Premium Essay

The Holocaust In Eliezer Wiesel's Night

Submitted By
Words 1388
Pages 6
The Holocaust. What comes to mind when this single event is mentioned? Tragedy, fear, death, sadness? For many, the thought of the Holocaust sounds like it occurred a lifetime ago. However, the atrocities which the Jews faced transpired less than seventy-five years ago. The Holocaust is not another shrapnel of ancient antiquity to be disserted – it is a chapter of modern history which must be deliberated and reflected upon. For this time, history cannot repeat itself. The nefarious concentration camps had their own social climate, as Jews braced themselves every day for the same endless battle of survival and did anything they had to do in order to outlive their relentless enemy – death. The story of how countless people were ripped from their homes and thrown into death camps is told firsthand, by the autobiographical novel, Night, written by Holocaust survivor Eliezer Wiesel. According to Wiesel’s recollection, it all commenced when German officers began to enter Jewish towns and occupy them. There was talk of German tensions, but almost everyone was indifferent. Before they knew it, Jews were being placed into ghettos, curfews were being imposed on them, and they were having more rights taken away from them. Anti-Semitism became …show more content…
The Holocaust unimaginably beleaguered not only Jews, but the entire globe during the course of the mid-twentieth century. Its effects are still affluent today, and it is imperative that we continue to study this genocide and be able to not only understand how and why it happened, but also what occurred during the course of those twelve horrific years, for those who choose to ignore history are doomed to wear it

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

The Holocaust Exposed In Eliezer Wiesel's Night

...Eliezer Wiesel was born on September 30th, 1928 in the small, largely distant town of Sighet, Romania. Growing up with the heavy influence of his father's liberal brand of Judaism, and following in his mother and grandfather's tradition of learning Jewish spiritual teachings, Eliezer was a largely quiet child, in the small town of Sighet. Eventually the Nazis arrived in 1944, and soon forced all of the town's native Jewish population into Ghettos(The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity). Soon after, the invading Nazis deported all of Sighet's Jewish population into work camps. And for many months, Eliezar and his father Shlomo, had to endure grueling , inhumane conditions in the life of the work camp. Despite all of these conditions, Eliezar managed to pull through.. however.. at the cost, of losing his father....

Words: 267 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Change In Elie Wiesel's Night

...Eliezer’s Character Change The Holocaust was a devastating time in history where Jews were forced into concentration camps and worked, starved, or burned to death. One of the most influential writers who lived during this time period was Elie Wiesel. Wiesel’s Night is a memoir depicting the journey of a young boy, Eliezer, who experienced the Holocaust at a very young age. The Nazis occupied Hungary in the spring of 1944, and Eliezer and his family are deported to a concentration camp. While at several different concentration camps, Eliezer faces a variety of different situations, and he learns to adapt to his circumstances. As his father becomes weaker and weaker throughout the memoir, Elie starts to develop mixed emotions for him. During...

Words: 1498 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Night

...Maschler AP Literature-Band 6 May 1, 2011 Major Works Data Sheet- Night Title: Night Author: Elie Wiesel Date of Publication: 1958 Genre: autobiography, memoir Historical information about period of publication: World War II, and the Holocaust, ended in April 1945 when the liberating Allied armies came through the conquered territories in Nazi Europe. Night describes 16 year old Elie’s loss of faith in God, humanity, family and morality in general. Elie, therefore, vowed to not speak of his experience in Auschwitz, Buna or Buchenwald (or any event between 1943 and 1945, from the beginning of the occupation of Hungary to Germany’s liberation in 1945) for ten years, until he had time to internalize this dramatic loss, and regain his faith and possession of his memory and life. In 1954, after realizing that even less than ten years after the end of the Holocaust, the world was already forgetting and Jews were abandoning their roots, the time had come to testify and justify to the world that Hitler had not succeeded. Biographical Information about the author: Eliezer “Elie” Wiesel was born on September 30, 1928 in Sighet Romania, where his memoir Night begins. In his childhood (up to the Nazi occupation of Romania) his father encouraged his study of the Torah, other Judaic texts and other literary works. As described in the beginning of Night, Elie was also curious about the realm of Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism. From 1944 to 1945, Elie...

Words: 2916 - Pages: 12

Premium Essay

The Holocaust

... Research Paper 1 The Holocaust In this paper, I will be presenting many facts that show what the Holocaust is and why it occurred. The Holocaust was an organized, persecution, and murder of approximately six million Jewish people including 1.5 million Jewish children. The Holocaust took place in Europe by the Nazi regime and its collaborators that happened between 1933-1945. During that time, Jews were known as an inferior race. They were thought to be a threat to the German community. After years of having the Nazis rule in Germany, Hitler decided his “final solution”. This solution included mass killing centers constructed in the concentration camps of Poland. In the article “Elie Wiesel Biography” by The Biography.com, the author’s main thesis is that the Holocaust was a very traumatic event that caused an eye-opener for humans about how cruel humans can be. This article talks about Elie Wiesel, a holocaust survivor who is now a Nobel-Prize winning writer, teacher and activist known for the memoir Night. In his books he discusses his experiences of surviving the Holocaust. At the age of 15, Wiesel and his entire family were sent to Auschwitz as part of the Holocaust (Eliezer Wiesel, 2014). Elie and his father were separated from his mother and younger sister and...

Words: 420 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Night In Elie Wiesel's Life Is Beautiful

...“Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, that turned my life into one long night seven times sealed.” (34) After reading Elie Wiesel’s account of the Holocaust in his book Night and watching the movie Life is Beautiful, directed by Roberto Benigni, I determined that, the book, Night has the greatest impact on the reader. Based on the mood and tone of the two stories, the amount of details, and the main characters of the stories, I believe that Wiesel’s account of the Holocaust leaves the reader more impacted than Benigni’s story of the same event. In Elie Wiesel’s literary memoir Night, which he wrote in the nineteen-fifties, after his ten years of vowed silence in respect for those who lost their lives in the Holocaust, Wiesel...

Words: 985 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Inhumane In The Book Night By Elie Wiesel

...atrocities of the Holocaust. ‘Night’ is set during the Holocaust time period in 1944–45, toward the end of the World War Two. It mainly takes place in Auschwitz and Buchenwald which are both Nazi Germany concentration camps. The memoir depicts his experiences with his father in those concentration camps. ‘Night’ takes the reader on a journey where Eliezer, who was only 15 and his family, along with many other Jews, were forcibly removed from their hometown and transported to Auschwitz and Buchenwald. He wrote about their battle for survival, and of his battle with God for a way to understand the spiteful cruelty he witnesses each day as well as his increasing disgust with humanity due to the inhumane treatment of the Jews and how they were...

Words: 1143 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Universal Declaration Of Human Rights In Elie Wiesel's Night

...place during WWI and WWII, The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was established in order to better assure fairness in the world and to declare the basic rights and freedoms all human beings are obliged to have. Additionally, it states that human rights are to be enjoyed by all people, regardless of who they are or where they live; while also including civil and political rights such as the right to live, freedom of speech, and privacy. In Elie Wiesel’s Night, Wiesel shares an impeccable account and the overlying theme of the dehumanizing macabre that is referred to as the Holocaust- particularly the idea that if one is treated as subhuman, death overrules innocence, the fight for survival results the loss of feelings, and extreme starvation outweighs all....

Words: 534 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Differences And Similarities Between Night And Elie Wiesel

...Historical Background on Night and Eliezer Wiesel In Sighet, Transylvania on September 30,1928 a Holocaust survivor was born. Eliezer Wiesel who is 85 years old, grew up with three siblings, all girls. Shlomo, Elie’s father was a shopkeeper. When he was 15 Elie and his family were forced to a concentration camp. Wiesel's parents died and so did one of his sisters. When Elie was freed from camp Buchenwald in 1945, he went and studied in France three years later. His friend, Francois mauriac, later convinced him to write about the events and his story about what all happened in those camps. Wiesel is a writer and a world activist. He has written plenty of books including: The Oath, The Gates of the forest, and Town of Luck. Eliezer is also...

Words: 479 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Dehumanization In Night By Elie Wiesel

...In Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night, the narrator describes how he struggled to survive in numerous concentration camps during the Holocaust. Eliezer changes throughout the text from a religious to an unemotional, lifeless being; the dehumanization he endured in the camps caused him to lose his childhood. Elie Wiesel uses simile, personification, and metaphor to demonstrate the effects of dehumanization. Wiesel uses simile to demonstrate that dehumanization causes people to act like animals. For example, Eliezer states how inhumanly his actions are: “ A man appeared, crawling like a worm in the direction of the cauldrons”(Wiesel 66). This quote demonstrates that people would do anything for the survival of themselves. Even if they were shot down, they would want to help themselves first before others. This quote is animal-like because, in the story, Eliezer is describing this prisoner to a worm. Elie dehumanizes others because he is jealous and wants what others have. The use of the word worm implies to an animal who slithers on the ground. In conclusion, Wiesel uses simile to demonstrate that dehumanization causes people to act like animals. Wiesel uses personification to demonstrate that dehumanization causes people to go crazy. For example, Eliezer states, “We...

Words: 407 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

The Holocaust

...RELIGION AND SOCIETY UNIT ONE * The Holocaust By Chelsea Nguyen 11 Silver QUESTION NUMBER 3: Discuss the relationship Wiesel has with God throughout Night. Eliezer Wiesel presents the Jewish faith in a moment of extreme darkness however, what gives him the courage and strength to continue to live is his connection with religion and his relationship with God. Initially Elie shows strong devotion, then becomes disillusioned with God’s power, and ultimately redefines the position God holds in his life. In the beginning, Elie Wiesel’s relationship with God in Night shows strong devotion. Wiesel made spirituality inherent to all activities, wished to spend his life focused around Judaism, and devoted all his free time and energy on religious studies. Wiesel believed that religion was a basic survival need, showing that he followed his religion instinctively. When asked why he prayed, Wiesel couldn’t think of a proper answer and thought, “…strange question, why did I live, why did I breathe?”. Wiesel maintained confidence in religion as the situation deteriorated. Wiesel and his people gave thanks to God for survival, keeping hope that God was putting them through a test of hardships what would keep them alive if they kept their faith. When they had arrived at Auschwitz, they thanked God and were able to regain their confidence because, “Here was a sudden release from the terrors of the previous nights”. Wiesel thanked God for the little things that helped him because...

Words: 882 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Literary Techniques Used In Ellie Wiesel's 'Night'

...Arrishen Nanthakumar Ms. Mitchell ENG 4U0 7 November 2016 Night Essay Ellie Wiesel’s purpose of writing the night was to show the world the real horrors of the holocaust. Ellie successfully created an atmosphere in which the reader can achieve a heightened understanding of the horror of the holocaust. He uses literary devices, Diction and Syntax to show how it felt to be part of the holocaust. He wrote Night to not stay silent and bear witness to the holocaust. He used literary devices such as Alliteration, Foreshadowing and Irony to really make the reader feel like they were experiencing the same things Wiesel did in the holocaust. The author used Foreshadowing using Madame Schachter. She had visions of horrible things occurring outside...

Words: 1010 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Night By Elie Wiesel Reflection

...religious are close with God and deny questioning His Being. Wiesel was one of the Jews who survived the Holocaust during World War ll. Wiesel’s identity of God changed during his experience in Auschwitz due to the harsh conditions faced. In the novel Night, by Elie Wiesel the major theme throughout the whole story is that people struggle to maintain any sort of faith in god when faced with extreme struggles. The greatest change to Elie Wiesel’s identity was his loss of faith in God. Before leaving with his family to the camps, Elie was very religious person he would cry after praying at night. When the German police came to take the Jews to the ghettos, they pulled Elie from his prayer. Elie thanks God when he was told he is...

Words: 533 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Comparing Eliezer Wiesel's Anthem With Night

...Compare and Contrast Anthem with Night Even though books come in many genres, they can still be compared and contrasted. This applies to almost all books. For example, Eliezer Wiesel’s Night and Ayn Rand’s Anthem are different genres. However, the similarities and differences between these author’s works are definite and deserve analysis. Such similarities include how the societies handle the executions of criminals. In Anthem, Equality has to stand “...in the great square with all the children and all the men of the city, sent to behold the burning” (Rand, 38). During Elie’s experience in the Holocaust, he and everyone else in his camp has to walk “...past the hanged boy and stared at his extinguished eyes, the tongue gaping from his mouth. The Kapos forced everyone to look him squarely in the face” (Wiesel, 63). Also, both Elie and Equality receive messages from watching a public execution. When the pipel is hanged, Elie thinks that God is no longer with the Jews and takes it to...

Words: 617 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Night Essay

...Elie Wiesel’s Break Of Silence One of the most dreadful events in the history of mankind: the Holocaust during World War II. The holocaust was a genocide of Jews, homosexuals, mentally handicapped, and crippled. The holocaust killed more than six million Jews alone. Elie Wiesel is a Jew who went through the terror of the holocaust and its concentration camp. He tells his story in his book Night. Night reveals how Wiesel lost his family, faith, and innocence to the evil of mankind during the holocaust. Wiesel believes it is important for people today to read this book because they need to be shown how important it is not to keep silent and let something like the holocaust happen again. Elie has some of the most marvelous figurative language throughout the novel, starting off with some metaphors. Elie and the rest of the block are running to a peculiar concentration camp, with no rest Elie starts having speculation of what will happened if he stops running. “ A great ideal wave of men came rolling onward and would have crushed me like an ant” (87). No analysis How does this relate to the author’s purpose? The next phase awkward phrase is about when there was two cauldrons of soup in the middle of the road with no one to guard it. “Two lambs with hundreds of wolves lying in the wait for them. Two lambs without a shepherd, free for the taking. But who would dare?” (59) Have you ever been so mad at someone that everytime you talk to them you questioned them with anger or say...

Words: 699 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Night

...Night is a memoir written by Elie Wiesel about the suffering of the Jews during the Holocaust. Night is also an autobiography account of a recollection of the Holocaust through the eyes of survivor, Elie Wiesel. He takes his readers with him from his home and beyond. After reading this book, readers will have a deeper understanding of the holocaust. “FEAR WAS GREATER THAN HUNGER” (59) Wiesel takes the reader through the events of the day. Half the group, his father among them, were at work. The group Eliezer was in stayed behind and was resting when the bombing started. All inmates were confined to their blocks. Almost in slow motion, Wiesel describes how one prisoner crawled on his belly through the deserted street to a cauldron of soup that stood unguarded in the roadway. The other prisoners look on with fear and envy, all of them consumed with hunger, at the man risking his life in quest of a little soup. When the famished man finally manages to pull himself to his feet and reaches into the cauldron, he is shot and falls dead beside it. Wiesel notes that, despite the danger to themselves from the bombing, the inmates were not afraid but glad to see the camp being bombed. “Fear was greater than hunger” this man showed mutiny and rebellion towards the SS officers just so he could survive , he put himself in danger in order to live this reason is why everyone-including the SS officers watches in disbelief as one man who dared committed suicide for a ration or two more of soup...

Words: 547 - Pages: 3