The history of our world contains multiple horrifying stories and events. The saddest and most tragic ones of them are the years of genocide during the Second World War and the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot regime in Cambodia. The nations that turned out to be under attack for basically no reason had to go through an enormous amount of sufferings and pain. Tens of thousands of people were executed and tortured to death during both of these events. =
Cambodian Pol Pot and European genocide will always be remembered as ones of the most shameful pages of the human history of all times. The events of those times have been preserved in the memories of the rare survivors of both regimes. Literature has several biographical novels written by actual inmates of concentration and work camps of Germany and Cambodia. The people that happened to live through these awful events could not stay silent and decided to let the world know about the inner side of these crimes against life. =
Their dramatic and scary observations will always remain the straightforward reminders of what humans are capable of doing and what the victims can survive. This paper is focused on the comparative analysis of two of biographical novels written during the Second World War, and the Khmer Rouge called “Survival in Auschwitz” by Primo Levi and “First They Killed My Father” by Loung Ung. The analysis is focused on the role of categories of class, race, and gender shaped each of these horrific events and the experiences of both authors.
Loung Ung begins her ordeals surrounded by her big family that counts nine people. The oldest siblings of Loung are still in their teenage. The story of the Ung family starts with the description of their wealthy and safe life in a big home with enough money and food. Ung’s father had a prestigious career working for the government. The members of his family enjoyed a happy and comfortable life up to the moment when armed people representing the Khmer Rouge took over their city. =
The leaders of the new regime intended to eliminate all of the more of less wealthy urban people, whom they called capitalists. Ung family had to escape the city and leave behind everything they had. Loung’s mother allows her kids to use money as toilet paper because she knows that these notes are of no use during the Khmer Rouge. Loung gets to experience the hatred towards her family from the side of villagers, but she cannot comprehend its reasons: “I don’t understand why they are looking at me as if I am a strange animal when in reality, we look very much the same.” (Ung, 57). =
The roles of class and ethnicity are mixed in this situation because wealthy urban people are considered to be improper citizens that need to be changed using hard physical labor: “The base people will train us to be hard workers and teach us to have pride in our country. Only then will we be worthy of calling ourselves Khmer” (Ung, 57). Education and progressive technologies were viewed as harmful and useless aspects of life. They had to be destroyed as a negative influence, creating the gap between the rich and the poor. =
The rules states that everyone had to be dressed in black eat rationed portions of food and even speak the same way to maintain absolute equality, people of an ethnicity other than Khmer were not treated with much stronger disrespect than others. The rules of equality were non-applicable towards people’s background: Pa says because we are different – Chinese-Cambodian – we will have to work harder than others (Ung, 61).
Primo Levi’s survival in a concentration camp for Jews starts with neglect, humiliation, and torture. The Germans and the Jews are like absolutely different species of people. German soldiers keep making fun of Jewish culture and religion: “The officer says you must be quiet because this is not a rabbinical school” (Levi, 315). Through the years of racial segregation, people got used to differentiating between ethnicities and nations. =
In comparison with Ung’s story, where the events were abrupt, and shockingly fast, Jews like Levi had been under gradually strengthening pressure of racism and fascism for years before they got captured. Loung was surprised to learn that people were different according to their background, while Primo had been taught about it for a long time: “our language lacks words to express this offense, demolition of man” (Levi, 358). Men in German concentration camps are kept away from women and children, and in Cambodian working camps the Ung family manages to stick together for a while.
Levi was precise, calling such events a “demolition of man,” such neglect and torture change people forever, make them develop completely new personality traits. Educated and polite Primo Levi learned how to steal but not be robbed himself; sweet Loung that at the beginning of the revolution was heartbroken about losing her favorite dress learned how to be a child soldier. These two tragic happenings made hundreds of camp inmates change and thousands –disappear forever.
Works Cited
Levi, Primo. Survival in Auschwitz. New York: Touchstone, 1995.
Ung, Loung. First They Killed My Father. New York: Harper Collins Publishers Inc., 2000.