Elie Wiesel's 'Night' and the Holocaust

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Elie Wiesel was born as Eliezer Wiesel on September 30, 1928, in Sighet, Romania. Elie Wiesel is known for his memoir Night, in which he recounted his experiences surviving the Holocaust (Biography.com). Wiesel was the son of Shlomo and Sarah Wiesel, his parents owned a grocery store in Sighet. Elie Wiesel grew up with his three sisters and pursued Jewish religious studies before he and his family were forced into a concentration camp in Auschwitz- Birkenau during World War II in 1944. Wiesel was almost fifteen years old when he was put into a concentration camp and was separated from his family. Shortly after they were forced into camp, Sarah Wiesel and his youngest sister, Tziporah, died in Birkenau while his two older sisters, Beatrice and …show more content…

A father loves his son and his son is one of the most important things in life for him. A father will always be proud of their son(s) and they will always matter. Elie’s father has great respect in town and in the house. “For a couple of hundred years now, each generation has passed on less and less to his sons- not just less power but less wisdom. And less love” (Psychology Today). Elie felt like he never got the chance to have the father- son bonding because of his reputation in town and his father was a busy man. Everything changes for the father and son when they are forced to camp. In the inhuman conditions in the concentration camps, where people were killed and dehumanized, the relationships between Elie and his father became very important. Elie believes in the traditional role of a protected and protector. Elie’s father looks out for him and saves his son from being strangers by someone on the train. At camp, the traditional role of protector is reserved by Elie, he wanted to protect his father because he was getting weaker as the days went by. Prisoners distinguish horrific events and became selfish, son sacrificed fathers in two occasions in the book and became more like animals and turned on each other. Pipel abused his own father and son killed his own father for a piece of bread on the train the Buchenwald. Elie feels guilty and sad when his father is beaten down by the soldier and dies. He loves his dad, endlessly but he feels like he sacrificed his own father for his own safety. He depends on his father to provide support because his love for his father allows him to endure. Eliezer love is his stronger force of survival than self-preservation. Elie’s father was the reason he remained calm and strong throughout the book. For example, Elie gave his portion of soup and bread to his father so he stays strong. “I was terribly hungry, yet I

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