PART I
Night
In 1941 Ellie lived in Transylvanian, there he studied Talmud and other Jewish studies, such as Kabbalah. After learning with Moshe the Beadle, the Hungarians evacuated all foreign Jews as-well with Moshe. Moshe was able to escape and returned several months later, and explained the brutal treatment that they encountered, but most people did not believe him. 1944 the Nazis gained power in Hungry, and all Jews were crowded into a small ghetto. After a while the Nazis started to deport all the Jews in the ghetto to Auschwitz.
On the train the Jews were packed in, with almost no air to breathe, everyone was thirsty and hungry. After some days of traveling the Jews arrived in Czech, and a German officer takes over the train. The officer warned everyone that to give of their valuables or get shot. The train doors were then nailed to prevent people from escaping. Madame Schächter, was the first person to go crazy on the train, she starts to yell about a fire, which is not there. After some time a few boys beat her to silent as her son watches in fear, but the next night she started to yell once again.
The Jews arrive in Auschwitz, but it was not as they have been told. They were told although it is a labor camp; the families will be kept as one. As the train traveled through the barb wire they see chimneys of smoke, and there is terrible smell, which they later find out that it is human flesh. The camp that they arrived in is the processing camp for Auschwitz.
At Birkenau the Nazis make a selection form those who will live and those who will die. Some of the elders in the camp convince Ellie and his father to lie about their age, in order to stay alive. Ellie and his father were able to stay together, in the work camp. Seeing the body of pits Ellie starts to lose faith in god, and starts to question his acts. The Jews are then stripped, showered, and placed with tattoos on their arms, then they starts the march into Auschwitz itself. In Auschwitz they meet a distant relative, and when he asked about his family they lie, and tell him they are ok. The relative eventually finds out the truth, and never speaks to Ellie again. The Jews are then escorted from Auschwitz to Buna which is a work camp where they will reside.
In Buna Ellie, and his father are selected to count electrical fittings. Ellie meets some other men which tell him about Zionism. Ellie is then called in to have his gold crown removed, but he is able to talk his way out of it. On another occasion Ellie is beaten by his Kapo, but receives kindness from a French girl, which is working next to him. The prison foreman finally notices Ellie gold crown, and beats him until he gives it up. During an air strike on Buna, two pots of soup are left unattended. Many prisoners watch and as a man risk his life to get some, but when he reaches the pot he is shot, and left for dead. Days later other members that try to steal soup were hanged on the gallows.
During the Jewish High Holidays, Ellie was mocking the idea of people believing in god, and he decided that he will eat on Yom Kippur. Soon after the High Holidays Ellie and his father have been separated into different work unit, Ellie is afraid his father will not pass the next selection and will be murdered. A miracle accord when Ellie returned from work he sees his father still alive, but some old friends did not survive.
Winter arrives and Ellie foot swells up, and he is taken to the hospital. With the Russians starting to approach Buna the Nazis decided to evacuate the camp. Worrying about death in the infirmary, Ellie decide to leave with the Nazis, but they learned later that they have made the wrong choice, as the Russians let the people from the infirmary free. On the evacuation anyone that would stop running will be killed by an S.S. After reaching their destination Ellie and his father keep each other awake, and support each other.
Another selection is made, but Ellie father did not pass it although he was able to sneak his father back to the other line. The survivors are then loaded into a train without a roof, and travel for 10 days. The Jews were all living on the snow that was falling on them, as they go by German towns the Germans would throw food and watch them fight for it. The train finally arrived in Buchenwald and only 12 men from Ellie car survived.
The journey made Ellie father very sick, and Ellie would bring his food, but deep down he had wished he can keep the food for his own survival. Ellie father would get beaten daily, so Ellie told the head SS, but it did not help. On the morning on Jan 29, 1945 Ellie finds out that his father has been cremated, Ellie felt relief instead of sadness.
On April 5th the Nazis started killing all the Jews, with the news that the American were coming. Ion April 11th the Americans reaches the camp, but Ellie is struck ill by the food. Ellie wakes a free man looks into and says “a corpse gazed back at me”.
Survival in Auschwitz
Primo Levi 24 when the Nazis captured him on Dec 13, 1943. Levi, was sent to Auschwitz by train. When he arrived in Auschwitz his group of 650 was divided and only 135 would remain alive, while the others were sent to the gas chambers. At Auschwitz they felt starvation, although there was a faucet which had a sign against drinking from it. The new arrivals at the camp would be tricked into trading their bread, for spoons, but they were soon able to call the bluff. Levi was given number 174517 (Levi 2008), in which he would need to show in order to receive his food. Levi finds out that everything in Auschwitz is illegal, and one of the most important things to acquire is shoes.
Levi is assigned to Block 30 in which there are many languages being spoken. All the conditions were very bad including the bathroom, every morning people run like animals to get their bread. The inmates are warned to stay clean, as those lice can cause death quickly. During work one day Levi injures his foot, and finds himself in Ka-Be (the infirmary). In Ka-Be there is no work which has to be done, and only to rest up was the goal.
Levi is discharged from the infirmary, but he ends up in block 45. He will now have to get himself a new spoon, and find new friends, as he does not know anyone. In his new Block Levi has new bunk mate, who is much bigger then him, so it’s hard for Levi to sleep. Most of the prisons dream about food and freedom, as you can hear their teeth move. The work in the Block is much harder, and Levi is paired up with a strong man to help him. The men have to drag sleepers through the mud which is very hard.
A good day, in the winter cold you can see the sun start to rise, and by midday you can see the mountains, as-well Birkenau were their women are murdered. In Buna there are many different languages spoken, but they all are still slaves. It is a good day because the sun is shining, and you can see faces of people which the winter you could not. Levi group found extra soup and they finally had some feel in their stomachs. In Buna there is an “Exchange Market”, which happens without the SS noticing. All of the trades are done illegal, as the people in Buna risk their lives for it.
After some time a new unit opened, and Levi was able to join by the Kommando. His new Kapo was evil like the other, but the work was less intensive.
Another brutal winter falls upon Levi, but he was fortunate to get a job in the Laboratory in which he can escape the cold and sickness. More and more people are being killed, as they the Russians start to advance on the camp. On Juan 11th 1945 Levi is back in Ka-Be for a fever. As the Russians advance all prisoners that can walk are taken on a 12 mile march and the rest are left in Ka-Be.
Before long huts started going on fire, and other patients were roaming the area naked, and looking for a place to stay. Levi did not allow the others to come into his hut. The Russians arrived on Jan 27th, where all the prisoners were freed.
PART II
Levi and Ellie both chose to write books about the Holocaust in order to educate us about the events that transgressed. Both of the men were survivors of the evil of Hitler. Levi was a young adult, and Ellie was still a teenager. Both books will go on to explain the horrific acts of the Holocaust, and from where they came.
Ellie was a young Frum boy from Transylvania, which would learn with his teacher Moishe any chance he received. Unfortunately Ellie teacher was captured, and escaped, but when he tried to warn the Jews in the city no one would here from it. Eventually the Nazis took over Sighet which Ellie saw the Nazis as “distant but polite” (Wiesel 2006, 9). Life restored to normal, but the Jews were then transferred and placed in a ghetto. After being in the ghetto for a while, Ellie and his family are transferred to Auschwitz. Ellie and his father are taken to Birkenau where he is separated from the rest of his family.
One of the most horrifying parts of Night is when they are walking to the flames, and watching the sick actions of the Nazis. The moment Ellie witnesses these acts, he loses faith in god. Ellie main goal in the camps was to keep his father alive, but eventually his father passes on just a month before they were freed.
Unlike Ellie, Levi first impression on the camp was not as horrific. Levi was older so he was sent to work from the start; he did not jump from line to line, but he always feared the selection. Levi did not see the inhumane acts as Ellie did at the arrival in camp, thus he had less of a connection to the killings.
Levi ran from Anti-Semitism for four years before being captured by the Nazis. All of this was not such a crazy act for Levi as it was for Ellie. The S.S. men did not seem evil as Levi would imagine, but more of a police officer type of person. Because Levi was older he would analyze his best chance for survival, eventually Levi gets himself a job as a chemist through his smart work ethics.
Both books are great reads, in which you can see how a horrific act can destroy a nation, and its faith. As the age difference between authors would be a major play in the books, we can still see how they saw and felt the horrific death that took place around them. The transportation was done mostly by train, besides towards the end of the war were both authors were forced to run miles to the next destination. The living condition was unbearable for both parties, and all were sleepless through the night.
When you start to dissect both books you will realize, that there is not much of a difference in what went on in the camps, but there is a difference in the view point. As Ellie a young boy all he cared about was his father, on the other hand Levi knew that he had to fight for himself and no one else.
PART III While reading the books, one cannot imagine the horrific acts to bestow upon a human nation. While both books go into grave detail how they were captured, and how they survived, it send chills through your body just thinking of it. Never before did I realize how many people wrote books about the Holocaust. When it comes down to it all the books connect in the same way, how rude the soldiers were, and how they all starved. Hunger is one of the worst punishments you can go through, and yet every single person suffered. For most people the Holocaust is just a part of history, but for me it’s a part of my life. As a Jewish man I hear stories of how relatives of mine (grandmother, aunts and uncles) which did not escape alive. What a different world we would live in if there were 6 million more Jews around. History repeats itself if we do not remind our self of the events that happen, after I read these books, my mind opened and noticed if we do not teach our children about history can repeat. We hope and pray that such an evil decree will never fall upon a nation as it did in the Holocaust.

Bibliography
Levi, Primo. Survival in Auschwitz. New York: Classic House Books, 2008.
Wiesel, Ellie. Night. New York : Hill and Wang, 2006.

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[ 1 ]. Central part of Romania.
[ 2 ]. Jewish civil and ceremonial law.
[ 3 ]. Mystical interpretation of the Torah.
[ 4 ]. A member of the National Socialist German Workers' Party.
[ 5 ]. A Jewish State in Israel.
[ 6 ]. A prisoner who had S.S. duties.
[ 7 ]. Day of Atonement
[ 8 ]. Term for infirmary
[ 9 ]. Orthodox Jew