Explain what the author means by this comparison: "Twenty corpses were through from our wagon. Then the train resumed its journey, leaving in its...

This scene occurs near the end of 's story
and at a point when he isn't sure that he or his father will survive. Hopelessness begins to
creep in; just prior to this, his father's vital signs are so low that the Nazi soldiers nearly
toss him from the train, too. Others have not fared as well on this journey, and they are
stripped and tossed from the train as they serve no further purpose to the Nazi
regime.

The sentence you have provided is a , comparing those tossed from the
train to "naked orphans without a tomb." Orphans are those who have been abandoned,
typically children who have no surviving parents or other family members to care for them. Like
orphans, these prisoners are isolated with no one to show them compassion. They receive no
burial and no mourning; they sadly are completely exposed. Most of the deceased are likely
Jewish, and Jewish custom typically forbids even an open casket of the deceased. Therefore, this
disrespect of a holy custom is appalling. This metaphor furthers the tone of dismay in total
disregard of basic human rights.