Elie Wiesel-Night
The Experiences of Elie Wiesel
The book talks about Elie’s life and his experience as a Jew. The author was born in a small town called Signet. He spent most of his childhood in that town. He had three siblings with whom he had a great relationship with. His parents were religious people, and his father had a prominent position among the Jews (Schoolwork helper). His father had traditional values, and he tried his level best to manage the community. He had a strong will-power and never let emotions get in his way. He also owned a business, and the elder siblings of Elie worked there. Elie, as a boy, followed the strict rules of the house, and he had a strong interest in Jewish literature, especially the Zohar. The book talked about the mysteries and misconceptions of the Jewish culture (Wiesel 3).
Moshe the Beadle, his teacher, had foreign descent, which led to his departure due to the hostility of the native Hungarians. After the teacher’s exile, Elie got to meet him several months later. Moshe the Beadle narrated his sad journey of how he got captured with other Jews, and how they were forced to dig up graves so that prisoners who died could get buried. Moshe the Beadle got lucky when he faked his own death to escape the grasp of his captors. Elie’s teacher had returned to warn the natives of the area of what might befall them if they did nothing. However, most people took his words for granted and said they were merely hallucinations. As a result, people carried on with their normal daily routines.
The naivety cost them dearly. The entrance of the German troops in Hungary gave them the waking call they deserved. From this point, henceforth, their lives would change drastically. The German army came in a peaceful manner, which gave the locals a false sense of security. Even the Passover feasts went on uninterrupted with people celebrating oblivious of the impending danger. Things started to turn sour when the Jewish leaders got locked up on the seventh day of the festivities. The German army then started imposing their own set of laws for the locals. The local Jews were not allowed to keep any valuables such as jewelry in their homes, and they got confined to the houses for three consecutive days. Upon this development, Elie’s father acted quickly to hide whatever valuables they had. After the three gruesome days of confinement, the Jews got ordered to walk around with a form of distinguishing cloth (a yellow star). After this, the Germans also set a six o’clock curfew, no restaurant visits for the Jews, no worship privilege at the synagogue, and no commuting on the train.
To makes matters worse, the Jews got placed in settlements called ghettos. Signets got divided into two ghettos for the Jews to live in. The ghettos got protected with barbed wire, and any doors or windows facing the road were sealed. The people tried to give themselves hope by taking pride in the fact that they lived in their own secluded estate (Wiesel 9). As a result, they continued with their daily life routines hoping that they would get released once the war ended. This turned out to be false hopes. The news came around that they would get sent to foreign places and their new homes demolished. The Jews had no idea of where the journey would take them. The only information they got was to get prepared and only carry the necessary items.
The journey started slowly, and they rested at another settlement where they lived for approximately two days before resuming. They got treated inhumanely in this journey as almost 80 Jews got fitted in a small cattle wagon (Spark notes). The people could hardly breathe, the adults and children were hungry and dehydrated, and they got very tired during the journey. They arrived at a settlement in Kaschau, where they got told that they were under the German regime. After many gruesome days on the road, they arrived at the reception area of Auschwitz (Wiesel 26). They got welcomed by the horrendous smell of burning human flesh. Upon arrival, the men and the women got separated. This was the last time Elie saw his siblings or mother. Elie and his father stuck together by giving false details of their age. Elie made a tour of the area in his first few days, and he came across the area where the bodies got burnt, which made him feel sick. He gradually started to lose his faith in God and in his own religion. They got taken to the barracks where they got shaved, and they received new clothing. The met some members from their local area, which gave them a momentary reprieve, but their only concern was their own survival.
They got informed, in no uncertain terms, that in Auschwitz, it’s mandatory to work hard, or they would get burned alive in the crematorium. Their mental state had already gotten damaged that they did not fear the eventuality of death. After some time, they moved to another camp that had a sign with the words “work is liberty” (Wiesel 38). They had now arrived at the epicenter of Auschwitz. The structures here were much more improved than their previous camps. The structures had concrete walls and better equipment. The Jews got sent to block 17, and the following day they got their identification number (printed on their bodies). Their stay in Auschwitz did not last long as they got on the move again in three weeks. Their next camp was called Buna, and the walk did not last long this time. At this camp, they also got disinfected and sent to work. Elie’s father lost his valuable golden tooth to one of the wardens who taunted him for his marching skills (Trench). The hanging of a man in camp Buna is another event that particularly haunted Elie’s mind. The man had stolen during an American raid on the base, and he got hung to teach the rest a lesson (Wiesel 59). Elie also got placed in a separate unit to his father in camp Buna.
When Elie heard that the camps would get evacuated, he looked for his father so that they could run with other prisoners. They had to run as fast as they could and only rested on the floor. Elie did not want to sleep too long out of fear of dying in his sleep. Some people died during this time due to exhaustion and hunger. They arrived on the train and people had to stay so close together to keep warm. Some of their friends died on the train in traumatizing fashion, and they had to get dumped at the train stops. Elie’s father died in Buchenwald in his sleep on January 28, 1945 (Wiesel 106). The men got freed on April 11, 1945, when the Americans took over the camp. Elie finally felt a huge sigh of relief even though he could barely recognize himself. The men did not have any desire for revenge; they just wanted to get fed. After their freedom, Elie almost died from food poisoning. Elie Wiesel is now a resident of the United States of America under a new alias of Andrew Mellon. He is a very brave man for sharing his traumatizing story of the holocaust.
Works Cited
Schoolwork helper. “Elie Wiesel’s Night: Summary and Analysis.” Schoolwork helper, 2019, https://schoolworkhelper.net/elie-wiesels-night-summary-analysis/
Spark notes. “Night Summary.” Spark notes, https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/night/section2/
Trench, Lorcher. “Night by Elie Wiesel Summary.” Bright hub education, https://www.brighthubeducation.com/homework-help-literature/45193-night-by-elie-wiesel-summary/
Wiesel, Elie. Night. Bantam Books: New York, 1989.