holocaust
Holocaust. Even this word alone can dredge up ominous feelings of dread. "Such a terrible thing that happened," we might say. The truth of the matter is we cannot even begin to fathom the true depths of the events that took place during that time period. Elie Wiesel has tried to give life to these sensations in his book titled Night. The autobiography opens in the town of Signet, Translyvania, at the time of WW II. His Jewish mother and father raised Elie here with his two sisters. He was a school boy interested in the "secrets of Jewish mysticism" (Wiesel 3) His life seemed good, however it is not until German troops enter Hungarian territory that life would change for the Jews of Signet. On Passover the persecution of these Jews begins. This is when German soldiers begin giving the Jews rules to follow. Some of these were that they had to give all valuables over to the Germans, they also had to wear a yellow star at all times, and they were forbidden to go to re!staurants, travel, attend synagogue, or go out after six o'clock. Soon the Jews were placed in ghettos. The Jewish people of Signet tried to look at it positively and saw it as "A Little Jewish Republic" (Wiesel 9). They only stay
When they arrive at Buchenwald, Elie's father is too weak to go on and begs his son to let him sleep. He takes care of his father giving him his own rations of coffee, soup, and bread. His father then dies on January 29, 1945. Elie is ashamed that he is somewhat relieved to be free of him. Elie remains at Buchenwald until April 11 and is transferred to the children's block. There is no more story to tell after his father dies. Right before liberation, there is much confusion in the camp. The Jews think that they will all be shot, but they are evacuated from the camp in thousands each day. On April 11 there is a battle between the camp resistance organization and the SS Army, with the resistance winning. That evening an American tank arrives at the camp. The first thing the free men wanted was food. They could not think of revenge or their families "Nothing but bread" (Wiesel 109). Elie was sick from food poisoning after the liberation. However, when he was able ! a not reached by the Nazi's until 1944. Yet he survived to tell the tale of running all night in his cadaverous condition once the Russian Front approached the camps and before that, of the endless months of sparse rations, hard labor, lamentable fighting, and Nazi Criminality. Throughout, however, there is always hope as much as despair. How else could the reader bear the brutality? I found it interesting that I was reading of ethical behavior, generosity, and the survival of human goodness under conditions of extreme privation, freezing winter nights and days, and only the little ration of bread and soup. No, there was no other choice but to try to survive and last out the time until the liberation by Russians or Americans. Heavy, but always balanced with hope and many long moments of relief of suffering between beatings, I found this book not as difficult to read as one might think, thanks to the sense of balance by the author Elie Wiesel. He dwells more on human thou! They were no longer themselves. A few days later they were to leave Birkenau. They reached another camp with a sign to the entrance reading "Work is Liberty!" (Wiesel 38). They were now in Auschwitz. It is here that they were given identification numbers tattooed on their arms. This became their name. Elie had become numb to beatings by now, and had witnessed numerous hangings. Elie's father begins to get weaker, yet Elie stands by him, even giving him his rations of food to keep him alive. A few months later they were evacuated because the Russian army was aid to be approaching. So they left camp on a dark snowy night and were forced to run to their next destination over forty mile
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1797
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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