Why Did Elie Wiesel Survive The Holocaust

Through the death and destruction of the Holocaust, Elie Wiesel survived. He survived the worst of it, going from one concentration camp to it all. He survived the beginning when thousands of Jews were forcefully put under extremely tight living quarters. By the time they were settled in they were practically living on top of one another, with at least two or three families in one room. He survived Madame Schächter, a 50 year old woman who was shouting she could see a fire on their way to the concentration camp. He survived the filtration of men against all the others, lying his was through the typical questions telling them he was 18 instead of nearly 15; this saved his life. He survived the multiple selections they underwent where they kept the healthiest of them all, while the rest were sent off to the furnaces. He survived the sights he saw, the physical

“Where to? Somewhere right in the depth of Germany, to the other camps; there was no shortage of them” (77). When the time had come for evacuation, they were being called off, block by block. Then, their turn : “Block 57, forward march” (80). The high winds contained massive amounts of snow and ice, always penetrating them. They marched relentlessly with a German official always in their ear telling them to move “faster, you filthy sons of bitches” (81). Their pace quickened, eventually forming into a trot and then finally into a full scale run. The German officials ran alongside them in the cold, bitter air. By the time they stopped running they had crossed 42 miles. 42 miles worth of running nonstop. Due to the German officials, if you stopped running they would shoot you before you could start again, and if the officials didn't get to you, the thousands of other running Jews would trample over you. Their legs probably wouldn't be able to stop them. As Elie described, “our legs were moving mechanically, in spite of us, without us”