Night, Schindler's List, and The Diary of Anne Frank

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Night, Schindler's List, and The Diary of Anne Frank

The Holocaust was the most horrific time that man has known. To survive this atrocity, the Holocaust victims man upon man atrocity, one had to summon bravery, strength, courage, and wisdom that many did not know they possessed. One survivor is Elie Wiesel, whose exquisite writings have revealed the world of horror suffered by the Jewish people. Elie Wiesel's statement, "...to remain silent and indifferent is the greatest sin of all..." stands as a succinct summary of his views on life and serves as the driving force of his work.

Elie Wiesel was born as Eliezer, a free Jewish male, on September 30, 1928, in the remote town of Sighet, Hungary. The third child and only male of four, his family was prosperous and respected within the town. In 1941, life was good for the Wiesel family, and the Sighet Jews. Unaware of the turmoil in the world around him, Eliezer was content with studying his religion, and enjoying life as the son of a father with high political connections. He was devoted to his studies to love and serve his god. He was befriended by one of the locals, Moche the Beadle, who agreed to be his spiritual Master.

Gradually, in seemingly insignificant, isolated instances, life for the Sighet Jews began to change. Sometime toward the end of 1941, the foreign Jews were expelled from this town, sent to destinations unknown to any of them. This included his Master, Moche. Moche returned in late 1942 with horrific accounts of what he had witnessed.

“He (Moche) told his story and that of his companions. The train full of deportees had crossed the Hungarian frontier and on Polish territory had been taken in charge by the Gestapo. There it had stopped...

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...ed. Responses to Elie Wiesel: Critical Essays by Major Jewish and Christian Scholars. New York: Persea Books, Inc., 1978

Prince, Angel. March 10, 1997. Elie Wiesel Bio. Online. (http://xroads.virginia.edu/%7ECAP/HOLO/ELIEBIO.HTM).

Rittner, Carol, ed. Elie Wiesel: Between Memory and Hope. New York: New York University Press, 1990

Rosenfeld, Alvin and Irving Greenberg. Confronting the Holocaust: The Impact of Elie Wiesel (Bloomington and London: Indiana University Press, 1978), 35. Online. Elie Wiesel’s Contribution to Holocaust Writings. 18 November 1999. (http://www.bxscience.edu/orgs/holocaust/poetry/wiesel.html).

Speilvogel, Jackson J. Western Civilization: Comprehensive Volume. California: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning Company, 1999.

Wiesel, Elie. Night. New York: Hill and Wang, 1972.

Wiesel, Elie. Dawn. New York: Bantam Books, 1982.

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