MAJDANEK MAIN CAMP ANALYSIS

Visual Analysis of Majdanek Main Camp

The image that will be analyzed is a gas chamber at Majdanek, a Nazi concentration
camp in Poland. In this image I will analyze the purpose of the image, the audience, ethos,
pathos, and logos.
Purpose of the Image and its Message
The image of the Holocaust Concentration Camp implies that the author is introducing
this historical image to conduce awareness among individuals that were not present at the time.
The author left the door of the gas chamber closed when the image was taken suggesting that
there was no escape under Hitlers time, once you were in there you could only see the stained
blue walls by Zyklon B. Zyklon B was the name of the cyanide- based gas Germans would use in
the early 1900s to kill the weak Jews that were not able to sustain themselves while working. The
closed door could also imply that the outside society was not aware of the events that were
occurring as for the longest time the world did not take action for the Holocaust events.
Audience Characteristics
Due to the images stand in history, the image may be targeted at those who 1) those who
have family members that may have been in the events, 2) are college students writing a
rhetorical analysis, 3) are college students in general and show interest or need the information
for a class, 4) are history teachers, professors, teachers to be and 5) those who do not want the
events to occur again and want to be informed.

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Ethos
The ethos in the image is implied in history, the credibility of the image takes us back to
the Holocaust events that occurred as Jews were being killed and overworked along with other
races that Germans thought to be unwanted. The credibility of the image is present as we study
the Holocaust events in our history class in the U.S. The image history portrays the beliefs of
one person can be ethically right to others even when its wrong as it is the case with Hitler and
the Germans that followed him.
Pathos
The reflection of pathos in the image depends on the audience. A family member of a
person that went through the Holocaust events may feel a deeply sorrow by the image, thinking
of the different possibilities their family members could have been tortured. A Jew may feel this
image provokes them rage by thinking if that didnt stop that could have been them. A college

MAJDANEK MAIN CAMP ANALYSIS

student may think this image portrays how low certain individuals may be to gather all the power
possible without carrying about their people.
Logos
The author is setting the image to the peoples interpretation and historical knowledge.
For someone who does not have knowledge about the image this image may portray no logic and
may only be a simple blue room as for someone who has knowledge about the Holocaust this gas
chamber may mean the people ruling at the time had no logic since they made the prisoners
suffer a lot and gave them no physical training and good treatment to take out the best work in
them.