Elie Wiesel as a Survivor of the Holocaust

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Six million perished in the flames, mass shootings and gas chambers of concentration camps during the Holocaust. This started when the Nazi party established a “Final Solution” that sought out to eradicate the inferior Jewish race from Germany and the world (“Holocaust”). A person cannot look at this event and see nothing except for the dark, evil side of human nature. However, if a person looks at the Holocaust from a survivor’s point of view, they can see the good side of human nature, especially if someone looks at it from Elie Wiesel’s perspective. Elie Wiesel and his family were Romanian Jews who were, unfortunately, swept into the Holocaust’s horrors. Elie managed to escape the Holocaust using tools of survival, including love for family and impassivity. He did not let being a victim of the Holocaust define him, so Elie moved on to become an inspirational figure that represented and spoke out for all of those who constantly suffer due to the oppressive aspects of society. No one could have predicted such an outcome that is Elie Wiesel’s life story in the face of catastrophe like the Holocaust. The causes and atrocities of an event like the Holocaust further the existence of the dark side of human nature. Before the Holocaust occurred, certain events foreshadowed danger for the Jewish community. For example, Germany suffered greatly after losing World War I. After the war ended and the stock market crashed at the end of the twenties, many countries were left in economic and political ruin, especially Germany. Some Germans blamed the Jewish population for the country’s loss because they were not faithful to Germany. Hitler represented the Nazi Party and became Chancellor of Germany by advocating this popular belief (“Adolf H... ... middle of paper ... ...Michael Berenbaum. "Camps." Encyclopaedia Judaica. Ed. Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik. 2nd ed. Vol. 4. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2007. 383-390. World History in Context. Web. 12 Mar. 2014. "Holocaust." Europe Since 1914: Encyclopedia of the Age of War and Reconstruction. Ed. John Merriman and Jay Winter. Vol. 3. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2006. 1335- 1348. World History in Context. Web. 16 Mar. 2014. "The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity." The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity. The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity, n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2014. "The Holocaust." World War II Reference Library. Ed. Barbara C. Bigelow, et al. Vol. 1: Almanac. Detroit: UXL, 2000. 157-179. World History in Context. Web. 1 Mar. 2014. Wiesel, Elie. Night. New York, NY: Hill and Wang, a Division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006. Print.

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