<p>I am writing a college essay about my experience visiting Majdanek, a concentration camp in Poland. It is about being in a huge room where from floor to ceiling are piles of the shoes from the victims of the concentration camp, and how those shoes symbolized those lives to me. My dad read it and was offended that I was comparing dirty, old shoes to these lives because he did not understand quite what it was as he had not heard of Majdanek or this room with shoes. It is clear that I am in a concentration camp (I mention the gas chambers 50 yards away and other clues) and I feel it is very clear. Thoughts? Do you assume that whoever is reading your essay is educated on the topic, or is there a need to explain it?</p>
<p>You just now you quite rightly assumed that we are not familiar with Madjenek when you said </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>and you easily familiarized us with it.</p>
<p>It sounds like you will need to describe the room full of shoes briefly as well, as you just did.</p>
<p>In general, you can assume that your readers are generally well educated and are familiar with well-known places and events. You cannot imo assume that they will be familiar with finer details pertaining to those well-known events.</p>
<p>If you are unsure, then add the few extra words that will make certain that you are clear.</p>
<p>Also specify that it was a German/Nazi concentration camp. If your reader is Polish, s/he might be offended without those modifiers.</p>
<p>ADad, could you read over my essay and reassure me that I explain it enough? I feel that I did, however, my parents went off on how they didn’t get it.</p>