Today's Guest: Sidney Bolkosky

In class today, we were visted by Sideny Bolkosky, who has done a lot of research and interviews involving the Holocaust. I feel as if I have learned not exactly facts and statistics of the Holocaust, but about the experience as he recalled parts of the interviews he had done in the past. He mentioned how the trains were just terrible with all the dying, hungry, and thirsty people all crammed into a limited area with no form of restroom. The people he had talked to said there is no ways words can describe it. He said in multiple interviews, it was described as something like if the seas were made of ink and the sky was paper, there would not be enough ink and paper to describe how horrible it was.

The description of how horrible it was agreed with what was mentioned in our reading from Night. I know it's a horrible topic, but after reading that part and hearing Bolkosky talk about the interviews I think I really want to read Night. I know the Holocaust is real, but the inhumanity is so unreal. The Jews were being slaughtered like animals, but even killing animals in such a manner is still horrible! I think since it seems to unreal, it makes me more curious to find out more to make it seem like less of a mystery.

One point Bolkosky brought up was the people who took care of the payments for the trains. They knew there were a ton of Jews being taken to camps and they were all one-way, but they didn't know the details of what was going on, and they were called desk killers (or murders, forgot what he called them). I'm a little unsure on it. If they didn't know what was going on, how can they be guilty? I know if I had a job like that, I'd feel extremely uneasy about it but I would do it so I don't get fired and don't have money to support my family. I think if they knew about what was going on and they continued to do so anyway, then maybe they should get some punishment, but I don't think the average worker should be punished. I think it is the leaders of the company, who probably had a much better idea of what was going on and agreed with help the Nazis, that should get in the most trouble. This is sort of like the "Exile or Mercy" argument we had earlier. Also, just what I think would be what I would have done, if I was forced to help the Nazis, I'd make it hard for them on purpose. Make them fill a ton of forms, jack up the prices, etc. to get myself more money and make them get tired of it and do the work themselves and stop my involvement. I know that may seem almost cruel, but it might work to get out of having to be involved with it without saying "no" and getting killed or having them take over the company. I'd feel guilty, but I'm not cut out for business. I never want to run a company, even less so if something like this was going on.