Chapter 4 had me on the edge of my seat the whole time. It was filled with emotion, feeling, and action. Although I have a reasonable sense of what this story is about and how the events unfold, there was still a part of me that thought perhaps the Blumenthals will make it to America before they are dehumanized by the Nazi's. However, such was not the case.
I found it extremely interesting to see how the refugee camp, Westerbork, turned from a Jewish safe haven to a Nazi controlled camp that feed into life in a concentration camp. Imagine seeking refuge, getting comfortable and safe, and then having that place of refuge turn into your worst fear. That is what it was like for the Blumenthals and the other refugees in Westerbork. As Ruth Blumenthal said "our escape to Holland had not been an escape at all. Instead we had been caught in a trap" (Perl 52). It would be like residents from Darfur coming to America to seek refuge, living in a camp for a few years, having the camp taken over by the government of Darfur, and being shipped back to Darfur to live their life under the fist of their oppressor.
The numbers and figures in this chapter was absoultly sickening. The books declares "the extermination camp know as Auschwitz-Birkenau could dispose of as many as 4,756 bodies ever twenty-four hours" (Perl 54). 4,746 bodies every 24 hours! That is astonishing. That number is greater then the entire school district in which I teach. That is the population of two towns completly gone overnight.
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