Was Ellis survival considered victory
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To speak of Elli and the other's survival as a victory ignores the depth of the suffering they were exposed to. It was not a victory. There were many losses, they lost their individuality, dignity, family and suffered a great deal of trauma, however Elli did achieve some personal victories; she retains her faith and her humanity, whereas many did not.
The Nazi policy was to destroy the identity of the Jews, and that's exactly what it did, they made them lose the thing that was most important to them, the thing that distinguishes them as a person; their individuality. When Elli and the others were sent to 'Auschwitz' upon arrival they were first sorted into groups that determined whether they lived or died. Then they were put through the humiliating process of getting all their hair and body hair shaved off, and getting their clothes taken from them. The head shaving took away the individuality of the prisoners; it reduced them to a mass of bodies with no distinguishing factors, just a number with a uniform. "It is the absence of hair which transformed individual women into like bodies. Age and other personal differences melt away. Facial expressions disappear...