Auschwitz Days

Abstract

Auschwitz Days is a short story that depicts the transitional period of the Jews who were transported to the holocaust gas chambers. The protagonist Goldberg's liminal existence in the concentration camp represents the uncertainty, anxiety, ambiguity, and fear experienced by the innocent people. In the story, the setting of the concentration camp is equated with a purgatory liminal space where the protagonist is guided by Joseph (who resembles the character of Virgil in Dante's The Divine Comedy) to his freedom from the camp. Unfortunately, he could not escape as he saw his wife and child being taken to the concentration camp at that time.