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Eliezer Wiesel's Night
The Book Night was the autobiography of Eliezer Wiesel. This was a
horrible and sobering tale of his life story. The story takes place in
Sighet, Translyvania. It's the year 1941 and World War II is occurring.
Eliezer was 12 at this time and wasn't really aware of what was occurring
in the world concerning the Jewish people. He had a friend who went by the
name Moshe the Beadle. Moshe was very good friend of Elezers'.
One day it was ordered that all foreign Jews in Sighet be deported by
German troops. They were told they had to wear yellow stars to identify
themselves. Eliezers friends Moshe was also a foreign Jew, which meant he
had to be deported. Eliezer did not see his friend Moshe for months. When
he finally saw him, Moshe was weeping. Eliezer asked him what was wrong.
Moshe told him he was in a concentration camp. He said they threw him in a
pit and shot his leg, but he managed to escape to worn him to flee for his
life. Eliezer didn't listen to him anyway.
About three days later, German troops entered Sighet. They order the
people of Sighet to surrender to them or die. The people surrendered and
had to give up all their possessions. Moshe was right, it did happen. All
the people of Sighet were jammed into train cars and shipped to the
concentration camp of Aushcwitz. At that point Eliezer was separated from
his family forever with the exception of his father. There was a large
crematory in Aushcwitz. You could smell the burning flesh in the air.
Eliezer was ordered to the crematory. He came within two paces of it, but
then was ordered to the barracks. He was saved for that night only. After
that incident, he lived with fear of when was he going to die.
Eliezer later went to other concentration camps in Bakenau and Buna.
During these years in the camps he lived through great suffering.
Starvation, and survival. He also witnesses thousands of people die and
murdered including his own father. Eliezer was finally shipped to
Buchenwald. Which would end up being his last stay at any concentration
camp. It was now the year 1945 and this ordeal was finally over. Allied
forces had defeated the German troops and the people who survived were free.
The first chance Eliezer had he wanted to look in a mirror. When he
finally got the chance he didn't see the same person he once was. He had
the look of a dead corpse in his eyes, and that look is with him for the
rest of his life.
I think the conflict that Eliezer had was not only physical but mental
also. It was a conflict within himself to survive. In the end, he
overcome it because he did survive this ordeal.
In conclusion, I think Night was very detailed book. It made me
realize the horror of the Holocaust and we must never allow this happen
again. That's the message that Elie Wiiesel wanted to spread. If other
people were to read this book, I think they would be moved the way I was
and realize his message.
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