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The Life of Holocaust Survivors in New York

One of the finest short stories reflecting upon the life and issues of Holocaust survivors in

New York is ‘The Cafeteria’ by Isaac Bashevis Singer. It is a short story based on around fifteen

pages. It has represented the picture of New York in the 1960s, especially the Upper West Side

of Manhattan. As Singer (n.p) indicated that an extremely intense and casual relation amongst

two Jewish refugees. One is a survivor of the concentration camp of Nazi, named Esther who is

seeking to earn a new living survival in New Jersey. Whereas, the other is a successful Yiddish

writer, named Aaron. He spends most of his time in lecturing and traveling around the globe.

One of his great qualities is that he is a composed observer and has been living for thirty years in

the Upper West side. He also visits the cafeteria regularly to hang out with other elderly Jewish

refugees. For the landslayt of the previous Yiddish cultural republic in Eastern Europe, this

cafeteria become their meeting spot.

Most of the people visiting this cafeteria are Holocaust survivors and spend their time by

sharing their stories. It also appears that the routinely lives of the frequent visitors and the

environment of the cafeteria are immersed in death. For example, one of the old man in the story

communicates most of the time about who disappeared or who died this week. ‘People go,

people come, one notes, adding with a shrug – death, Los Angeles’ (Singer, n.p). This point of

view of the old man is sagely agreed by a rabbi, who has issues related to the Jewish themes.

Whereas among the male group at the cafeteria, there is much political debate. Some of the
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Holocaust survivors are still facing issues in New York, whereas, some of them have adjusted in

the new country.

One of the prime examples of the Holocaust survivor in the story is that of Ester – the

woman who belongs to Moscow originally. As Singer (n.p) quoted ‘She had returned from the

devastation still gay’. She soon grabbed huge attention in the cafeteria and become the darling of

the regular ‘cafeterianiks’. She shares her experiences in World War II. In Russia, she was in the

prisoner camp. She is residing with her father and her marital status is single. Her husband

deceased fighting the Germans, whereas, her father has a strong spirit despite that he lost his legs

in a work camp of Siberia.

Later, Aaron had to go to Israel, when he returned back he failed to find Ester. He visits

the cafeteria but to his surprise, it burned down. Around after half a year, he finds Ester in a

library. Upon his visit to Ester, he gets to know that Ester had a vision of Hitler stepping into the

cafeteria. She believes that a Nazi meeting was conducted by Hitler in the cafeteria. Further, they

both discuss their afterlife after the Holocaust. Ester has a pessimistic approach, whereas, Aaron

has an optimistic approach. Ester is now disillusioned and bitted. She rants about her health and

reparation money and how she is getting the money due to the issue that she had to escape to

Russia.

As the story continues, lives shaped by the Holocaust has been shown by Singer (n.p),

involving the guilt of survivors. The story also represented the cafeteria as the funeral parlor of

Holocaust survivors. As Singer (n.p) highlights ‘Sometimes I imagine that the funeral parlor is

also a type of cafeteria where Kaddish or quick eulogy on the pathway of eternity can be

acquired’. Further, it reflected upon how the Holocaust survivors lost their hopes of idealism. As

Singer (n.p) said, ‘Revolution is still his hope even after his ideas have gone far away. How he
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can expect help from revolution? I myself will never keep in any high hopes with any party or

movement. As, how can anyone hope when eventually everything ends in death?”.

Moreover, it also reflected upon the long-lasting impact of Hitler on the Holocaust

survivors. As Singer (n.p.) states ‘I learned that some of the cafeterianiks passed away. They

started to settle down in the United States. Some of them had children and had remarried, and

opened workshops and businesses. Whereas, some of them suffered from a heart attack or

cancer. These all were the outcomes of the Stalin and Hitler years. The story also has reflected

upon the afterlife of the Holocaust survivors as Singer (n.p) highlighted ‘Hope is one of the

biggest proofs that there is no death, For me, the only comfort is death. What things do the dead

people do? They eat egg cookies and drink coffee? And read newspapers? Life after death is

nothing but a joke’. Last but not least, the cafeteria eventually represented the sufferings of the

Holocaust survivors and the fact that so much has been consumed by their routinely lives that

they can be perceived as living dead.

From the above analysis about the short story by Singer, it can be concluded well that the

story clearly reflects upon high intelligence honed by excessive deep reading and experience.

Moreover, it can be considered as a brief introduction to the Yiddish literature. Moreover, it is a

highly pessimistic story related to the lives of Jewish immigrants completely immersed in death

and about the dying readership of the Yiddish literature. Although the story ends with a great

number of unanswered questions related to the Holocaust survivors and the horror, death, and

reality faced by them.

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Works Cited

Singer, Isaac Bashevis. "The Cafeteria." New Yorker (1968).