why do the other prisoners try to silence Madame Schachter?
Why do the prisoners say prayers of thanks when they reach Aushwitz?
What do prisoners discover about Madame Schacter at the end of the account?
She is beaten because she's screaming. It's a beating that comes from loss of control; everyone's loss of control. The people are packed tightly into the car, they're nailed in, they don't have enough food................. everyone is reacting to the oppression they've been put under, everyone.
Night
The prisoners on the train find out, when the train eventually stops, that they have reached Auschwitz station. This name means nothing to them, and they bribe some locals to get news. They are told that they have arrived at a labor camp where they will be treated well and kept together as families. This news comes as a relief, and the prisoners let themselves believe, again, that all will be well. With nightfall, however, Madame Schächter again wakes everyone with her screams, and again she is beaten into silence. The train moves slowly and at midnight passes into an area enclosed by barbed wire. Through the windows, everybody sees the chimneys of vast furnaces. There is a terrible, but undefined, odor in the air—what they soon discover is the odor of burning human flesh. This concentration camp is Birkenau, the processing center for arrivals at Auschwitz.
Some Jews give up their possession because they're frightened that they'll receive punishment if they don't; other Jews have hidden valuables; and others still believe the Germans are simply there to deport or move them. Thus, there were a variety of reasons that they left their valuables behind without a fight. Think about it; would you fight for your valuuables if you believed yourself to be fighting for your life?
