Holocaust quote

The quote I will be talking about today is  "All night we went to bed with all our clothes on, falling into a restless sleep, listening for the ring."(Garfield,87) in the book “Voices of Winnipeg Holocaust Survivors” edited by Belle Millo.


I chose this quote because it shows how bad life was in the ghetto.  The fact that the jews slept in their clothes means that it was very cold.  It shows that if they had a blanket it was not enough to keep warm during the winter.  In the summer or spring when you could survive without wearing clothes through the night the jews still had to wear their clothes or else another jew or a Nazi would steal their clothes.  Their clothes were needed during the holocaust to survive.  If you didn’t have them you would be cold get sick and die right away.  You would have nothing to protect you from the wind and the winter you wouldn’t have a chance in survival.  The other thing in this quote that shows how bad life was in the ghetto is it says “falling into a restless sleep”.  This shows that the Jews could not sleep in the concentration camps because they didn’t know what was going to happen or they were really scared.  The Jews would also be listening for air bombing alarms and their work shift bell.  It also says “listening for the ring”.  I think that means that they couldn’t sleep because if they missed the bell they would be killed, in public to make a statement saying, this will happen to you if you miss the bell.

PEA Protagonist & picture

The protagonist in the book "Voices of Holocaust Survivors", in the short story "Family of Belle Millo" is named Samuel Jarniewski.  He was in the holocaust.  His strongest character trait is he is very positive.  It shows this by saying, "His life in the holocaust was tinged over and over again with tragedy, and yet he continued - as always - to lead a productive and positive life filled with the joy of ever day living.``(Belle Milo, 149)

This shows he is positive because it says he lived with the joy of every day living.  It also says that he is positive right in the example.  I think this is his strongest character trait because if your life can be tinged with tragedy over and over and your still positive, than you must be really positive to stay that way.  It also shows he is determined by saying he is still positive in the holocaust.  He would have to be determined to stay positive in the holocaust.

This is a picture of Samuel Jarniewski