ENGLISH ADVANCED: MODULE C

‘The Fiftieth Gate’: Chapter Summaries

Acknowledgments

 “It begins where it ends and ends where it begins”

 perhaps a reference to how memories begin once an event has happened? As in when the
event ends the memories begin.

 “my parents stories, and my stories of their stories, and now their stories of my stories”

 notice he says ‘stories’ not facts, or data or anything which means Baker is aware that
memories can be corrupted or tarnished by time and personal experiences.

 Gives a time and place for the setting. Poland and Ukraine 1935 written in 1995.

 writing about 1935 from the viewpoint of 1995, when he was writing the book.

 book published 1997.

 “the wrong memory”

 Memory changed over time. Is a memory still a memory if it’s wrong?

Poem

 “death of a memory” – memories are not permanent.

Chapter I

 Describes an old decrepit gate which means it must be in the future looking back to the past.
References 2nd WW hints at what the story is about.

 “illuminates a hidden fragment of memory” –memories can be forgotten then revived. Places
and objects can stir up old memories.

 does that mean they are true memories?

 memories can become exaggerated due to time or perspective. “it was much bigger”

 Emotional connections to personal memory, his father gets “sad, pitifully angry at his memory
for failing” because he holds it over his family like a “university degree” – shows it’s extremely
important to him and his family. Perhaps signifies its importance to his history and background
and furthermore to his and his family’s identity-or he thinks it is.

 His father always forgets names.

 Suggesting memory is just a general remembrance of an atmosphere, a sense, an emotion, or

its affect on a person. Not detailed, just a general impression.
 “a neglected site of memory has been retrieved” memory can be forgotten then reignited?
Spurred by visual trigger.

 “I remember too much now. No” the effect of revived memories on people. Emotive – fear,
anxiety, trepidation, and how it affects them later. Paranoia – installed security system, Jewish
ceremonies.

Chapter 2

 Distrust of undocumented memory “we had never believed her when she told us that she was
once rich”... “it was too fairytale-ish”

 Common sense and observation also dictates how much importance you put on a fact or
memory. Archive (documented history) more reliable?

 “Heinrich Gaetz’s monumental history of the Jews” obviously a well renowned or well regarded
account, why?

 Family tree-evidence of relations, history and origins.

 “old age tarnished his noble aura as his mind fell prey to Dementia” disease of the mind and of
his memories. Becomes a different person. History linked to identity.

 Many different accounts of one event “Not everyone is Bolszowce has forgotten” perspective
and permanence-evidence it actually happened.

Chapter 3

 Plot

 Baker goes to Treblinka and looks at the tombstones

 His father doesn’t want to ‘return’ – “No one who was there ever returns” pg 13

 Recalls man who was there and has built diorama – his ‘revenge’

 Mother’s revenge – Mark

 Israeli students visit Treblinka

 Girl plays Hatikvah

 Hebrew verse “here in this carload…tell him that i”

 Baker recites poem to parents

 Father cries

 Quiet feeling, eerie

 ‘Treblinka’ in italics – emphasis, connotations, reader’s knowledge

 Symbolism – Boulders/tombstones representing villages/cities involved at Treblinka

 Nature among the human elements – flower beds, grass

 Anticipation

 Rhetorical questions – “How does a tongue trained to produce Saxon sounds curl around it?”
pg 12

 Listing – “Water? Bodies? A Tune?”

 Flashback

 Contrast – Suburban Melbourne apartment vs. model of Treblinka

 Vivid recounting of Israeli students reciting poetry

 Shows depth of emotion felt by his family

Chapter 4

 Plot

 Mother interviewed by Baker

 Tells him of her childhood and family

 Mother’s fussing over appearance temporarily lightens mood – makes it seem natural

 Rambling train of thought

 Uncertainty

 Some things very vivid eg. Her father always dressing in a suit and sleighing down a hill with
her nanny

 Others vague “How old was I after the war?”

 Paints a very fond picture of her childhood – happy time for her

Chapter 5-6 Summary

 The chapter begins with narration from Baker, which is in the present tense however he refers
the past events, such as the story he gives us about his mother and her clothes, this links the
present with the past.

 His mother is very self conscious about the camera being on her as she believes to have put
on weight, however we get a sense of reluctance from both parents about opening up to his
questions about the past.

 Baker states on page 19 ‘Still, she was not deterred from wearing tight trousers as if her body
were the same shape and could be tucked away under layers of exterior cloth.’ This is very
suggestive of a metaphor for her cloths tucking away the layers of her past and memories that
she maybe wishes to forget. This is further developed when Baker states further down the
page, ‘These shmattes, she liked to say, were her memories. If she saw a narrative in her life,
 it could be found here in her bedroom cupboards.’ And on the next page, a quote which
supports the metaphor of the cloths being a mask of her painful past is ‘I looked at her,
wondering what lay under the cloths which veiled her torment.’

 Baker dedicates the rest of page to a very descriptive analysis of his mothers appearance and
habits, it gives the audience every opportunity in which to relate our own mother to his.

 Baker on page 21 describes, ‘how she would have loved to stretch one of those frayed carpet
runners over her mind, if only for a few moments, to forget’, there’s obviously imagery used
here of something, at this point we remember that his mother has a story or more specifically
memories to tell and recount, and we as an audience are instantly hooked at this precise point
as to what this story is about, we are left then with the questions of why does his mother wish
to forget her past, what terrible things have happened that that render her to want to forget,
even just for a few moments.

 The mother says, ‘sometimes I feel like a spoiled child, but only sometimes, when I’m in
control’- This informs the audience that her terrifying past constantly haunts her and she has to
work very hard at repressing the horrifying memories.

 We are then given a contrast from when she is in control to ,’She buried her head in her hands
and wept, her body convulsing to the rhythm of her sobs.’ We are given a very emotional
contrast but we are still not sure what it is about her past that is so terrifying, so much so that it
brings her to tears, however very quickly after this quote we are given a snippet of her past,
‘To lose a mother, that was the worst. To bury the only person in the world who really cared for
me, that we even worse than the ghettos and the hiding in darkness.’

 I found this next quote on page 23 quite interesting, ‘I knew I had to wrap myself in the details
of her story, of only to immunise myself against the secret thing that lay there, threatening me
from beneath her cloths and bright lipstick’ ,I think this quote links in with the theme of ‘The
power of traumatic experience in shaping a person′s life’ because it is clear that his mothers
experiences have clearly shaped her life but more importantly they have influenced her sons
life too in the way that he feels compelled to find out more, he states, ‘together with my brother,
we had asked her to record her life for the sake of our children.’

 He further states, ‘she wept, and in a moment of fraternal indecision, we responded as only we
could, we laughed... her story and our inability to acknowledge its pain’, this links in with the
theme of ‘the struggle of the children of Holocaust survivors to understand, respect and move
on from their parents′ experiences.’

 Chapter 6 looks at his father’s story starting with, ‘for him it began in Wierbnik’

 At this point it changes to a different narrative method, that of the father telling his story on the
video. There is a variety of narrative styles throughout the two chapters which creates a
fragmented structure and requires the reader to absorb information coming from a variety of
sources, however this also parallels the process an historian takes when establishing an
account in history.

 His father recalls the place that he was born and recounts his earliest memory which is a boy
falling into a lake. Baker follows with his earliest memory, pg 26, ‘the image returns as a warm
and comforting glow’, which suggests that memories are a pleasant thing and this spurs Baker
to delve deeper, back into his childhood.

 His father then describes his old house, what it looked like and the smells that reminded him of
it, Baker hands his father his family tree to remind him remember other things and he enjoys
looking at past generations.
 On page 29 he the father talks about his occasional drinking, ‘don’t be silly, I just had one or
two. I’m heppy.’ -Baker frequently reflects the heavy accents of his parents in his spelling,
which forges a stronger bond between the reader and two elderly Jews reliving their horrific
Holocaust experiences.

 His father doesn’t like the family members on his tree who death is entitled unknown, those
who died between 1940-5, ‘he has returned to the younger generation again, those members
of his family who were denied a date of death.’

 After discussing his father Baker states in relation to his memory of his parents wedding, pg
32’ all my memories are framed in black and white images like this one.’ This looks at how
other sources, such as photographs and affect, change and add to our memories.

 And then the chapter ends with Baker asking his father what else he knows.

Chapter 7

Summary

Baker’s own memory of eating un-kosher meat and the importance he felt of eating kosher meat,
mixed with confusion that he father doesn’t feel guilty eating the un-kosher meat. Baker also
remembers his mother taking kosher meat to Surfer’s Paradise in a suitcase.

Baker brings up the idea that after the holocaust occurred many stopped believing in God-his father
tells him that he hasn’t.

Idea of father not wanting to go back to the memories of the past and instead of remembering things
about people he sees on the street.

‘Look at him, still not married, always looking at cakes.’

Baker also tells us that his father only approved of his girlfriend when they were of Jewish heritage,
Baker says: ‘He is lucky with my wife Kerryn. He knew her Polish grandparents, who helped Jewish
refugees after the war.’ (pg 36)

After telling us about his father’s remebrances of the past. Baker states that ‘Myfcats from the past
are different’ (pg 36).

Baker then presents ‘facts’ from the past= Shmul Isser won the election etc. When he does this his
father does not like not recognizing the people he talks about. Baker’s father having an ‘instinct for
sociability’ as Baker states, instilled in Auschwitz = his father waves at everyone he passes.

Baker then returns to facts=tax burdens and asked his father who he would have voted for at the
time. His parents look at the documents for themselves. Baker having to win ‘their interest in my
history’. His father then dismisses ‘his’ history as ‘Details, details. Fecks,fecks.’ At this point Baker
then says ‘I was beginning to see their point of view’ i.e. This history that has been written down
does not have any relevance to them in the future, it doesn’t record their lives or what they
remember, only ‘fecks’.

What it says on memory

In Gate 7 Baker’s own memory of his own life is written – he is talking of Kosher meat and his
questioning of his father on whether he still believes in God.

Also within the ‘Gate’ Baker shows how his father needs to remember details about people in is
memory, like, ‘he’s still not married’ (pg. 36 – more examples can be found there), rather than
historical details that he can read about but hasn’t experienced – he has an ‘instinct for sociability’
(pg 37).

This ‘Gate’ giving us the idea that memory does not rely on details or facts but on personal
experiences. It places memory above history through doing this – showing that a person’s own
‘remembered’ history and memories is much more important than the ‘fecks’ that were written down
at the time.

What it says about History

The fact that Baker’s parents are not at all interested in gis ‘facts’ suggests that they honour
memory rather than history for their own reasons.

Baker has to win his parents interests in his ‘history’ (pg 42). His ‘history’ which only tells his parents
the ‘figures’ of the time, i.e. who won the election (Shmuel Isser), what taxes were like in his father’s
town/shetl. However these ‘facts’ only become important to his parents, i.e. they only went to look
when they concern Yossl’s (Baker’s father) father Leib.

Baker coming to the conclusion of his parents:

‘Details, details. Fecks, fecks.

I was beginning to see their point of view.’ (pg 43)

This ‘gate’ presenting the idea that history needs to be validated or apply to a person to be of
interest.

Use of Language

Baker makes use of punctuation to allow the reader to decipher whether there is person speaking in
present day or whether he is regurgitating ‘facts’ from the past. He writes most of the chapter as a
conversation between his parents and himself, and you can imagine the way it would have occurred
by the way he uses lines and punctuation.

Chapter 8

Summary

They all go to Bolszowce and the mother is trying to place herself, to remember where everything
was. This is interlaced with what she thinks she will remember (in italics) in comparison to what she
remembers when she gets there and what another lady they meet remembers. Idea that she
needed to validate her memories for her family=she needed to make them know that she was telling
the truth.

The mother interlaces happy memories of sleighing down a hill with her nanny and scared, frightful
memories of occurrences of the Holocaust which have changed the nature of her happy memories.

“That’s where my nanny took me down on the sleigh…We were all here. The whole town. All the
Jews in the valley…They told me to run”. (pg 48)

History

That things need to be cross checked to ensure their truth. That the history of a place, like
Bolszowce which has not been recorded many times within the history books, can be revisited when
someone remembers.
Memory

The idea of memory failing over time, things changing, landscapes rearranging.

At home the mother says:

‘I remember where we lived in Bolszowce’(pg 44)

‘The church I will most definitely remember’. (pg 48)

However she remembers it as it was and has to search for aspects of the place that suit her
memories when she gets there:

‘This must be the park. No? I played here, I’m sure it was here’

‘Imagine how it would have looked.’ (pg 44)

‘My God, how it has changed. Nothing. Nothing. Where’s my house?’

‘Maybe I forgot’ (pg 45)

The mother remembers events associated with places when they also associate herself- this
showing the memory is focused on the individual which h they come from and that different
individuals experience and feel different things at the same event. The mother is still scared to talk
loudly of what Bolszowce looked like before (giving us the idea that places, people and feelings
change the way we react to the world around us)

‘Shhh, people standing outside” (pg 47).

The mother remembers the clothing that they wore – ‘did I tell you how she dressed?’ –this showing
that memories capture what was of importance to people, especially, the individual at the time they
are recalling.

The mother’s statement portrays how memories can affect us-the idea of sensory memory. It also
indicates that sometimes remembering aspects of our past can have adverse effects on us.

“My God, what I remember now. What I can hear. Feel. Alone. Crying. ‘Run’ she said. ‘Run’. From
there. Where the church is. From the valley. ‘Run’. Can you still see it’s there? ‘Run’.”

Use of language

Baker uses short sentences to convey immediacy. He writes this ‘gate’ as if his mother is talking to
him both when he was recording her (which is written in italics-Baker also making use of
punctuation and word processing to indicate change within the ‘gate) and when he is there with her,
in Bolszowce.

Chapter 9

Baker recalls memories from when he was younger. He is running in a race and can remember how
his parents would shout and scream for him, ‘above the shouts of the other parents’. He also recalls
how ‘proud’ they were of him.

Baker then cuts to two photos of his father. The first photograph is of his father in Switzerland after
the war. Baker describes the photo, of Yossl holding a soccer ball and of the surroundings – the
Swiss Alps, covered in snow. He also refers to how Yossl looks more like a ‘mountain-climber’ than
a survivor of the holocaust. This demonstrates how when placed in another setting things can look
completely different. Yossl is just a normal human being on the outside, yet his past, history and
memories set him apart as a ‘survivor’. The other photo is of Yossl on a moon in Luna Park.

Baker also recalls of how he once went to a fancy dress party, dressed as Hitler. He talks of his
mother and father’s reactions – ‘My father turned and ran, my mother looked right through me.’ The
fact that Baker dressed like this shows his naivety of the situation.

Baker asks his parents ‘How did you survive?’ His father says by luck, however his mother says
through courage. These are two different perspectives and two different personal memories.

Survival seems to be a theme of this chapter. His mother, Genia is a ‘born survivor’ however, his
father ‘is not a born survivor’. Survival is what sets Yossl and Genia apart from all of the other
victims who died, whether luck or courage.

Genia describes Yossl as ‘Cunning....Strong and obstinate’. Baker is not sure whether he is a
survivor, but he hates running.

Chapter 10

We get a Geographical Dictionary summation of Bolszowce once owned by Kornel Kreczunowicz.

Genia says he is the one who sole her father the fields.

The language is factual thus is indicative of history, not memory. This is demonstrative of how
historical information is weaved and incorporated throughout the novel.

Chapter 11

Back in Wierzbniks Cemetery his father reads inscriptions and fondly remembers his youth. They
find no one from their family and the cemetery is chaotic, unlike the organized Jewish cemetery in
Melbourne. Here his family walks in and knows families and their histories. Memories come flooding
back and Baker recounts the mass grave on the 27th of March 1942 when 48 Jews are murdered;
they pay the keeper and hear prayers as they leave.

 “the only sign of Jewish life left in my home”

 “we had lots of fun in those days, I had friends, and we used to play cards together…. Really, I
had a fun childhood”

 “the air is still; I listen for voices from my father’s childhood. Rest your head against the
tombstone and listen”

 we see that the traumatic nature of an event such as the Holocaust has a lasting effect on its
surviving victims. Baker employs sensory imagery in his memoir in order to reveal memories to
be reality, as opposed to the often meaningless impression given by history, and to show the
eternal power of memories of personal experiences; “can you hear, or do the screams from the
mass grave drown out the sounds and melodies of Wierzbnik in its innocence?”

 The negative connotations of this extract are repeated later in the text "Jews do not remember
with mirrors but cover them with a cloth during the first seven days after death; as if what we
see in our reflection is what we are." This is a prime example of collective memory, and the
integration of the past into the lifestyle of the present. Baker uses metaphoric language here to
present the readers with an underlying theme in The Fiftieth Gate; that looking into oneself is
to look into the past.
 This chapter shows an exploration of the ability of history to validate memory and the power of
traumatic experiences in shaping a person's life

Chapter 12

A Jewish story told differently by the ‘sages’ and his ‘parents’.

 The sages taught that four rabbis entered a field, past a gate, past a sword made of fire. The
first rabbi was struck down amongst the flowers, the second lost his mind whilst gazing at the
fruits, the third pulled out all the trees and only Rabbi Akiva entered in peace and left in peace.

 His parents taught that Rabbi Akiva entered the field, through the gate and past the fiery sword
and he did not leave

 This chapter reveals the differences in what is being told. It shows how each story will change
depending on who is telling it and what they’ve experienced themselves.

 Chapter 12 challenges the idea of history verses memory and which one we can trust as being
‘right’

Chapter 13:

 Mark shows his father his report card from when he was in school but is unable to find his
mothers report (he couldn’t even find her birth certificate as her year was missing from the
town's registry).

 He shows his father how he was absent 96 days the year the war broke out.

 His father explains how the reason he missed school so much was because he was teased on
the playground by the others for being a Jew.

 He then goes on by also telling the story of how he used to go to a religious teacher in a class
called 'cheder' but always skipped that too and would give the teachers a hard time. The result
would be him getting into a lot of trouble with his dad.

 Mark looks at his own report card and the two compare and bond with each other in a father-
son way.

 Mark's father then asks about the report cards of his two sisters who were murdered in the
war. Mark finds this strange as their deaths were like they were erased completely from his
father's head and he chose never to talk about them.

 Mark shows their report cards, they were intelligent little girls.

 Mark explains how his mother's survival in the war was'' random'' and finishes the chapter by
showing the lullaby his parents sing to them and a little lullaby his wrote in response to theirs.

Chapter 14:

 Mark asks his father what the difference is between a good 'Judenrat' and a bad one. His
father explains a good one; is the type who did not sell out the Jews in the war whilst the bad
type was the type ''who gave them up like delivering clothing to a shop''.
 Mark realises that his father was thirteen at the time of the war and never had a bar mitzvah,
he asks him if he would like one now. His father is hurt by the questions and becomes angry
about it. Mark soon after realises the arrogance of his question and how it was disrespectful of
him, the son, to ask his father to go back and fix his childhood.

 He then recalls his own bar mitzvah he had in the 70's and how his parents had gotten him to
wear a purple velvet suit and how excited they were for him. He tells of how embarrassing they
were on the day (dancing on table tops at the celebration etc.) and goes on saying how his
father's parents obviously did not reap such benefits from their son's entry to manhood.

 Mark then reads a list of the mayor of his father's town's itemised complaints on the Jewish
council of elders on things such as how they did not give reports on the Jewish population or
pay the rent for their offices in the town square etc.

 The two look at the letters sent back and forth between the Jewish Council and the 'American
Joint Distribution Committee' and how they promised them financial aid when the council
asked for help.

 They look and find Mark's grandfather's name is one in the council and the letters suddenly
become a little more painful for his father. Mark then comes to a realisation that he never
properly thought about the fact his father became parentless because he would always just
look at the statistics and facts.

 He recalls when his father went to a neo-Nazi rally and protested angrily.

 The chapter ends with Mark looking at his father and seeing the pain in his eyes as he looks at
the documents and letters.

Chapter 15

Characters:

 The text in the italics at the beginning of the chapter recounts the memories of what his father
(Yossl Baker) has previously told him.

 Yossl continues to describe his memories of his experiences with his family of the past;
particularly focusing on what happened to Yossl’s father Leib Bekiermaszyn (Mark Baker’s
grandfather).

Other Characters Mentioned:

 Hinda Bekiermaszyn (the wife of Leib, Mark’s grandmother)

 Kogut  a tailor and friend of Leib

What happens...

 At the beginning of the chapter, Yossl describes the events that occurred to him and his family:

 German Nazi’s beating him and his family in search for his father, Leib.

 the pain and destruction the Nazi’s caused in their home

 the arrest of his father, Leib, and how they tried to help him (with the help of their friend Kogut)
by bringing his father food in to the jail in which he was kept.

 It is revealed that Leib was taken to Buchenwald, a Jewish concentration camp.

 The rest of the chapter continues to recount the events that occurred to Leib as he is taken to
Buchenwald and is officially inducted into the prisoner camp. It is describes in detail the horrific
treatment of the Jewish people entering the camp. E.g. “The official reception committee
brandishes wooden clubs. From there, Leib is led on a seven-kilometre trek to his ultimate
destination in the high altitudes of the Ettersburg Mountain, marching double-step the entire
distance with his hands clasped behind his neck until he arrives, weak from fatigue, at the
political department of the camp.” Pg. 91

 It is hard to determine from whose perspective Mark is writing in this second half of the
chapter. I assume that it’s a combination of historical facts and recollections of stories that Leib
told Yossl.

Themes and Imagery:

 The personal memories create more effective imagery as the descriptions are more
emotionally influenced  the reader is able to empathise.

 Strong imagery of the treatment given by the German Nazi’s to the Jewish people and the way
of life inside the prisoner camps.

 Themes: family relationships captivity violence power (political) discrimination/prejudice based

on religious beliefs suffering

Chapter 16

Characters:

 Dialogue between Mark Baker, his father Yossl Baker and his mother Genia Baker.

 Mark Baker discusses various things.

What happens...

 The chapter explores the relationship between Mark and his parents. We learn more about the
character of his father and his mother. E.g. His father’s shame of being a horse driver  “So it
was a class thing that bothered him, an uncharacteristic reaction for a person who disdains
snobbery.” Pg. 96 Comparison to his mother: “For in the end she always believed that no one
suffered like her; not even her husband who was in Auschwitz. ‘It was different for me, I was
just a child, I had no one.’” Pg.98

 “My mother is more adept than my father in choosing the right moment to explore her sons’
vulnerabilities. She drops her innocent questions at exactly the right second, drawing on
information stored in that part of her memory reserved for vindictiveness.” Pg. 98  we have
control over our memories
 Comparisons between the life in Australia that mark and his brother had to the childhood of his
parents. E.g. “As for my brother and me, we were the indulgent children born to a lucky
generation in Australia. ‘What do you know of pain?’ she ribs us. ‘When I was your age...’”.
pg.98

 More is learnt about the character of Mark as well  his views on his life and recollections of
his childhood are explored

Themes and Imagery:

 Themes:

Reputation

Exposure

Vulnerabilities

Memory

Family

Identity

The privileges and losses in life

 Imagery particularly of Mark’s childhood memories  able to empathise as the memories are
more emotionally influenced

Chapter 17:

 Account of Bakers grandfather ‘Leib’s time at the camp in 1940

 Worked 12 hour shifts at the kitchen as his “Kommando” or ‘work detachment’- described as
“the central feature of camp life”.

 Gives details of what mornings were like for inmates and the strict nature and hardships of the
camp. – “It was a familiar ritual for Leib, who by now had learned to respond to his number
faster than to his own name” p.102

 “Buchenwald was the modern equivalent of the medieval dungeon… Leave the prisoners to rot
in their dank barracks, feed them minimally, but ensure that the maximum hours are extracted,
thereby adding to military might and efficiency” p.103

 “more than one tenth of all new arrivals at Buchenwald died, but they were replaced, swiftly
and exponentially, to sustain the imperatives of war” p.103 Idea of hopelessness and
worthlessness

 Recites the Jewish confessional prayer that was recited at the behest of the camp
commandment p.104. This reiterates the idea of having no hope as the prayer conveys the
suggestion that there was no redemption for Jews.

 “Jews were only fit to die” p.105 – the idea of hopelessness and no redemption.
 Jews were at the bottom of the “colour-coded hierarchy”- “the yellow triangle was a sign of
ageless sin leading to the ultimate sacrifice of death” “like the medieval ghetto, the
concentration camp provided visible testimony of the Jews damnation” p105

 Continuous desire for freedom throughout- the chapter finishes with the final roll call of the day
and says “ The sweet promise of freedom lay beyond the forests, over the mountain ranges,
somewhere in the distance”

 Not written in first person

Chapter 18:

 Baker’s mother’s account of the ‘action’ in Bolszowce.

 Written as a firsthand account of the shooting

 Recalls hiding in a hole in her neighbours wall unit, but was found by the Germans.

 Recalls that it was “stuffy, crowded and frightening” p.107 and relates to still being scared of
the dark even today, and feels claustrophobic when she’s by herself.

 “Nightfall is to me sadness and darkness and I just can’t disconnect my past, you know, I can’t
forget these moments for as long as I live”p107-108 –shows how intimate a memory can be
and the long-term effects events can have on a person.

 Ellipses (…) used on p 108 when she discusses being found by the Germans. Illustrates her
train of thought and the process of her memory coming back to her. Also shows that she is
possibly upset or hesitant by sharing this very personal and distressing memory.

 Use of speech shows that she is remembering what others around her were saying and that
what there were saying was important to her- not necessarily accurate however.

 “Miller, no Muller was his name… Yes, because I remember how everybody was saying
Muller, Muller, and it has stuck to my mind that it was Muller”- Memory can be triggered by a
traumatic event or by others reiterating a name or an event.

Chapter 21

Summary

 Dated Tuesday 27 Oct. 1942, Wierzbnik.

 Jewish teachers, elders, men, women, children, tailors and infants are all slaughtered, kicked
and bashed by SS Guards (police troops and soldiers not affiliated with the regular army, an
auxiliary police force that did most of the more cruel tasks). Between many of these different
descriptions, the phrase “Left. Right. Left” is repeated, as if marching.

 After several disturbing and detailed descriptions of the treatment of Jews, the chapter ends
with the description of Hinda (Lieb’s wife. Lieb is Mark Baker’s paternal grandfather), asking
what happened to her and another repetition of the “Left. Right. Left” phrase.
Exploration of history and memory:

 The chapter appears to be a collection of different citizens’ last moments, possibly compiled
from death certificates, accounts, memories as well as the taxation record mentioned. The
descriptions are a fusion of history and memory, as well as Mark Bakers skill with words which
he uses to create a fluid story line. It shows that history and memory (facts and remembered
thoughts) can fuse together to produce an accurate, emotional view of history.

Memories Recalled:

 In this chapter we are unsure where all of these memories are coming from, because they
appear to come from several different sources. The memories recalled surround the deaths
that take place in Weirzbnik on the day that Yossl Bekiermaszyn (Mark Baker’s father) was
selected to go to work and separated from his family forever.

Language Techniques:

 The stories are broken down into single paragraphs, with each person’s story fitting concisely
into one small paragraph. It gives the audience an idea of how small and unregarded their
existence was and how quickly their death/separation was over and done with.

 Repetition of “Left. Right. Left etc”. After a few stories of Jewish citizens in Wierzbnik, the
chapter is interrupted by the sound of marching. It also begins and ends the chapter. Marching
is associated with order and military operations, so it immediately suggest the organisation and
pre-meditatated slaughter of the citizens of Wierzbnik. We also can imagine what this
marching must have sounded like to the Jewish citizens who knew to fear these operations,
and would also have been the last sound that many of them heard. The sound is associated
with fear.

 Often the paragraphs end before a solid conclusion for each personality can be seen, leading
us to wonder what happened to the people, just as Baker and many other Jewish people and
relatives have done.

Chapter 22

Summary

 The chapter begins with Baker’s father, Yossl, describing 27 Oct. 1942. This is the same day
as was seen from several viewpoints in chapter 21. He recalls that the citizens were asked to
work, and his mother encouraged the two boys to go, which was the last time he saw her.
Yossl says he can’t remember how long they marched them away for, or even what year it
was.

 Baker realises his father’s memory of the event has several facts wrong, including the season,
which convinces him that his memory of the event is partly false because his father is always
very aware of the weather. Baker also relates his father’s fear of dogs now to the events of that
day, and discusses his father’s memory. “No, time did not unfold for my father but leaped at
him, like a jack-in-the-box”

 He talks about how his father changed his birth date in order to be allowed certain things, and
how now he dreads any mention of birthdays.

 Mark Baker also discusses how time has affected his father physically, about aging, his heart
surgery and its effect on both Yossl and himself.
 The author also remembers his father at a ceremony in Israel for a deceased Wierzbnik
citizen, and in talking to the other mourners, he finds people who remember some of the
people and places in his father’s stories.

 From Bruce Pattinson’s Top Notes Guide to The Fiftieth Gate: “Baker’s father tells of how they
were rounded up with dogs. His mother pushed he and his brother forward for work and they
hugged and split up. He never saw them again. He was marched away and had some money
hidden in his boots. His father still didn’t like dogs and was worried about the cold. There is
also some confusion about his age but the official date is 1st June 1927. He thinks that time
isn’t important but his age is showing with the heart operation. Soon all the people from his
town will be gone. The ones that live remember the past and they swap stories at funerals.”

Exploration of history and memory:

 Mark Baker finds through research into other accounts and memories that most survivors
agree that it wasn’t winter as his father thought, calling into question the reliability of his
father’s memories when compared with other accounts and historical facts.

 The chapter also briefly discusses the effect of memory on a person, in that nearly 60 years
later, Yossl is still afraid of dogs like the ones that rounded them up.

 The author describing Yossl’s point of view of time- “It goes something like this. Wierzbnik, a
child. Stop. The war. Stop. No father. Stop. No mother, sisters. Camp. Starachowice. Stop.
Auschwitz. Stop. Buchenwald. Stop. Start. What has time left behind?”

 Yossl cannot remember what year he was born, and the author finds it out through historical
records and finds his birth certificate. Showing, in the author’s point of view, that historical fact
is stronger.

 Shared history: the citizens of Wierzbnyk have shared memories of the town and other people
living there, Yossl’s memories become more believable with the affirmations of others.

Memories Recalled:

 Remembered by Yossl: his separation from his family, marching to camp, being rounded up by
dogs, his inability to cry as a child, his shared memories with the “Wierzbnyk-ers”.

Language Techniques:

 Interruption of the stories with quotes from Yossl, such as the starting paragraphs and his
questions about the video recording. These interruptions are in italics, are off topic and do not
have quotation marks around them, so we know they are not currently part of the story. It is
almost as if these are being remembered by the author as he is writing. Memory is therefore
brought into the story again but in a different way.

 When Mark Baker describes his father’s perception of time (page 125, second paragraph), the
use of the word “Stop.” and the full stops in between each distinct event in Yossl’s life help to
show the audience how stilted Yossl’s perspective is of his life, and what stands out in his
memory above all else. It also emphasises the importance of the war and the harsher events in
his life rather than the good, showing how hard it must have been to go through all the things
Yossl did.
Chapter 23

This is a short one page chapter which outlines a report which was created in 1943 by the
Germans. The report is on an area of Poland which had been conquered by the Germans. The
chapter quotes 6 lines of the report entitled ‘Man and Economy’. It discloses statistics such as the
amount of land and the number of inhabitants. The report then goes on the detail the ethnicity of the
inhabitants, ‘72% are Poles, 17% are Ukrainians, and 0.7 are Germans’. Baker then drops two lines
and poses a rhetorical question to the reader, ‘Where have the millions of Jews gone?’ The
audience then ponders the possibilities of what has happened to these “lost” people; had they been
killed, were they still alive however not acknowledged, had they been sent to concentration camps
or were they not considered people?

This chapter also links into the idea of history and memory as the primary document which Baker
has discovered is biased. People may perceive a document as being a reliable source of ‘factual’
information however this is not always the case. It can be seen that collective memory and personal
memory can contradict history and historical ‘evidence’.

Chapter 24

This chapter starts with a welcoming phrase, ‘Hallo’ as if speaking to the reader. However it is soon
found that Baker is actually ringing his mother from Jerusalem, while she is in Melbourne. Baker
rings as he is excited because of the information he has found about his mothers past. “Mum, I
found something at last. Do you remember you told me you were the only child to survive
Bolszowce? Well, it’s true. I mean, I believe you, but it’s really true.” The end section of this line
suggests that Baker did not believe that his mother was the only survivor from Bolszowce. This is an
important point with is made throughout the novel. Why does Baker need historical documentation
to confirm his mothers memories? Which is more reliable; history or memory?

However Baker seems to back track, going on to say ‘Not that either of us needed confirmation. For
my part, I did not doubt for a moment that she had once lived in this town…..’ Baker seems to
contradict himself, with his actions and his words. He had been searching for information to verify
his mothers memories however he had no doubt that they were true.

Baker then goes on to explain that tracking down his father’s history was much easier as he shares
a collective memory with many other survivors of concentration camps. The idea is also raised of his
mother baring emotional scares rather than physical ones. This makes it harder for Baker to
understand as he cannot see the extent of the damage which his mother has suffered. Baker
explains that he use to be frustrated with his mother, there is also a suggestion of depression. He
examines the cause, which appears to be unknown. Her identity is clouded as she does not have a
particular entity which she belongs (yay belonging!) to e.g. a concentration camp survivor.

Baker then goes on to integrate his child hood into the story. Speaking of how he grew up with the
word ‘Auschwitz’. He explains his own feeling of emptiness and he describes it as ‘Andy Pandy’. He
has seen this in both his mother and father.

Baker continues to delve into his own memories, recalling his mother saying how much she had
suffered, however not giving details about such events. She seems to reminisce on the past and
think about what could have been.

Baker then jumps back to the present phone call. She wants to hear the information, this is in
contrast to her usual protest. He then delves back into his not too distant memory about videotaping
his mother. He seems to be accepting the idea that this is ‘her’ memory and how can it be wrong
when it is a person’s own accounts of events in their life. Although we do find out that she tends to
embellish her stories.
Baker then goes on to take about who will remember his mothers own memories when she is gone.
She does not have a collective memory like his fathers and there are not any books written about
his mother’s experience. This therefore introduces the idea of memory being all a person has and
once they are gone the memory cannot be retrieved.

Baker later goes on to further discuss the point of his doubting of his mothers memories, “why am I
calling her? Won’t she recognise the shameful truth, that I doubted her, that I never believed her….”
He then goes on to say that he should have been a girl so he could understand his mother and
know what to do.

Baker then discusses the document he found, detailing that there were 2 survivors from the town.
These being his mother’s mother and father. There is no mention of his mother.

Chapter 27

What Happens?

Genia asks where the people on the trains may have been taken to, and what it was like for them.
Mark tells her where (Beltzec) but not what it was like. “ I could not answer her. The final moments
can never be retrieved by history.

Nor by memories; for every life, there are countless other deaths”

His only possible answer comes from the testimony of Kurt Gerstein the chief of the Waffen SS
technical Disinfection Services. He describes in detail the arrival of the Jews on the train at Beltzec
and their consequent travel to the gas chambers.

They arrived at approximately 7, the train had 45 cars and more than 6000 people packed into it.
The Jews were forced out with whips, and then made to strip completely- including artificial limbs
and glasses. The women and girls had their hair chopped at the aptly named “barbers hut”. The
officers then began to march them towards the gas chambers.

The people were told that the gas prevented contagious disease “it’s a good disinfectant, this
explains Gerstein’s ironic job title. When asked what would happen to them the officers replied with
a picture of relative normalcy- the men would work building roads and houses and the women would
be busy with housework and the kitchen. However the majority of the Jews knew the truth because
of the smell but continued on in the face of this small hope. ‘This was the last hope for some of
these poor people, enough to make them march towards the death-chambers without resistance.’

Anyone who resisted was forced to enter, 700-800 ppl in a 93 square metres. After 32 minutes all
were dead and Jewish workers who had been promised their lives and a small wage, removed the
bodies. The bodies stood like “columns” as there was no space for them to fall, and families were
still holding hands. The bodies were thrown into ditches near the gas chambers and after a few
days were burned.

Mark does not share this with his mother.

Meaning

The final moments are too personal to be retrieved by history or by others memories, however we
are able to vividly imagine from accounts but this does not mean that we may want to. Our
imagination can create the memories of others.
Characters

Kurt Gerstein

 The major character in this chapter is fleeting in relation to the rest of the book.

 He is chief of the Waffen SS technical Disinfection Services and so this suggests sympathy
with the Nazi regime however we are presented with his personal account which reveals a
more humane and sympathetic side than we are normally presented with

 He shows compassion and horror in his writing and is amazed at his own men’s insensitivity
“asked me whether I thought it was better to let people die in the darkness, or in a lightened
room. He asked me as if he would have asked... ‘Do you prefer your coffee with or without
milk?’

 His suicide gives credibility to the assumption that he was horrified and guilt stricken by his
own actions against “these poor people”

Genia

 In this chapter she appears to have a yearning (shown by her “holding her hands to her chest”)
to know what it was like for the people on the trains and yet finds the courage to ask “only
once”

 Does she really want to know?

Mark

 Feels that it was not his place to share the information he had with his mother as History and
Memory can never truly retrieve those last moments and he knows that his mother would be
unable to cope with the information he could give her.

Imagery and Language Techniques

Gerstein describes the scenes horrifically. Every fact is tainted by the impression that this is
extremely immoral through the use of words such as “horrific” and “murderers”. He employs the use
of similes to emphasize the horrific aspect such as “the (dead) people were standing like columns of
stone”. He alternates between delivering the facts straight and offering his opinions and
observations as to what is happening.

Chapter 28

What Happens?

In this chapter Mark takes his parents to the concentration camp that Yossl stayed in at Auschwitz.

Initially Yossl claims that he could not have stayed there- he does not remember it. Yet Mark knows
that he did due to the fact that in the summer of 1944 all the camps in the Random district were
liquidated (including Yossl’s) and ‘there was no other place that they could have taken you to. All
the trains stopped here for the selection’

As Mark offers facts about his father’s stay at this camp or they enter the site and see things such
as the beds, Yossl continually claims that “that feels right…but not here” “Here but not here”.
Yossl recounts the memories that he has of arriving at Auschwitz (still claiming that it was ‘here but
not here’). He remembers the panic and chaos, and that they were taking people into a room – but
only one way, people went in and did not come out. They believed that they were being taken to a
gas chamber (links to last chapter) and Yossl hid in a toilet for hours.

When they go to the car to leave their guard claims that “Mr Baker. You were here. I found your
registration in the administration office. You were number A-18751” while at the same time Mark
and his brother find a place on the visitors map that is different to everything else. When they visit
the place they find that this was that place that Yossl remembers and he describes and explains
what happened in each room. They even find the toilet that he stayed in.

Characters

Yossl

This chapter is full of Yossl’s character development.

We find that many of his current habits and preferences appear as an almost exact opposite of the
conditions that he experienced. His love for all things “comfy” contrasts with the cramped space that
they experienced- three to a bed unable to turn. His hair that was shaved when he arrived is now a
“perennial source of concern” and this extremely modest man was stripped completely.

We also learn of some of his character traits – he has a number of petty habits including tapping,
blinking at a rapid rate and an involuntary clicking at the back of his throat. We learn that he rarely
swears and when he does it is usually confined to “bastards”. This clean spoken manner
emphasizes his anger when he swears at the “bastards” that did this to people.

This chapter gives us more insight into what made him what he is.

Mark

While this chapter focuses on Yossl we also learn a little about Marks changing relationship with his
father, “I had become his calendar, making sense of time for him when days, months and even
years meant nothing. It is not that he had forgotten something that he had once known – he never
knew”

Meaning

Our memories of the past and our experiences can shape what we become as shown through
Yossl.

Language Techniques and Imagery

As with the rest of the novel this chapter uses broken and incomplete sentences to emphasize
immediacy and the broken nature of memory. Once again Baker plays with spelling to indicate his
parents’ accents and describes everything as it happens.

Italics indicate that we are being told a memory as opposed to what is happening now. The
language and imagery used in the memory conveys to us the fear that his father felt.
Chapter 29

This chapter is reflects on how the holocaust affected the spirituality of the Baker family. It presents
two version of a narrative. This is two versions of a religious Jewish narrative and is symbolic of
anguish and loss.

The first is the Sage’s (a wise Jewish leader) – it is about Rabbi Hanina; a significant Jewish figure.
His recollection is written in full sentences. This reflects the fullness of his memory. In contrast to
this Baker’s parents’ memories are reflected a fragmented – single or several words almost poetic in
their nature. They seem disjointed. The parent’s version is also most focused upon death and is
seemingly morbid.

The words ‘fire,’ ‘burning,’ ‘buried’ and ‘ashen’ portray melancholy, death and sadness. It also
portrays how memory is shaped by experiences such as death or anguish experienced in the death
camps. This reflects how personal history shapes memory.

In the Sage’s version the letters and teaching remains whilst in the parent’s version the words burn
and turn to dust (ashes).

The story is a historical tale which is told to children, although not about the Holocaust itself, the
story is apparent in its significant to Holocaust survivors such as Baker’s parents.

In the parent’s poetic memory there is alliteration ‘bodies buried’ and the imagery of fire and burning
of the Torah may be seen as metaphorical for the burning of millions of Jewish bodies.

Chapter 30

Baker begins at Yad Vashem archives in Jerusalem. The isolation and challenge to discover and
search through history is shown through the librarian “don’t make yourself feel at home’ (p175).He
describes it as a ‘theme-park of memory’ (p175) – this is a metaphor for the ‘ups and downs’ in
seeking memories, as well as the success and failures of discovering history and memories.
Knowledge into the background of the history of the archives is discussed, which is named after a
founding father of Jerusalem.

Baker describes Jerusalem as a place which congregates Jews from all through their history.
Jerusalem is therefore a symbolic location of the congregation of Jewish history and collective and
personal memory.

Baker has returned to Jerusalem for the third time, which he sees as a “journey that bears toward
my beginnings” – it contains collective histories and memories which relate to his past experiences.
Baker is describing his home and surroundings on p176. The Prime Minister has been assassinated
a week earlier and outside his residence is a memorial of lights, “prayers of peace” and the streets
contain are ‘eerily silent’ in atmosphere.

Baker’s children do not understand the mourning & think it’s a birthday. This reflects how age and
knowledge may affect the perception of an event and therefore the memory that is created which
may be false. Baker also states that “it is their first act of public memory” (p176). The
acknowledgement of this reflects the significance of collective, or public, memory to connecting a
group of people.

The concept of different perceptions is also seen on p176, where Mark and his mother discuss their
different views on Jerusalem. Genia thinks it is “sad, like the stones” (simile) whilst Mark ‘loves
these stones.’ This is evidence as portraying how perception influences a memory of a place or
event.
Mark is contemplating whether or not to explain his parent’s experiences to his children. ‘I know
they must be told. Only a broken heart yearns to heal the world’ and Mark knows he must address
the issue eventually, even after Yossl told the children the tattoo on his arm was a telephone
number.

Genia tells Mark his is “too serious about the Holocaust” and Mark feels guilty “I was searching for
her history in order to vindicate her stories.” – He feels a sense of role reversal. She subsequently
questions her memory “Maybe Bolzowce doesn’t exist” as Mark seems unable to find oral history to
verify her memory. This makes Genia question the validity and accuracy of her memory. Although
Mark has found an oral history of Genia’s town it did not mention hers.

Mark’s discovery of an oral history account of the Aktion’s account confirms the story Genia tells of
the ghettos. As the account is explained, dialogue spoken by Genia agrees with the narrative – this
relates to how memories are sparked by other experiences, but reflects how memory may be
affected by hearing the recount of a different person’s personal memory. After the story is recited,
the list of the dead in Bolszowce is absent of Genia and her parents.

Mark wants to find “Someone, besides my mother, who can lead me to their homes so I can inhabit
their place and time for just a single moment. Only then can I leave” (p181)

 This shows the exploration of others’ memories within a context.

 Baker’s obsession to discover memories and history to validate his mother’s past.

Chapter 37

Baker is reading through historical records to find information about his mother and father.

The chapter opens with historical ‘proof’ of his father’s past.

 Registrar of Jewish Survivors

 Baker gives us a detailed account of the information

 Father’s name is 109th and on page 42

 Two different names (his name appears twice with different spelling)

“My father, the survivor”

 Emphasis on this sentence. It sits alone, not in a paragraph.

 “No longer the victim”

 As an audience we question this, because we have read his parents’ confusion and
distress over this period in their lives. We question if his father still is and always will be a
victim due to his memory of the time.

 Many pauses in the sentence, forcing us to slow down and think about his father’s life and
what he is now: “a dry bone...”

 ‘a reader’ – we are readers of Baker’s novel

 Interesting technique employed by Baker here

 He is a reader of the historical records

 We question our purpose in the telling of his parents’ stories

The chapter is melancholy and contemplative with a depressing and dark mood. It is includes short,
sharp sentences contrasted with long, broken sentences

“Me, the survivor...I am alive”

 Emphasis on this sentence again: reiterates the previous sentence of “My father, the survivor”
(our questions as an audience return)

Baker mentions the Survivor Registries – historical proof

 70,000 names from different districts

 Committee to Aid Polish Jews

 Forms to find family members – 2 forms (Baker takes us through it quite formally)

Baker takes us to his father’s form

 “the scrawl is childlike, not unlike his signature today...”

 “not unlike...” (still room for his father to have changed, but still similar to his past-
symbolic)

 Baker pulls us in and out of the past through the imagery of the form (the form represents
the past, the signature brings us into the present)

 Bekiermaszyn to Baker

 The effects of time don’t just hinder the memory of a person but they physically change a
person

 The change of Baker’s family name represents two different times in his father’s life

 Jewish and Australian (a letting go of his past to embrace his future- however, the name is still
an adaption of his past and therefore he will always be connected to it- symbolic and fact

 Baker provides us with his prisoner number and the date of his arrest: his father was there, he
was involved in the horrors that occurred

 “You cannot begin to understand what it means to survive the death of your entire world”

 “Release” italics, emphasis on this word

 What does it represent?

 To Baker’s father?
 To all Jews?
 Labels placed on Baker’s father: Jewish Survivor, Stateless Pole

 What is his true identity? Does it revolve around history or memory or people’s perceptions of
him?

 Baker changes his attention to his mother and the fact that there are no forms or signatures

 1951 – case documents officially release her

 The form states that Genia’s mother is dead

 We are presented with numerous records and forms- we question their legitimacy, do we really
trust them?

 Can we truly trust history?

 The “last piece of information...” Baker could uncover about Genia at this point is a form stating
that “Genia released by father for emigration to USA”

 Deep consideration of the wording on Baker’s part: “by” not “with” her father

 “new birth, her release”

 Changes to memories of Minka/Michael – his mother’s half-brother

 “When I was young he taught me all the Beatles’ lyrics and another song called ‘My Old Man’s
Dustman’. We would sing it together...”

 Baker continues and encompasses us in this memory then as an audience we are pulled back
into the present, to the package the Michael sent him

 Memory provides relief after the numerous historical forms and records- narrative technique
(short story inside a much larger story)

 Contained undated note from grandfather- legitimacy? Can we trust this information regardless
of if it’s from family?

 Note contains many names, dates and places

 After reading the note, Genia exclaims “Where is my life?”

 It is extinguished from this autobiographical entry

 “I recognised snippets of truth from my grandfather’s narrative” – Baker does but Genia does
not?

 He questions his own findings however

 “This was not his life, at least not as my history and my mother’s memory had reconstructed it.”

 Representative of the fact that everyone’s memory and history is different and you cannot
wholly rely on one account

 “Maybe I am someone else” – can she trust her own memory? There are hardly any
documents to legitimise her existence and provide proof of her sufferings
 Baker recalls what he knows about his mother’s childhood (compares the girls she was to the
woman who gave him life)

 People are different according to others’ perspectives and experiences with that person

 “Maybe, I tell my mother, your father reconstructed his life because he could not live with his
real one; maybe that is what it means to survive- to obliterate the guilt that comes from living
amidst total death by narrating a new story, one without the Judenrat, without the fear of
persecution by Soviet liberators, without the blue-eyed daughter and peasant widow; one that
is observed but not experienced because the real one is too painful to endure once the actions
have ceased.”

 This quote tells of the intricate workings of the human mind and human memory and provides
us with an account of Baker’s stance regarding memory

 People sometimes create their own history or suppress painful memories

 “his daughter” not “my mother”

 She’s more than one person, as we all are

 Different perspectives according to your experiences with a person

 Baker did not know “the daughter” he has only ever known his mother

 “How many alternate lives can one person occupy? How many memories can a survivor bury
and how many destinations can one life reach?”

 Excellent quote- acts as a segue into the next idea from the previous one

 Alternate lives= the different perspectives of a person e.g. “mother” v. “daughter”

 “bury” memories= suppressed memories, and creating new lives in order to stop painful
memories from arising

 Then “destinations”- his parents end in Australia, but Australia is not mentioned in the records

 Nowhere in the documents is Australia mentioned

 How did they get here?

Chapter 38

 Opens with “Neither my mother nor father ever met their persecutors.”

 Ties the two people together

 Then changes to say that they have met them in sleep

 Dreams

 Dreams are a form of memory- working of the mind

 “I once heard my father scream at night”

 Memory of father “once heard”= past tense

 How old was Baker when this happened? This would be something that would frighten and
confuse a child and imprint upon their memory

 Baker tells his mother of his dream

 Imagery: king, daughter, tears, kerchief

 “I know this dream...”

 Storybook?

 Did Genia tell Baker of her own memories as a “story” before bed time?

 Baker insists that it is a “different dream”

 As an audience how are we to know whose claim is correct?

 Is it Baker’s own personal dream? Or is it clouded with his mother’s memories?

 As individuals where do they draw the line?

 As an audience what are we to believe?

 “gate keeper” – symbolic of knowledge, and the fact that the book is entitled “The Fiftieth Gate”

 Imagery of wine and blood – religious, symbolic of Christ

 Chapter 38 represents memory overall, while Chapter 37 represents history

 One follows the other

 Therefore, history versus memory

Chapter 39

The chapter begins with, and is predominately composed of, Genia discussing the part of her life
around her mother’s (Raisl Krochmal) death and funeral interspersed a poem (“El Hatsippor” by
Hayim Nahman), about pain, ageing and loss, which she had read to an audience as a child. Genia
quotes letters which her father purportedly received complimenting his daughter’s performance.
These letters are dubious in authenticity as Genia’s father may have fabricated their existence or
Genia may be again misremembering the letter. She attempts to establish authority for her claims
by claiming “My word of honour”. Genia comments: “Yeah that was me then. Nothing to look at
now… nothing to see… ruins”.

Baker then interjects in a familiar fashion, with a description of this mother in the present day, with
“her head snuggled against her mother’s tombstone”. Baker explains how his grandmother was
killed after her liberation by the hand of the drunken driver of the truck she was travelling with
Genia. The fact that Genia’s mother was able to “breath life” into children before her eventual death
is mentioned as is related to earlier comments about children being revenge upon those who seek
to exterminate life and all memory of the parent. A photograph, taken shortly before Genia’s
mother’s death but after her liberation, strikes Baker for its ability to “transcend time”. From one third
of the way down page 246 through page 247 the limitations of evidence gathered (particularly this
photograph) has in portraying experience and providing direct insight into the lives of people.
Memory is demonstrated, with the origin of the photograph determined through Genia knowing “it
was a holiday because I remember putting on my best dress”. Of Genia’s mother, a “single artefact
retrieved from her life” remains, a pair of shoes. Baker comments that “Nothing else remains”,
disregarding the memory of his grandmother, her children or even himself.

The chapter ends with a sombre quote from Genia; “I could have been a poet – anything – that’s
what they all said when I stood up on the platform in school. My destiny; who could ever know how
much there is to cry about?”

Chapter 40

“Now I remember” the chapter begins. What Genia remembers is why it was that she suffered he
breakdown; “It was because of you”, referring to Baker himself. When Baker was 11 months old he
suffered from a severe illness which left him hospitalised for some time, a strain on the family which
Genia claims pushed her into taking “pills”. A link is however made to the loss Genia faced in her
early life, both during the holocaust and the death of her mother discussed in the previous chapter,
and that the recollection and memory of that experience may have merely been triggered by Baker’s
illness, causing the breakdown; “The motherless daughter, the child throwing herself at the feet of a
saviour, save me, save my child”.

On Baker’s first birthday, shortly after he is released from hospital, he is given “horsie”, a fluffy toy.
He goes on to explain how he has already passed this toy onto his child, and how his child will
successively pass it on to his child, along with the story which surrounds it. Baker also comments on
how the toy and the story behind it could not carry “the stories that foreshadow it”.

Baker then discusses how his father opted to change the family name before Baker’s birth, a birth
certificate used as a source. Baker is frustrated that his father severed ties to the family tree; “What
right did my father have to lop the branches off the trees in our garden?”. Mark then explains that he
has elected to “put the past back into [his] name” by adopting the name “Raphael”, the name of the
oldest relative he could locate.

Chapter 41

 Baker tells of “The Search Bureau for Missing Relatives” and that it functions as a section of
the Jewish Agency in Jerusalem.

 He lies to get the address of Benjamin Kogut –

“‘Is the person you are seeking a relative?’ She asks.

‘No’, I think, but I feel bonded to Benjamin Kogut as if he were the grandfather I never knew.
‘Yes,’ I answer.” P257

 Baker is then able to receive information about Kogut from the SBMR. He finds that he now
resides in Tel Aviv with his wife.

 Baker questions the likelihood of Kogut remembering his father or their family name.

 He finds out that Benjamin died nine years ago; however he is able to talk to his daughter-
Chaya. On explaining that her father helped his grandfather and possibly saved his father, she
replies:

“She is crying. ‘You are nine years too late,’ she says in hushed tones. ‘But tell me everything.
He never spoke about the war. It was too painful. At his funeral people told me he helped them
in Buchenwald. And in Auschwitz. But he never spoke. All I have is one single photograph from
after his liberation; but no memories. Please, tell me.’ P259
 They share some memories and agree to talk later.

 Baker finishes by saying “Again, I find myself peering into memory’s black hole” p260

Chapter 42

 This gate has the fictionalised narrative of Hinda, Yenta and Marta at Treblinka, as told from
Hinda’s perspective

 It commences with an unfinished letter –

‘here in this carload

i am Hinda

tell him that i...’

 It tells of how they are displaced and crammed into railway trucks. We are presented with a
horrid depiction of the conditions on the trains – men, women and children packed on and
unable to breathe. People are wailing and screaming and praying, and Hinda tells her children
to breathe through the floor.

“the air is mixed with the pungent odour of fresh vomit and faeces...it is an effort to
breathe...my head spins with the terror of losing my daughters” p263

 They are desperate for water but when the train stops all that is heard are gunshots

 They are later taken off the carriage and told to hand over all valuables at the ticket office.

 They are sent to the showers where the women and children are separated from the men.

 They have their hair shorn and are marched into a ‘tube’ where musicians play a ‘harmonious
dirge’. They are pushed into a chamber and gassed.

 The chapter concludes with Baker saying –

“Tet, yod. The point of light, pouring through the fiftieth gate.
tell him
tell Him that i” p275

Chapter 43

 A poem

 Free-form

 No set rhythm, rhyming scheme etc.

 Begins and ends with the idea of birth (“A child is born”, “of those reborn”)

 An ongoing cycle of life

 Puts forward the idea of a child being aware of all concepts, all human and existential thought
and emotion when they are born – aware of all forms of history and all memories
 “A child is born/with infinite memory.”

 Contrasts with Yossl and Genia’s fading memory – unlike the child in the poem, they can’t
remember everything

 The newly born child can remember everything, including pre-birth biblical history

 Follows religious beliefs of the Jewish author (Mark Raphael Baker)

 “It remembers/the secrets of creation/the fruits of the garden…”

 Biblical history could be considered a long line of memoirs and remembered religious stories –
memories

 Therefore, the child remembers all memories, even if they are the memories of other people
(eg. The people who wrote the bible)

 Biblical references

 Eg. “Job’s lament”, “an angel”, “secrets of creation”

 The newly born child can remember all pre-birth history

 “the wounded martyrs/the breathless bones”

 conveys images of violence and death

 the child understands the existence of others (possibly, historical figures) who have now

 Reference to the book’s title

 “the place of the hidden key”

 The child even remembers how to reach the highest level of awareness – God’s view of the
earth

 In the poem at the beginning of the book, the poem suggests that “Whoever enters the fiftieth
gate sees through/God’s eyes from one end of the world to the other”

 In other words, the child knows and sees all at birth

 “Until an angel flies into the infant’s mouth,/touches its unformed lips, so that nothing,/not a
word, a sound or fragrance,/is remembered.”

 The “angel” could represent a soul, personality, life etc.

 After birth, the child is given life (the “angel”) and develops opinions, has experiences, creates
memories etc.

 Loses the unlimited knowledge of all that surrounds them that they had at birth.

 “Sometimes the angels forget,/or perhaps they are frightened to fly into the/silent cry/of those
reborn.”
 Last four lines of poem

 “silent cry” is placed on its on line

 Draws attention to emotive language

 “of those reborn”

 could be referring to those who re-remember their memories

 “A child is born/with infinite memory.”

 In being reborn, they are finding their memories

 The “silent cry” is their experience of pain in refinding these memories

 Eg. The pain of Yossl and Genia in exploring their traumatic pasts

 “sometimes the angels forget,/or perhaps are frightened to fly…”

 Unlike the new baby, “those reborn” are not able to have their memories taken away by the
same angels who took away the baby’s “infinite memory”

Chapter 44

 Page 277

 Mark, Yossl and Genia are in Yad Vashem, in the ‘Valley of Destroyed Communities’ – a kind
of graveyard in remembrance of murdered towns and cities

 Idea of remembering historical places and people who no-longer exist

 Remembering memories of the places and people

 The people and places only exist in memories now

 The graveyard is made up of tombstones which form a map of Europe and stones which mark
lost communities on the map

 Yossl reminisces with friends in an area of the map called Wierzbnik about distances, horse-
buggies etc.

 Page 278

 Genia points to a places where she may have grown up

 She remembers and describes her the childhood town (this section is in italics in the book)

 Genia’s memories

 Page 279

 Mark links Genia’s memories to historical events of 1944

 History

 Soviets marching into Galicia and liberating the remaining hiding Jews

 Mark links this to his mother’s time of hiding in a bunker

 “My mother neither resisted nor died; she survived somewhere beneath the surface of the
ground, in blackness. When her liberators arrived, she kissed their feet.”

 Yossl’s friends comment that he hasn’t “grown a day older” since they last saw him

 As time as gone by, Yossl has remained the same person

 Their memories match the present

 “Half a century later, the Jerusalem sun reflecting off the corner of Poland illuminated the same
eyes and smile which they recognise from their youth.”

 They remember him

 No-one from Genia’s town is there to greet her – she was the only young survivor

 She is only able to talk to the rock which now represents her lost past

 Another man comes to greet Yossl – he is unable to recognise him

 Memory failing him

 Then he sees a photograph and compares the two faces, then remembers him

 Pages 280-281

 Yossl has memories from many towns, including Auschwitz and Buchenwald with a group of
friends called the Buchenwald Boys

(About half way down the page, the writer starts to switch from the memories of his father (in
italtics) to history, and to the author‘s (Baker) own memories… it gets a bit confusing, so I
have colour co-ordinated these bits – Yossl’s memories are in blue, Genia’s memories are in
purple, the historical stuff is in red and Baker’s memories are in green)

 11th April, 1945 – 3:15

 Statistics about Jewish deaths following their release from concentration camps

 Yossl’s recollections about how skinny everyone was

 People began to eat, but got sick and ended up in hospital or with diarrhoea

 What his mother and father eat on a regular basis in the present

 Hershy bars remind his mother of her rations in Berlin

 Cabbage soup reminds his father of the concentration camps

 Yossl remembers stealing from the Germans in the town of Weimar, following the Americans
allowing the released prisoners to spend the day there after their release.

 Almost took a piano accordion, but did not after realising a child owned it

 Baker learnt to play the piano accordion as a child, but he didn’t like it very much

 Yossl recalls having to learn how to eat, feel and be people again after his release

 Baker remembers a family friend who survived being shot at the camps who now has a strong
sense of humour

 The group of boys moved to Switzerland in 1945

 Yossl was hospitalised for a little while with tuberculosis, recovered then moved by the Red
Cross, moved through France to Switzerland finally.

 Page 284

 Remembers the clothes he wore

 Baker recounts that his father, while in Switzerland saw the film The Best Years of Our Lives,
he learned to farm, began living a strictly religious life-style, began learning to ice-skate, went
to dances with ladies

 Baker asks him if he lost his virginity during this time

 Yossl refuses to answer (“Enough, enough already. I think Mummy is hone now.”

 Page 285

 Baker begins to retell his mother’s history after she was “reborn”

 She was reborn in the American Occupied Zone of Germany in 1945

 Lived with her aunt and uncle

 Baker tells of the tall tales his mother’s uncle used to tell

 Genia went to school, joined a socialist movement

 Baker says this is when she became a woman

 Page 286

 Genia recalls her boyfriends during this period of her life and how lucky she is to have not
married any of them

 (The book then returns to the present setting in the ‘Valley of Destroyed Communities’)

 Baker questions what might have happened if Genia had married someone else (“Maybe if…”)

 Comments on how close their hometowns were in comparison to the distance that stands
between the towns and their current home in Melbourne
Chapter 45

In this chapter Baker interviews an ‘ultra-Orthodox Jew’ named Avraham from Jerusalem. The
interview begins with Baker trying to find out about life in Wierzbnik. Avraham says ‘‘I was so
assimilated before the war, I didn’t know what it meant to be a Jew”. However Baker soon finds it
hard to get any information from Avraham about his past as he now sees himself as a ‘born again
Jew’ who is consumed by his refashioned identity. Avraham does not want to bring up his past; it is
an attempt to forget it. This reiterates the significance of the past on individuals and how memory
can become selective. In this case Avraham has chosen not to relive the pain and horror from his
past experiences.

Avraham blames the Jews for the Holocaust. ‘Jew fighting Jew, that is the crime of this generation,
for which we have been punished. Why else would God allow a Holocaust to happen to us?’ Baker
sees this as an ‘intolerable point of view’.

Baker writes that the nature of his visit to Avraham is ‘a fact-finding mission, a further attempt to
confirm my version of history though a witness to the events in my father’s town. It is a perspective I
value, having experienced its total absence from my mother’s part of the story; for her there are no
witnesses to interview, no Bolszowwce Survivor Society, no means of validation. How easy it is to
get things wrong, to forget this school or that confectionary shop, to size up a personality in the
wrong way, to miss a communal conflict, to set your narrative in a tissue of unintended lies, to forget
to read between the lines. And worse-to reduce survivors to supporting actors in their own tragedy.’

This comment from Baker emphasises his need for validation of his parent’s stories, he cannot
simply rely on what they say to be the truth, being an historian he needs other evidence and
information to support it. He also says ‘to confirm my version of history’ which reiterates that this
novel is coming from Baker’s perspective, rather than solely from historical documents,
eyewitnesses or his parents memories. Baker also draws contrast between his father’s past and his
mother’s. He addresses the difficulty in determining the reliability of individual memory, in the case
of his mother where there are ‘no means of validation’. He emphasises the fragility of memories and
the fact that they can be fleeting and can be subject to change over time. This impacts the way that
he interprets his mother’s history, as there are aspects of her memory that may be inaccurate.

Baker also seems to make a comment on his own actions. He states aspects of memory that can be
‘wrong’ and how different individual misinterpretations from the past can provide an inaccurate
account of history. However he states ‘And worse-to reduce survivors to supporting actors in their
own tragedy.’ This may be indicative of his treatment of his parents; they are telling him their past as
they see it and how things affected them which is the real significance in their history, however his
fixation with facts and accuracy takes away from this.

‘I invite him to retell the story to me-chronologically and systematically, pinning him down on minute
details about personalities I have only encountered on microfilm and fading slips of paper.’
Memories tend to be less structured and often are not recalled ‘chronologically and systematically’;
this shows how Baker’s focus is on recreating history as it happened.

Avraham doesn’t remember Yossl Bekiermaszyn during that time, ‘even though his stories are
constructed from the same nightmarish material woven from a shared period’. However Baker finds
Avraham’s memory to be more precise than his father’s, Avraham even provides him with a clear
picture of the network of labour camps by drawing a map on a newspaper.

Avraham cannot however tell Baker about the early years of the war because he wasn’t there at the
time as he was one of the only Jews from his town to flee the Nazi assault, winding his way across
Eastern Poland into the Ukraine. He tells of how he escaped and remained in hiding for four
months. Eventually, he decided that he had a better chance of survival if he returned to Wierzbnik,
where he was enslaved in the same camp as Yossl. It was here that he discovered how to pray, and
he did so every morning and night, praying that God would intervene.
Baker suggests that his prayers, as well as others, were unanswered. Avraham responds “Not
unanswered. Every prayer, every prayer opens another gate. Six million prayers. Imagine how many
gates are open to you.”

They then debate about the ancient question ‘Would it have been preferable for God not to have
created humanity?’ Even with their added knowledge of this century, they come to the same
conclusion as the ancient texts ‘It would have been better if God had not created humanity, but now
that the deed is done, let us examine our own deeds and repent.’

Chapter 46

Baker lists some of the problems and traumas facing survivors, he has presented these in reflection
of ‘The Inventory of Symptoms’ which is an actual document compiled in 1929. It is an index that
lists the syndromes of survivors of the Holocaust.

Baker lists the ‘symptoms’ of his parents under different headings which each have significant
meaning to Holocaust survivors, his parents in particular. However under each heading he has put a
memory, either his or his parents, that reflect how the particular ‘symptom’ has affected their present
day life.

The headings are:

 Beliefs, religious and political

 Confinement in Dungeons

 Funerals, rites and prayers

 Gloating

 Husband

 Illness, protracted

 Insanity

 Marital taboos, between ethnic groups

 Personal appearance

 Pollution of air

 Production quotas

 Relatives

 Sanitation

 Screaming

 Sex drive

 Tattooing
 Uncle

 Wife

Baker says that when he read the actual ‘Inventory of Symptoms’ he was ‘searching for his parents,
hoping to find them somewhere between A-Z’. It may be that he was searching more for his parents’
identity: how it was shaped because of their past experiences and how their past now affects the
person that they are today.

The title of each heading and the subsequent memory draws a connection between the different
ways that his parents behave and why. An example is the heading ‘Confinement, in dungeons’ -
Baker tells of how his mother is afraid of elevators, despises houses without windows and can never
be in complete darkness. This shows the way in which an aspect of the Holocaust has affected his
mother in present day life. The memory of her past experiences are possibly too traumatic to ever
relive, and so she avoids putting herself in similar situations. This is further emphasised under the
heading ‘Funerals, rites and prayers’-His mother says ‘You do not understand. Ever since my
mother died I cannot go back to a cemetery. If you make me go it will bring everything back; I will
cry for my mother, like a little girl.’

Each heading and memory also shows the contrast between their present and past. Under the
heading ‘Pollution of Air’ his father tells of how when he first came to Australia, he was at a picnic,
and an Australian asked him where he was during the war, he responds ‘Buchenwald’ and the
Australian asks ‘Where’s that? In the mountains?’ How was the air?’ To the Australian, asking how
the air was has no significant meaning but to a Holocaust survivor, who was subjected to the deaths
of Jews in gas chambers, this question would resonate on a different and incomprehensible level.

This is also seen under the heading ‘Marital taboos between ethnic groups’-‘My parents are
survivors: they did not have to ask me to marry a Jewish girl. I am not a survivor: will my children
have to ask me?’ Baker is able to recognise his parents' past and act accordingly, however his
children, who do not have a connection as strong as his to the Holocaust, may not be able to
understand.

The heading ‘Tattooing’ conveys the impact of the past and how things can become imprinted within
memory. This is shown in a memory of his father who upon being asked to show his number by a
hotel doorkeeper instinctively raised his left arm, as though he was being asked by a Nazi official to
show the number tattooed on his arm.

Baker ends the chapter with a passage from the Hebrew bible ‘I have set before you life and death,
the blessing and the curse: therefore choose life.’ (Deuteronomy. 30:19) This idea of life and death,
blessing and curse reflects the contrast seen in his parents’ lives, between their horrible past and
their lives today and emphasises the fact that they have overcome that horror along with all of its
‘symptoms’.

Chapter 50

The fiftieth chapter or ‘gate’ is a singular sentence “... it always begins in blackness, until the first
light illuminates a hidden fragment of memory...”

This returns to the first knowledge of the text – reflecting the circular motion of the book – how
knowledge has been discovered however nothing has actually changed in history.

Memory may have been affected by insight of historical records, but history is not influenced by
memory.
The significance of 50 ‘gates’ relates to the Jewish religion where the ‘50th gate’ contains access to
all knowledge and is a metaphorical tree of wisdom. This relates to the poem in the epigraph –
which states that the Fiftieth Gate is “a hidden gate.” It is a metaphor for God’s vision, and the
knowledge that may come from this gate may be a blessing or a curse.

It is significant that the 50th chapter does not elude any new information (or all knowledge) but
instead reverts back to where the novel began. It may also be interpreted as not having an ending,
and that each generation will continue on and pass on stories.

Always: sense of certainty, absolutely positive – dissimilar from memory which is often not entirely
certain.

Blackness = emptiness, nothingness, lack of knowledge or remembrance. This characterises that

without memory there is nothing

Illumination: spark, light, a concept of knowledge, enlightenment

Hidden fragment: ‘hidden’ links to the concept of the ‘50th gate’ as being hidden whilst ‘fragment’
reflects the disjointed, discord and non-linear manner in which memories exist. It reflects how
memories portray one aspect, but not necessarily the entire context of an event or circumstance.