MovieChat Forums > Sophie's Choice (1983) Discussion > Children in Auschwitz

Children in Auschwitz

posted 10 years ago by bonniehudson
6 replies | jump to latest

I wonder this every time I see this movie, when Sophie says how Jan was sent to the Kinderlager (children's camp) in Auschwitz. I'm no history buff, but I've always been fascinated by WW2 and the Holocaust, but I've never heard of a children's camp in Auschwitz. I know children were kept for medical experiments but I thought aside from that all were killed on arrival?

So are we to assume Jan was kept for this reason? Or... would someone educate me about children in Auschwitz? Or is it just a bit of dramatic license?

[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]

[–] AdkEric 10 years ago

It's very much dramatic license.

[–] PinkFlyingPasta 9 years ago

Look up the book Kinderlager

[–] DreamSpell285 9 years ago

Sophie said on the day she was supposed to take Jan to be saved, the officer changed his mind. There was all these people standing in rows as she walked by. And a child hanging from a rope. Sophie said she doesn't know what happened to Jan. But that kid hanging looked an awful a lot like Jan. Was it him and she didn't know it? Or was she in denial that she had caused an earlier death for him? I don't get it.

[–] fiftyfootqueenie 9 years ago

That wasn't a child hanging - it was a grown woman. Jan fate is left completely unknown, in both the book and the film.

[–] DreamSpell285 9 years ago

Oh! Thank you for that info. One of the saddest scenes in the whole film. Still feels allowing just to think about.