Question

review the passage. select two details that best show that being at auschwitz could take away a person’s motivation and sense of purpose.

never shall i forget that night, the first night in camp, that turned my life into one long night seven times sealed. never shall i forget that smoke. never shall i forget the small faces of the children whose bodies i saw transformed into smoke under a silent sky. never shall i forget those flames that consumed my faith forever. never shall i forget the nocturnal silence that deprived me for all eternity of the desire to live. never shall i forget those moments that murdered my god and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes. never shall i forget those things, even were i condemned to live as long as god himself. never.

the barrack we had been assigned to was very long. on the roof, a few bluish skylights. i thought: this is what the antechamber of hell must look like. so many crazed men, so much shouting, so much brutality.

dozens of inmates were there to receive us, sticks in hand, striking anywhere, anyone, without reason. . . . a few ss officers wandered through the room, looking for strong men. if vigor was that appreciated, perhaps one should try to appear sturdy? my father thought the opposite. better not to draw attention. (we later found out that he had been right. those who were selected that day were incorporated into the sonder - kommando, the kommando working in the crematoria. bela katz, the son of an important merchant of my town, had arrived in birkenau with the first transport, one week ahead of us. when he found out that we were there, he succeeded in slipping us a note. he told us that having been chosen because of his strength, he had been forced to place his own father’s body into the furnace.)

the blows continued to rain on us: “to the barber!”

belt and shoes in hand, i let myself be dragged along to the barbers. their clippers tore out our hair, shaved every hair on our bodies. my head was buzzing; the same thought surfacing over and over: not to be separated from my father. freed from the barbers’ clutches, we began to wander about the crowd, finding friends, acquaintances. every encounter filled us with joy—yes, joy: thank god! you are still alive! some were crying. they used whatever strength they had left to cry. why had they let themselves be brought here? why didn’t they die in their beds? their words were interspersed with sobs. . . .

i watched darkness fade through the bluish skylights in the roof. i no longer was afraid. i was overcome by fatigue. the absent no longer entered our thoughts. one spoke of them—who knows what happened to them?—but their fate was not on our minds. we were incapable of thinking. our senses were numbed, everything was fading into a fog. we no longer clung to anything. the instincts of self - preservation, of self - defense, of pride, had all deserted us. in one terrifying moment of lucidity, i thought of us as damned souls wandering through the void, souls condemned to wander through space until the end of time, seeking redemption, seeking oblivion, without any hope of finding either.

Explanation:

1. "Never shall I forget the nocturnal silence that deprived me for all eternity of the desire to live." This detail shows that the experience at Auschwitz took away the narrator's desire to live, which is a key aspect of losing motivation and purpose.
2. "We no longer clung to anything. The instincts of self - preservation, of self - defense, of pride, had all deserted us." This shows that the inmates lost their basic drives and sense of purpose as these essential instincts left them.

Answer:

1. Never shall I forget the nocturnal silence that deprived me for all eternity of the desire to live.
2. We no longer clung to anything. The instincts of self - preservation, of self - defense, of pride, had all deserted us.