Haley Hunt INTL 3111 Mr.

Robert Arnold 16 February 2012 Tadeusz Borowski Silence Biography of Borowski -Born November 12, 1922 he came from a Polish family and was born in the Soviet Ukraine -His parents were charged with participating in the Polish army during WWI and were taken to labor camps -Attended the underground University of Warsaw where he studied Polish language and literature -Sent to Auschwitz in late April of 1942 -Beginning time at Auschwitz consisted of manual labor (roofing, carrying telegraph poles, etc.) -Eventually became a hospital orderly -He was moved to Dachau in 1944 and this is where he was finally liberated by the American Army -In 1948 he became a member of the Communist party. -July 1, 1951 he made a third attempt at committing suicide by opening the gas valves of his stove and died two days later Borowski in Literature -His works can be divided into three categories: before the war, during his time in the concentration camps, and postwar. -First collection of poems were compiled in 1942 and he wrote of the war at a distance -After leaving the camp he wrote more stories based off his experiences -His later literature was focused on being brutally honest -Did not paint the prisoners and their guards in a distinct position -In his literature he did not divide the world into good and evil as seen in Silence -Illustrated the world of the concentration camps as having no heroes -In his literature he complained about the American soldiers unlike many writers from the Holocaust who described the Americans as their savior

Works Cited "Borowski, Tadeusz." Merriam Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 1995. Literature Resource Center. Web. 12 Feb. 2012. Carpenter, John R. "Tadeusz Borowski." Twentieth-Century Eastern European Writers: First Series. Ed. Steven Serafin. Detroit: Gale Group, 1999. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 215. Literature Resource Center. Web. 12 Feb. 2012 Kott, Jan. "Introduction." This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen. Penguin, 1976. 11-26. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Justin Karr. Vol. 48. Detroit: Gale Group, 2002. Literature Resource Center. Web. 12 Feb. 2012. Sanderson, Susan. "Critical Essay on 'This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen'." Short Stories for Students. Ed. Jennifer Smith. Vol. 13. Detroit: Gale Group, 2001. Literature Resource Center. Web. 12 Feb. 2012.