Man's Search for Meaning Part 1

Reading Man's Search for meaning was disturbing, and gave me a haunting image. The use of words in the book have a total different meaning to them than what we would think when they came to mind. Words that were used just as shoes, hair, Capo and cigarettes have such a cruel and inhumane story behind them to the jewish prisoners involved in the Holocaust. 

Shoes were given to the prisoners when they arrived to the camps along with a work suit. Most of the time the shoes would not fit the men's feet and this would cause them to swell. This would force the men to go barefoot throughout work days and cause frostbite during the winter. 

When showering, shoes were often taken by other prisoners that needed that size. Some prisoners were left with the wrong size, or two right foot shoes or two left foot shoes.

Hair was literally taken from them when the jews were admitted into the work camps. In one way you can see it as taking away someone's identity. Also when the jews were outing camps, they were tattooed with a number on their arm as if they were a piece of property to keep track of. Almost like branding a cow.

Men also had to shave their beards every day to look younger. They did this so they looked fit and able to work, because if they didn't look presentable they would be considered not useful and killed by the Nazi's. Shaving would make their cheeks look pinker, as a young man's would. They made shaving a top priority, if they had to give up their bread for the day to shave, they would have to. Prisoners would use anything sharp they could find to shave, often times pieces of glass.

Capo's were prisoners that were picked by the Nazi leaders to be cruel to other prisoners. They would chose the cruelest men, or people that also hated jews to torment them. Capo's job was to go onto the busses of new prisoners and drag them out of the bus and separate them form their belongings. 

Cigarettes were given to the men or traded for their bread. Men would smoke the cigarettes when they knew they were going to die, because they wanted something small to enjoy. Something as small as a cigarette gives the prisoners happiness, even when they are facing the reality of death every day.