The Holocaust, was a time period from 1933-1945, in which primarily Jews and other groups were imprisoned and exterminated by Nazi Germany. With the ascendance of Adolf Hitler in 1933, most Jews who did not flee Germany were sent to concentration camps. When World War II started, Hitler declared that all Jews in his conquered nations were to be exterminated. By the end of the war, 6 million Jews had been killed, along with Gypsies, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, the disabled, and others. Night by Elie Wiesel, starts out in Elie’s hometown of Sighet, Romania.
Eliezer is a teenage boy living in the Hungarian town of Sighet, Romania. His father is a well respected in the community. Eliezer is a student of Talmud, Jewish oral law and also Cabbala, Jewish mysticism. Eliezer is also very religious since he is an Orthodox Jew. It is 1941 and Sighet is one of the last untouched Jewish communities left in Europe. The first act of anti-Semitism was the deportation of all foreign Jews, including Eliezer’s teacher, Moshe the Beadle. Moshe soon comes back to warn Sighet, that German officials intercepted the train carrying Jews out of Hungary. The Jews were forced to dig graves and ended up being shot and thrown into them. No one believed him, thinking he was mad, including Eliezer. By the spring of 1944, the fascists take control of the Hungarian government and Hungarian capital, Budapest, yet the people of Sighet ignore this. When the Germans arrive in Sighet, they force all Jews to live in ghettos and wear yellow stars. Eventually all the Jews are put on trains bound for Birkenau, leaving all their possessions and lives behind. Being the last family to leave for Birkenau, Martha, former servant of Elizier’s family offers to hide them in her village, but their foolish optimism rejects her offer.
At the first concentration camp Birkenau, Eliezer is separated from his mother and sister, but stays with his father, in which he is very happy about. However they are still uncertain as whether they will be sent to labor camps or cremated. As they moved through Birkenau, they see babies thrown into cremation pits, with a separate pit for adults. Eliezer cannot believe what is happening, and his father cries. After being processed at Birkenau, the prisoners are sent to Auschwitz, where they are tattooed with their prison numbers and stay here for several weeks before being transferred again to Buna.
Throughout Night, the bond that Eliezer has with his father Chlomo passes through a rocky course, but eventually becomes stronger due to the isolation and ultimately the death of Chlomo. This rocky course has events that that go from being inseparable in Birkenau, to feeling as though he is a burden. In between, there are times where Elizer’s relationship is clearly falling apart and then being fixed. The camps greatly influence the father-son relationship that Elie and Chlomo have, sometimes for the better, and sometimes for worse. Originally in 1941 when the Wiesel family was living in Sighet, Eliezer took Chlomo for granted, as any child would. Little did he know that their relationship would permanently change forever.
In Night, Eliezer endures the Holocaust with a purpose to keep his father alive. He is a 15 years old boy when he and Chlomo began their journey through the perilous camps of Auschwitz, Buna, and Buchenwald. Eventually, Eliezer loses his faith in God but not in his father.
Elie Weisel and his family, taken from their home along with hundreds of other Jews from their hometown, were brought to Nazi Germany’s Concentration Camps. “From this moment, you come under the command of the German army…any of you who is later found to have kept anything will be shot on the spot,” (Weisel 15). Even prior to entering Birkenau, Auschwitz, or Burma, the prisoners were forced to give up all belongings under the threat of death. In a godless and unloving environment, a twelve-year-old Elie must now survive against all odds in a concentration camp. “You’re going to be burned. Frizzled away. Turned into ashes,” (Weisel 20). Adolph Hitler had no concern for the Jew’s basic human rights and swore that he would kill them all. The Jews had done nothing to hurt or overthrow Hitler, but they still became the target of his wrath.
The Wiesel family arrived at the Birkenau concentration camp and was instantly separated. An SS commanded, “Men to the left! Women to the right!” (Wiesel 47) and that was the last time Elie saw his mother and sisters. An inmate approached Elie and his father and told them to lie about their age; Elie must make him...
The Holocaust was the mass murder of Jews during the period of 1941 to 1945 under the German Nazi regime. More than six million European Jews were murdered out of a nine million Jewish population. Out of those who had survived was Elie Wiesel, who is the author of a literary memoir called Night. Night was written in the mid 1950’s after Wiesel had promised himself ten years before the making of this book to stay silent about his suffering and undergoing of the Holocaust. The story begins in Transylvania and then follows his journey through a number of concentration camps in Europe. The protagonist, Eliezer or Elie, battles with Nazi persecution and his faith in God and humanity. Wiesel’s devotion in writing Night was to not stay quiet and bear witness; on the contrary, it was too aware and to enlighten others of this tragedy in hopes of preventing an event like this from ever happening again.
This book focuses on many themes: conflict, silence, inhumanity to others, and father/son bonding. We see many, too many, conflicts this young man faces. Eliezer struggles with his faith throughout the story. He believes that God is everywhere, and he can't understand how God could let this happen, especially as Eliezer faces conflict everyday in the concentration camp. He also learns silence means. He says he says it is God's silence that he doesn't understand. He feels that God's silence demonstrates the absence of divine compassion. Another silence that drive confuses Eliezer is the silence of the victims. He cannot understand why they don't fight back, especially with the inhumanity that is forced upon them. It is because of this inhumanity that he loses faith, not only in God but also in men. He tells how at the beginning, the Germans were "distant but friendly." However, when they reach the camps, the soldiers are transformed from men to monsters.
Elie Wiesel, a Jewish boy, lives in Sighet during World War II with his mother, father, and two sisters, and he is very religious and wanted to study Judaism. However, there were warnings by some people that Jewish people were being deported and killed. Although no one believes these warnings, Elie and his family are taken to a ghetto where they have no food. After being in the ghetto Elie and his father are separated from Elie’s mother and sister because of selection and were placed in cattle cars where they had no room. They are taken to Auschwitz where they suffer from hunger, beatings, and humiliation from the guards which causes Elie’s father to become weak. By now Elie loses his faith in God because of all he has been through. Lastly, Elie’s father dies just before the Jews are liberated and Elie sees his reflection in the mirror but does not recognize himself because he looks like a skeleton.
When Eliezer witnesses the horrors of the concentration camp in Auschwitz Eliezer faith was shattered. It was not quick or immediate as it was not easy for Eliezer to question the existence of God. Initially he said that it is a trial by god to see how strong their faith is. But at a later stage Eliezer becomes disillusioned with God’s power. “A truck drew close and unloaded its hold: small children. Babies!
Why did Elie let it happen? What could Elie really have done as an alternative to save his father from dying? He could not have helped his father from being beaten up by the SS guards but he did try to help him from being attacked by his own men in his sleeping barracks. Elie really wanted his father to live. Elie does everything possible to help his father unless it would do harm to himself.
When Eliezer and his father, Chlomo, arrived at their first concentration camp, Eliezer was in an emotional agony. He considers running to the electrical wire to escape the "slow agony in the flames." His father replies by weeping and reciting the prayer of the dead. "May His Name be blessed and magnified" This tests Eliezer’s faith for the first time. "Why should I bless His name...what had I to thank Him for," he said...
After a brief stay at Auschwitz, they are moved to a new camp, Buna. At Buna, Elie goes through the dehumanizing process of the concentration camps. Both he and his father experience severe beatings at the hand of the kapos. All the prisoners are overworked and undernourished. Many lose faith in God, including Elie. He witnesses several hangings, one of a boy with an angelic face, and sees him struggle for over thirty minutes fighting for his life. To a stranger's cry of "Where is God now?", Elie answers: "He is hanging here on this gallows...." (p. 62). As Elie witnesses the hanging of the young pipel, he feels that it is his God who is hanging on the gallows. Elie i...
Having faith in something can help one with survival in tough times. Elie and his family were taken from their home to the concentration camp Auschwitz. His mother and sisters are killed and he and his father go to labor camp. They get little food and are transported to many camps. Elie undergoes operation for a foot injury. In the end his father dies of a sickness and he is liberated. Elie survives the Holocaust through a battle of conscience - first believing in God, then resisting his faith in God, and ultimately replacing his faith with obligation to his father.
Elie goes to Auschwitz at an innocent, young stage in his life. Due to his experiences at this concentration camp, he loses his faith, his bond with his father, and his innocence. Situations as horrendous as the Holocaust will drastically change people, no matter what they were like before the event, and this is evident with Elie's enormous change throughout the memoir Night.
Eliezer’s horrible experiences at Auschwitz left him caught up in his sorrows and anger toward God. His loss of faith in God arises at Auschwitz. He doubts arise when he first sees the furnace pits in which the Nazis are burning babies. This horrifying experience ...
Upon entering the concentration camps, Eliezer and his father demonstrate a normal father and son relationship. In a normal father son relation, the father protects and gives advice to the son, and the son is dependent and reliant on the father. Eliezer and his father demonstrate this relationship to extremes throughout the beginning of their time in the camp. Eliezer reveals his childlike dependency upon entering the camp. Eliezer displays this dependency during first selection by stating, “The baton pointed to the left. I first wanted to see where they would send my father. Were he to have gone to the right, I would have run after him (Night 26-32) ” . Eliezer’s determination to stay with his father was constantly present. Eliezer reflects on a time in the camp which is all that he could think about was not to lose his father in the camp. Eliezer also requires his father’s protection during their stay in the concentration camps. Unintentionally demanding this protection, Eliezer remembers, “I kept walking, my father holding my hand” (Night 29). Eliezer continues to show his need for his father’s presence. Eliezer’s actions and thoughts reflect his