Journal #3: Chapter 3

“But this was the sense, not forgotten either then or later: that precisely because the Lager was a great machine to reduce us to beasts, we must not become beasts; that even in this place one can survive, and therefore one must want to survive, to tell the story, to bear witness; and that to survive we must force ourselves to save at least the skeleton, the scaffolding, the form of civilization. We are slaves, deprived of every right, exposed to every insult, condemned to certain death, but we still possess one power, and we must defend it with all our strength for it is the last – the power to refuse our consent. So we must certainly wash our faces without soap in dirty water and dry ourselves on our jackets. We must polish our shoes, not because the regulation states it, but for dignity and propriety. We must walk erect, without dragging our feet, not in homage to Prussian discipline but to remain alive, not to begin to die” (41).

This the message from Steinlauf, “a man of good will.” In Auschwitz, he washed his face everyday even without soap. Primo Levi thought washing oneself was a waste of energy but Steinlauf did not let the bad circumstances get him.

I love the message in the above passage. I like it because it states that we must be righteous all the time. It teaches us that men should be able to stand for what they believe. They should not lose their moral beliefs because of the circumstances. The passage criticizes people who just follow the trend of crowd. We often do something because that is what majority of people does. For example, we often think that throwing a candy wrapper on street is okay because many people do so. Not many people actually dare to pick it up. But the passage tells us that it is morally wrong to surrender to surroundings. I believe that we should not allow our surroundings and situations to overcome us. We should be able to keep our virtue even under harsh condition, like in Auschwitz.

I also used to be a person who easily obeys to people around me or to my surroundings. For instance, I used to obediently follow the decision of my friends because I wanted to be part of the group. However, I started to change at some point. I am no longer the person who just follows the crowd. Nowadays, if I think that something is wrong to do, then I don’t do it. I may not be firm enough yet to persuade people not to do it, but I do not follow the crowd. And I’m usually happy with my decision. I think it is important for people to stand for what they believe. Like Steinlauf in the chapter said, we should do our work and duty not because the rule or others tell us to do, but for dignity and virtue.