Entrance into the concentration camp space as a rite of passage
Vol.19,No.1(2016)
Abstract
Keywords:
concentration camp; rite of passage; transformation; camp prose
Pages:
89–102
The rites of passage, defined in theory by the French anthropologist Arnold van Gennep, may be successfully applied to the environment of concentration camps. The essence of each rite of passage is the change of one‘s social status, which also happens upon entering the camp. Coming to the camp itself is a form of transgression and transformation for the prisoners, taking place in three stages (preliminary, liminal and post-liminal). The framework of the gradual transformation is also limited in space (the platform, the gate, the sauna and the detention). The analysis of selected pieces of writing by former prisoners focuses on individual phases of the rite of passage which started after the arrival on the platform, continued upon passing through the gate, then in the sauna by cutting people‘s hair, changing their clothes and tatooing their numbers, and finished by several days spent in detention. The detention was the last segment of transforming a human into a prisoner, the climax of their dehumanization whose purpose was to create an utterly obedient, non-resistant unit.
concentration camp; rite of passage; transformation; camp prose
89–102
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