Social Classification

Rosa's views of herself and society were  a huge factor in her progression to letting go of her past and moving on the the future. Before the Holocaust, Rosa's family held high status in the community. In her letter to Magda, she speaks about her past and the life she she once had. Rosa recalled how she felt or was told to feel about the people around her. The other members of society were looked down upon by Rosa and her family because of the type of slang polish that they spoke. Because of the fact that these citizens didn't speak proper Polish, Rosa felt that she was better then them. Also, as she said in her letter to Magda, she didnt consider herself Jewish. When she was in the concentration camp, Rosa said she recalled seeing all the people in the camps who were too religious. She described them as being to religious and dirty in the camps, feeling as though she was not  part of that society. Also, she recalls times in the camp where she could see those same people that she once looked down upon outside the barbed wire  fences riding by paying no attention/ turning a blind eye to what was actually happening behind the camps. In her letter to Magda, we could see exactly why Rosa wasn't able to let go of the past. With her social status before her entry into the concentration camps, Rosa could only think to herself "why her". As she said, she didn't think that she was the same as the rest of the people in the camp. Not considering herself jewish, feeling as though she didn't belong and also seeing these other people as "lesser" then her were all the reasons to why the camp took such a toll on her. At the same time, this was the reason that Rosa was able to move on. She realized after writing this note that the same reason she felt she was better then the people in the camp was the same reason that the Nazi soldiers put her into the camp. They looked down on her, felt as though she wasn't equal to their status. After writing this letter to Magda and realizing all that, she came to realization that the people in the camp were just like her, that for the reasons she felt she didn't belong were the same reasons that she did belong. Also, she realized that for her to be mad because of her once acclaimed status would only be making her the same as the people who put her into the camps.