Nicolas

Sawicky Paper 2 Professor Bakhmetyeva The twentieth century saw the rise of two powerful regimes. These regimes,

although different in their ideals, employed many of the same tactics for governing the people in their sphere of influence. Even as the nations of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union were fighting each other in a world war, they employed a continuous state of terror within their borders, to force compliance with the high command of the country. Both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union used a secret police that was above the law and was tasked with handling any arrests of undesirables, as deemed by the state. These prisoners were then most likely not even given a trial and sent to a work camp where they most likely died. This system of fear is explored in Nazi Germany with the book Survival in Auschwitz and in the Soviet Union with the book Sofia Petrovna. Even though the books Sofia Petrovna and Survival in Auschwitz were written about events in other decades and countries, they both tell a tale of constant fear. A totalitarian government, hell-bent on controlling its people, is the mastermind of this terror. The unfortunate souls that are picked up by the secret police are loosely considered enemies of the state and either killed or forced into work camps. There are also a lot of contrasting parts between the books Sofia Petrovna and Survival in Auschwitz. Although the strategies between the two countries were

similar, their outcomes were very different. The two books also offer very different perspectives to the terror happening in their respective countries, which when added together paints a complete picture of the fear and how it effected different members of society. The fear and intimidation that Nazi Germany employed was far more successful than the terror that the Soviets used. The main victims of Nazi oppression were the Jews. The unified hatred of the Jews helped unite the German people under a common enemy, making it easier for them to move past the Weimar Republic and pledge allegiance to the Nazi party. The Jewish people were stripped of their citizenship and forced in ghettos and eventually labor camps and/or death. This decrease in citizenship actually worked to the advantage of the Germans, because Hitler was dismissing an intellectual society and focusing more on a physically strong collection of German citizens (Class Notes). The placement of factories next to the camps ensured a source of free labor to help the growing German war machine (Levi, 65). In contrast to the success of Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union ended up hurting their country by instilling such a powerful state of fear. The Russians version of terror was too successful. Anyone could accuse anyone of being a saboteur or a Trotskyite (Chukovskaya, 41). Thousands are wrongfully arrested, but then were tortured until they confessed to their non-existent crimes. This results in loyal believers in Stalins Soviet Union, like Kolya, being placed in camps until they died or very rarely were released (Chukovskaya, 61). With so many

turnovers, things were being forgotten, like how to command a military when Stalin purges the Generals of the Red Army (Class Notes). The Soviet Union was also faced with fear taking over its citizens. People were so worried about not upsetting anyone, that they would not going above and beyond in their duties. They instead tried to seem invisible so as to not attract attention to themselves. Both Sofia Petrovna and Survival in Auschwitz highlight some real life strategies that were used to deal with the terror many people in Europe faced during the twentieth century. Survival in Auschwitz explores ways to survive a Nazi concentration camp, making the experience a little easier. Sofia Petrovna shows that creating your own reality is probably the best way to live during the great purge of the Soviet Union. Survival in Auschwitz is the true account of Primo Levis experience in a Nazi concentration camp during the end of WWII. He gives the reader a detailed look into his life in Auschwitz and how he survived to tell the tale. His instincts to survive start on the train ride to the camp. Dying of thirst, the Jews onboard clamored for a handful of snow from passersby (Levi, 18). After assimilating into the camp, Primo Levi describes some tricks he learns to make life more pleasant at Auschwitz. Some examples include: using wire to tie up your shoes, waste paper to pad jacket for additional warmth, protect against stealing by sleeping with your jacket along with your bowl and shoes (Levi, 33). Primo also describes how he learned from the prisoners that had been in the camp for a while that one should not think about the

future, but instead focus on more urgent things like how much one will eat today or if there will be snow today (Levi, 36). Sofia Petrovna also touches on the idea of thinking about oneself in the present, not the future. At the end of the book, Sofia has the choice to either continue to pursue her sons release and risk being deported or let it go. With the help of a friend, she decides to give up her fight and worry about just surviving (Chukovskaya, 108). The main theme of Sofia Petrovna is ignorance. Every time a friend or co-worker is arrested for being an enemy of the state, Sofia just accepts it as true. This is good because any sort of criticism of the government would have landed her in prison. It just shows that instead of uniting and rising up against the oppression of Stalin, everyone was in it for themselves, which sometimes meant making up lies to protect themselves. Sofia began to become so ignorant to her surroundings, that it boarded on insanity. She initially started to tell people that her son Kolya was found innocent and would be coming home. This made sense, since family members were being arrested after one of their own was arrested. She then went too far with her lies, telling people that he got a job promotion and would soon be married (Chukovskaya, 105). It truly was her only escape from the grim reality she faced everyday. The two books, Sofia Petrovna and Survival in Auschwitz, are a great insight into living in a state of terror. Although very different in many ways, they do share the common theme of taking life one day at a time and not focusing on the future. Lets face it, in a totalitarian regime; you have no control over your own future.

Works Cited Chukovskaya, Lydia Korneevna. Sofia Petrovna. Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern UP, 1994. Print. Levi, Primo. Survival in Auschwitz. New York: Classic House, 2008. Print.