His commitment to his father also reminds him of his own humanity, of the goodness left in his heart. All around him, he sees fellow prisoners descending to the deepest depths of selfishness and cruelty, but his relationship to his father reminds him that there is life outside of the Holocaust, and a set of fundamental moral values that transcends ... See more

We do not get to hear Shlomo’s thoughts about his experiences, and the only development we are shown is his gradual decline, a decline that all of the camp’s prisoners experience.