to set up the secret library in the back corner of their house. The Germans burned plenty of books, but some books were salvaged and used in the library. This shows the hunger for knowledge these people possess and that the Nazis cannot stop them from learning. Even though the risks are very high and that anybody that visits the library are in constant danger, they digressed because of their strong determination for learning. The books are their source of learning and that they draw strength from it.
April 26, 1938- Nazis order Jews to register wealth and property.
History:
– Ever since the Nazis invaded Poland, they continue to persecute the Jews in many grisly ways. In April 26, 1938, the Nazis forced the Jews to register their wealth and property. The Nazis used their wealth to help the German establishment such as strengthening the army. The Germans prevented the Jews from earning a living because they aim to forbid the Jews from the economic system. They also dismissed Jewish workers and managers from working and decided that Jews should work using their laborious methods.
Image:
(This image shows the Nazis oppressing the Jews and seizing their money as well as their property)
Source:
– http://www.stephenhalbrook.com/registration_article/registration.html
Application to novel:
– After the Nazis invaded Poland, many Jewish people were robbed of their homes, possessions, and their lives. Many trusted friends, such as the Gruber family and Mr. Brown betrayed their Jewish friends by joining the Volksdeutsche. The Gruber family and Mr. Brown became dynamic characters in this story because of how all the love and affection for the Jews disappeared in the blink of an eye after one tragic event. Mrs. Gruber confiscated Jewish property and wealth such as their fur coats and proceeds to live a luxurious life in the nicest part of Lodz. Harry Gruber decided to break his trust with Riva by abandoning her in difficult times and joining the Hitler youth. Mr. Brown, the farmer contributed to the Nazi cause by robbing Jewish homes and seizing their possessions.
1939 – Germans take over Czechoslovakia and invades Poland
History:
– Hitler rose to power by taking over many countries, including Poland. On the 1st of September 1939, the Germans invaded Poland. Many people died and the Polish army was defeated weeks after the German attack. After the failure of many Polish defenses and the German army proceeding forward into the battlements, Warsaw surrendered in September 27, 1939. Hitler obtained complete control of the rest of Poland in October 6,1939 and the Jewish oppression begins.
Image:
(This image shows invading German troops approaching Poland)
Source:
– https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005070
Application to novel:
– Before the war, the Jews weren’t shoved into ghettos and they were free from oppression. Every Jewish lives changed the day Hitler rose to power. Ghettos and labor camps were established, Jewish people deported from all over the country to suffer the wrath of the Nazis. The holocaust was the beginning of the Jewish slavery. Readers were introduced to the misery, humiliation, and abuse that the Jews endure on a daily basis. Even though the Nazis tried to break the Jews’ souls through harsh labor, one would notice that the only thing Nazi’s could not restrain is their hopes and faith. They tried to humiliate the Jews by labeling them using the Star of David. It did not embarrass the Jews, but it made them even more appreciative of their religion.
October 26, 1939- Forced labor decree issued for Polish Jews aged 14 to 60.
History:
– The Jews were subjected to grim, unpleasant work under German control. Jews worked for the Nazis in exchange for exorbitantly low food rations. The Germans used strident labor as a way to break the spirits of the Jews and destroy their hopes of getting away from the ghettos and being free. The Jews labored, along with constant physical and mental abuse from the Nazis for the German economy. They made roads, created buildings, dug drainage ditches.
Image:
(This image shows the Jews laboring themselves for the Germans by creating roads for German forces to use)
Source:
– https://www.washington.edu/alumni/columns/sept99/lantos2.html
Application to novel:
– This law made an appearance in the novel, “The Cage,” when the Jews were forced to labor themselves for the Nazis. The lucky ones get to work in the ghettos, but the unlucky ones were sent into labor camps where the working conditions are more difficult and harder to endure. The people in the ghettos get to work in sewing factories where they make clothes for the Nazis and the people in labor camps worked on roads to make an additional pathway for German forces to use. Riva is shown as a dynamic character in this section of the story because her high hopes of being free from the Nazis have been weakened when she lost her sisters, mother, and brother. Her confidence was undermined by her internal conflicts such as how her decisions affect her as a mother to her brothers.
1940- Jews are forced into ghettos
History:
– After invading Poland, the Nazis forced Jews into ghettos which will be sealed off from the rest of the city in 1940. The Germans intended to control the Jews by confining them into one area where they could suffer harsh, and intense labor. These concentrated ghettos separated millions of Jews from the world. Most ghettos were enclosed with barbed-wire fences guarded by the German police to prevent unauthorized movement from the ghetto to the outside world.
Image:
(This image shows the Jews their new home after being relocated by the Nazis)
Source:
– http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Lw%C3%B3w_Ghetto
Application to novel:
– The gates of the ghetto sealed in over 100,000 Jews. The ghetto is filled with unemployed individuals that starve to death because they are unable to earn a living. The group of Jews like a herd of sheep made it easy for diseases such as tuberculosis to spread all over the ghetto. Many of the Jewish people gather together to share their torment and agony and just like the diseases, their pain and anguish were very contagious and it infected the Jews physically and mentally. Depressed souls linger the ghetto, envying the dead for they are past the pain they were suffering. The bleak ambiance became more and more conspicuous for the Jews as each miserable day passes.
1942 – Deportations
History:
– In 1942, the Germans shipped the Jews from their ghettos to various camps in Poland. The Nazis referred these quarters as “extermination camps” where several Jews died of gassing. The Germans switched to this method because they thought it was a “clean” and “efficient” approach than shooting. They also though that this procedure would spare them of the anxiety of directly killing the Jews. These killing chambers were isolated from the public view.
Image:
(This image shows the Jews who volunteered for “resettlement” to help their families board the train)
Source:
– https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005144
Application to novel:
– In the novel, “The Cage,” The Germans offered Jews increased rations if they voluntarily participate to work in labor camps. Many Jews were eager to work to support their family, but some did not because they thought it was a conspiracy to make deportation easier for the Nazis. The volunteers were boarded in cargo trains and were transported to labor camps where they will be spending their lives in agony and despair. This section of the story utilizes plenty of literary devices such as allusion by introducing well-known concentration camps such as “Mittelsteine” and “The Auschwitz concentration camp”. Oxymoron was also present in the story when the author used words such as “Angel of Death”.
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