Category: Elie Wiesel

“A new survey by the Azrieli Foundation and Claims Conference finds, in April of 2018, an alarming 52% of millennials cannot name at least one concentration camp or ghetto, and nearly one quarter, or 22%, of millennials have not heard, or are not sure, if they have heard of the Holocaust” (Azrieli). The danger of a single story is the leading cause to genocide of a certain group. My purpose is to describe to the teachers in the RBHS English Department how Elie Wiesel, author of the novel ‘Night’, combats the danger of a single story, and how this story is beneficial to the learning process that stereotypes are not untrue, but incomplete. The novel ‘Night’, by Elie Wiesel, is an autobiography of his time spent as a Jewish boy in the well-known concentration camp Auschwitz. He gives us an insight on how Jews were treated as if their religion was an insult to humankind, and therefore, Germany and allies rejected them as humane and believed them as savages. Elie Wiesel uses his life story in the novel ‘Night’ to disprove the single story that the Holocaust only targeted Jews and the Jewish faith, showing students that other minorities were targeted for Germany’s needs as well.

Despite Jews and the Jewish faith being the primary target of the Holocaust, the German hierarchy used these prisoners as an advantage to satisfy their needs for experiments, and others like homosexuality. As Jews were the main target of the Holocaust, they were weak, ending in the death of millions of Jews that brought attention all over the world: “And now hundreds of cries rose at once. The death rattle of an entire convoy with the end approaching” (Wiesel, 103). The German citizens view the ill-fated Jews on the train as if they were corpses already left for dead, not important enough for their time and sympathy. Just like slavery and imperialism, the Germans chose to believe that the Jews are a separate race and culture that needs to learn the error of their ways and beliefs because they do not fit the right idealism of society. The German’s shared hatred and ignorance led to the death of millions of Jews gaining the attention of allied forces wanting to stop the Nazi rule. After their arrival at the concentration camps, and after the first selection, Elie realized how privileged the SS guards were treating the young male Jews: “Immediately after our arrival, he had bread brought for them, some soup and margarine. (In fact, this affection was not entirely altruistic; there existed here a veritable traffic of children among homosexuals)’ (Wiesel, 48). The sympathy felt for the young male Jews was nothing but a pawn to trick the young Jews into trusting their German superiors. The SS guards wanted the boys to come willingly to satisfy their needs and share it among others. However, it wasn’t just young males that the guards were after, it was also every homosexual they had to take off the streets because they did not fit the German idealism of a perfect society with the promise of an escape from death and forced labor. In the concentration camps, the Nazi’s experimented on homosexuals, such as castration, to hopefully give themselves an idea as to how homosexuality exists in the German community. Eva Slonin talks about how she remembers getting injected with an unknown substance during her time at Auschwitz, and says, “‘Once I was taken away, that was him because I could look him in the face, I wasn’t on my stomach, and he gave me an injection on my vein, and after I got very bad stomach cramps’” (Slonin). These experiments, or mystery injections, were done on humans held against their own will, in a series of experiments. The type of experiments was brutal, diverse and only for the needs of the German race. In this case, Eva Slonin was talking about the notorious Dr. Mengele that tested on victims, like Eva Slonin, that were primarily Jews, but also consisted of homosexuals, gypsies or anyone considered inferior to the Nazi race.

Other groups targeted by the Holocaust, like Gypsies and Poles with their ethnicity, were chosen by qualities they couldn’t change. Gypsies were people of mental disabilities or of foreign ethnicity were not an exception to the horrors of the Holocaust: “We were herded into yet another barrack, inside the Gypsy camp” (Weisel, 37). Gypsies were given a separate camp away from the other victims of the Holocaust because Germany wanted to isolate, and hopefully exterminate Gypsies along with the Jews. “Building on long-held prejudices, the Nazi regime view Gypsies as racial inferiors believed as a threat to the purity and strength of what the Germans called the superior Aryan race”. Unlike Jews, however, this group of minorities is criticized on a trait they can’t change. In result, during this time, Gypsies were born to die because of a shared hatred for their deformity. But that did not stop the Germans from using this group for their own needs and pleasures. Like the Germans, the Frenchman and the Pole recognized that Elie’s father was weak and took advantage of him for extra rations, and Elie’s father says, “‘Him, the Frenchman… and the Pole… They beat me…’ One more stab to the heart, one more reason to hate. One less reason to live” (Wiesel, 109). Germany also used forced laborers from Europe, like Frenchmen that did not fit the Aryan stereotype, and Poles viewed as inferior, were subject to especially harsh discriminatory measures. Although this diverse group of prisoners is experiencing the same torture by the German government, they would turn on each other, hating each other to survive during this terror. Poles and the European laborers were given no choice to succumb to Nazi control and work for freedom like every other victim of the Holocaust. Israel Charny explains his theory that when the government feels threatened by minority groups or feels danger of minority groups rise to power, these are signs of genocide and massacres, and says, “There is always some kind of word for them in all the languages of the world, that they are not really people” (Charny). Israel Charny believes the main cause of genocide is the inability of developing real and mutual respect and caring as foundations for human behavior is in direct opposition to those that preach tolerance however don’t apply it. The Holocaust was an overwhelming event and Israel Charny believes it’s the distinctive components of the Holocaust that fashioned it into an archetypal event in human experience.

In conclusion, Elie Wiesel’s novel ‘Night’ disproves that the Holocaust only targeted the Jews by including other victims that had a role in his story, like gypsies, homosexuals, and people of different origins. Furthermore, the single story is one that criticizes all people. As a society, we must always prepare individuals to approach narratives critically, reevaluating views once necessary, and to counteract the limitations of those single stories. It is important that the students continue to remember and hopefully learn from our history, and by reading this novel, maybe it will spark interest to open their eyes to the danger of a single story.

Trial of God by Elie Wiesel is a representation of both a religious question of why a perfect and honest being allows evil and suffering in the world he created? Why would loving and just God allow his chosen people to suffer. While it is written as a Purim Shpiel based on a real event, Wiesel tries to capture the emotions and theological points that were present at the time. However, it is not a true depiction of what Elie Wiesel had experienced. Rather than set the story at a time of the holocaust, Elie Wiesel, because of some difficulties, decides to set the story in the past, with a new location with new cast of individuals. As, a result it begs the question, why did Elie Wiesel decide to do this. Why did he decide to take an experience of his and set it in the past?

In the original trial of God, evidence was presented, witnesses were brought forward, inferences were made and by the end God was found guilty of crimes against humanity. After which there was silence. Finally, in some strange turn of events, everyone went for evening prays. Just like that. If looked at first glance one can find look at the event as comedic. Especially when one considers the sudden change of the tone of the story as the trail begin, concludes and even prays begin. It seems it can infer that Mr. Wiesel was trying to transfer this tone to a retelling as he called a “tragic farce”. However, with the serious nature of the Holocaust and his own personal connection Mr. Wiesel may have found that it difficult. As a solution Mr. Wiesel may have thought that producing the narrative as a play in the past may mitigate these problems or ‘a Purimschpiel within a Purimschpiel’. This still allows the situation to have comedic effects while also retaining its tragic theme. Furthermore, it allows Elie Wiesel to retain core essence of the event he witnesses long ago. The seriousness of the event is brought upon by the fact it took place after another Jewish tragedy (Chmielnicki pogroms). However, the trail is itself is a farce. Setting the story in the present time or the time of the incident would cause the story to treated as a recounting but setting back in time allows the story to have a life of its own and allows us to see it as a question rather than a telling. Elie Wiesel is an observer, storyteller, and a writer, in that order. Each of his roles is are shaped by tragedy. As a survivor of tragedy, I feel Wiesel is not trying to recount another story of holocaust nor is he he trying to poke fun at but he’s informing us in way that makes him comfortable and preserves the uniqueness of the original event.

Next, Allowing the story to take place in a different period allows a mirror to held up to our own believes whether it be Jewish or Christian. Otherwise the important aspect’s would be overlooked in present or overshadowed by contemporary thinking. The characters still think and act in way that relate to the time period and that is what he the writer wanted. I feel this is why Elie Wiesel sets the event around certain in this time period. it allowed him to anchor his thoughts and experience in a time period allows him to convey the same thoughts and feeling that helt without the contemporary philosophical or theological thought processes interring. This type of writing promotes multiple perspectives by introducing characters who have different points of view and offering examples most through speech of how people deal or manage their individual problems in the context of religion and tragedy. It also illustrates the interpretive nature of history by showing the event in different context (time period). I feel a good example of character that exemplifies this is Sam. Sam acts as a defender of God contrary to actual event in in which no one defended God however is true nature isn’t reveal until the end. Sam is portrayed in the play as a man of faith, whose trust in God is unshakable and solid. ‘God may do with me whatever he wishes. Our task is to glorify him, to praise Him, to love Him-in spite of ourselves.’ (p. 157). Sam’s arguments consist of rational reasons for God’s actions and inaction in relation to human beings. While Sam argues from logic and reasoning Berish argues form experience. Sam is allowed to be his way because unlike the everyone else he is Christian therefore removed from the tragedy of the inn keepers and others. By allowing the story to take place 300 years ago. Ellie is allowing characters such as Sam and Berish discuss and argue on God before the religious reforms of the 19th century. Therefore , As a result this setting, it allows us the readers to better understand how these individuals might have responded to their environments as extension of Elie Wiesel own environment during the time of the holocaust.

In the end, God reasons for allowing is unanswered and whether God is responsible is questioned to debate and trial. However, I truly believe he had a mission in telling this story outside the environment of another holocaust story but to propose questions and thoughts of God himself. The holocaust and the massacre themselves were the transport but the play was the main item. I believe that he set the story back for too many reasons. First, to convey his experience in ironically without diminishing the seriousness nature of the holocaust. Secondly, to allow us to think of the story from the perspective of others without contemporary, and lastly to expand on the story to include his own thoughts and experiences through characterization while maintaining the authenticity of the original event.

“ Thou shalt not be a victim, thou shalt not be a perpetrator, but, above all, thou shalt not be a bystander ” (Yehuda Bauer- Holocaust Historian). In the memoir Night by Elie Wiesel, the book shows how in the beginning Elie and his father weren’t very close but as they are put into concentration camps, their relationship starts to grow stronger with Elie’s father caring for him more, and near the end we see that Elie takes care of his father like his father had for Elie by making sure all his needs are taken care of.

In the beginning of the book Elie Wiesel and his father are shown to be emotionally distant from one another. The text says, “ My father was a cultured, rather unsentimental man. There was never any display of emotion, even at home” (Wiesel 14). That says that Elie’s father never openly showed affection for his family or others. The text also says, “ My parents ran a shop. Hilda and Bea helped them with the work. As for me, they said my place was at school” (Wiesel 14). That shows that Elie was distant from the rest of his family because even though, him going to school is better for him he would be doing something separate from everyone else. At this point, Elie and his father don’t show love to one another. He felt as if he were alone from the rest of his family.

After Elie and his father are separated from his sisters and mother, we are shown the first sign of Elie’s father openly caring for Elie. The text says, “ Yet that was the moment when I parted from my mother. I had no time to think, but already I felt the pressure of my father’s hand: we were alone” (Wiesel 38). After being seperated from the rest of his family, Elie’s father holds on to his hand because that is the only family he has left, therefore showing affection towards him by holding onto his hand.

As their time in the concentration camps progresses we are shown more displays of affection between Elie Wiesel and his father. The text says, “ My father had brought me a present- half a ration of bread obtained in exchange for a piece of rubber” (Wiesel 79-80). This shows the readers that through the horrid conditions at the concentration camps, Elie and his father had come closer through small things such as just giving each other pieces of bread. The text also says, “ Father! I’ve been looking for you for so long… Where were you?” (Wiesel 111). This shows that Elie becomes worried in the absence of his father, seeing how that’s thats the only family he has left .

In the end we see Elie’s father’s health deteriorating and Elie having to care for his father. The text says, “ I’ll give you a sound piece of advice- don’t give your ration of bread and soup to your old father” (Wiesel 115). Elie had begun to sacrifice his own food to give to his sick father, going hungry himself. He began to feel guilty for having thoughts that he would be better off without his father. The text says, “ He was right, I thought in the most secret region of my heart, but I dared not admit it. It’s too late to save your old father, I said to myself. You ought to be having two rations of bread, two rations of soup” (Wiesel 115). Elie thought that at this point he was just wasting his rations by feeding his father. He thought he would be better off without him, but he didn’t want to admit it.

Elie Wiesel and his father had a complicated relationship. From hidden emotions to sacrificing food for each other to Elie feeling relief after the death of his father. Emotions should not be hidden from family members and your loved ones should be cherished.

“ Peace is our gift to each other” A quote once said by Elie Wiesel. Elie Wiesel wrote the book Night to inform readers about all the horrible things he and all the other Jewish people had to endure, while at the concentration camps. He informed readers in a well constructed book using figurative language, clear imagery, expressive diction, and sinister tone.

Elie Wiesel uses figurative language in Night many times in the form of similes and metaphors. The text says, “ That night the soup tasted of corpses” (Wiesel 72). This quote from the book is an example of a metaphor. Soup and corpses have no direct correlation to each other, but Elie is comparing the disgust he tastes from the soup that night to corpses to express how uneasy he was feeling after seeing the boy being hanged. Another quote from the text states, “ Within a few minutes, the camp looked like an abandoned ship” (Wiesel 66). This quote is an example of a simile because he compared the concentration camp being empty to an abandoned ship. The camp was emptied because the air-raid sirens went off and everyone went to hide in their blocks leaving the camp looking empty.

Elie Wiesel used imagery in a way that the readers could picture what he was saying in their minds. The text says, “I looked at my little sister Tzipora, her fair hair well combed, a red coat over her arm, a little girl of seven” (Wiesel 28). The way that quote from the book was written allows the readers to picture what his sister might have looked like at that moment. The text also states, “ He was a strong, wellbuilt, broad-shouldered man: bull neck, thick lips, frizzled hair” (Wiesel 55). He allows the readers to clearly picture the head of the camp by describing many traits of his physical appearance.

The diction used in Night is very expressive. The text says, “ Her little boy clung to her; he did not cry out; he did not say a word. He was not even weeping now” (Wiesel 35). Elie Wiesel could have just written all that in a simple and small sentence, but he chose to stretch it out and add more information to make it more expressive and understandable for the readers. The text also states, “ My eyes were open and I was alone- terribly alone in a world without God and without man. Without love or mercy” (Wiesel 75). He could have just stated that he did not believe God was with him anymore but he chose to express it more so the readers could understand the emotional pain he is going through right now.

The tone throughout the book was very tragic, serious, and solemn. The text says, “Yes, I saw it- saw it with my own eyes… those children in the flames” (Wiesel 41). This is an example of a tragic moment in the story. This was one of the first of many horrible things Elie witnesses at the camps. The text also states, “ I awoke on January 29 at dawn. In my father’s place lay another invalid. They must have taken him away before dawn and carried to the crematory. He may have still been breathing” (Wiesel 116). This is one of the most serious and solemn moments in the book. The main character realizes his father has been taken to the crematory because of how sick he had gotten, but that he was still alive when Elie went to sleep that night and that his father may still have endured all the pain of the crematory.

Conclusion

All these different writing styles contribute to his overall purpose by letting us clearly understand what was happening in specific moments and how Elie Wiesel felt during those moments. As a writer, he would want his readers to obtain all the information, especially in a book like this where his main purpose is to tell the world of the sinister horrors he and all the Jewish people had to go through at the concentration camps.

Works Cited

1. Wiesel, Elie. Night. Austin: Holt, Rineheart, Winston, 1988

During the time of the Holocaust many of the world’s nations decided not to respond and almost seemed to ignore the fact that these tragedies that were starting in Germany were happening. The first example is the involvement of the United States during the Holocaust. The first politician that had found out about the actions going on in Germany was a man named Dr. Gerhart Reigner who was the representative of the World Jewish Congress in Switzerland. Once the word eventually got out to the American Jewish leader Rabbi Stephen Wise, he held a press conference about it and it was soon known to the American people through the New York Times what was happening in Germany. Throughout World War II the press was very slow to report on the atrocities going on in Germany due to previous false accusations in Germany during World War I. Eventually, there was an emergency conference was held between the United States and Great Britain, and both decided that they were not going to be accepting more Jewish immigrants nor providing aid the European Jews. On January 22, 1944 President Roosevelt issued and executive order which led to the War Refugee Board being created. Although this board was created, the United States still refused to bomb Nazi concentration camps and the railroads that went to these concentration camps which would have put a large halt on the transportation of Jews to the concentration camps.

Elie Wiesel’s views about God had changed a lot throughout the book. He was always taught by his father about how God is the center of everything in the world and that if it was not for God, we would have no world. He was raised up on the belief that God is good and due to the fact that God is good, he believed that the world then, must be good as well. One could see how an event such as the Holocaust could drastically change your views about that and really rethink your thoughts that the world and God is good if these terrible events were happening. Towards the middle of the book he even started to question if God existed. He not only saw evil in the acts of the Nazi officers, but also in the Jewish people that were in the concentration camps. Although he would say that he believes that there is now no God, he still shows actions of prayer when things get worse, which goes to show that deep down inside he still had much faith in God. One quote that I found to be very important in this memoir was the quote he said during the moment a young boy was being hung, “Where is God?” He goes on to explain that after saying this there was complete silence within the camp. Although he was forever traumatized by the events that happened, and although he wonders how their God could let these things happened to such religious Jews, he still remained a believer in God.

Primo Levi discusses to types of people during the Holocaust. They were the saved versus the drowned. He goes on to talk about how the people that were “saved” did not do things that were just or admirable, and that they did what they had to do to survive and stay alive. In order for these people to be saved, they had to let go and sell their soul to evil because it is what had to be done to survive. The word saved seems ironic due to the fact that it comes with a positive connotation, however here that is not the case. The people that were “drowned” were people that gave up and were mentally and physically destroyed inside. He talked about how these people do not exist outside the concentration camps because they have not been stripped of their dignity and mentally destroyed as they have been in these death camps. This is very significant to this book because you either did everything you had to do to survive in Auschwitz even if it meant do morally wrong, or you gave up due to mental and physical exhaustion.

I do get the impression that Primo Levi is religious but definitely questioning the truth about where God was during this horrible time. I think the fact that he talks about the people that have been saved have given up when it comes to morals and religion to be able to survive, shows that he thinks God does still exists because he seems to understand they gave up on God. I truly think that he is still religious throughout the book just irked about why God has let these terrible things happen to believers that worship him. I think that anyone that has something this devastating happen to them questions the God they believe in whether they admit it or not. He seems to believe in God but be very upset at him for what he believes God is not doing to save them.

Survivor testimony is extremely crucial to have a full understanding of the Holocaust because the Holocaust was not seen through one person’s eyes, it was seen through millions. What I mean by this is that not every Holocaust survivor’s story is the same. This is because every camp was different, and the survivors came from all walks of life around parts of Europe. Some were in the concentration camps as slave labor, some were left to starve and freeze to death, some emigrated out of Europe before things got really bad, and some were constantly on the run to avoid being forced into concentration camps. A prime example of this is the difference of how Primo Levi thought of the Holocaust and Elie Wiesel thought of it. Primo Levi had a very hard time believing in God throughout these atrocities, while Elie Wiesel did as well but seemed to end up with more of a religious opinion of God. If we did not have survivor testimonies, we may never have known all of the aspects of the Holocaust. For example, the people of the United States did not really understand the events that went down during the Holocaust until after the war had ended and the Nuremburg trials started. This is because the media coverage of the Holocaust was not that great during the war. Therefore, without survival testimony there would be many more unanswered questions left. These survivor testimonies took place in multiple different ways through the past years. There have been autobiographies written by Holocaust survivors themselves, and there have been books and videos that were created by children and grandchildren of survivors that have had these testimonies passed down to them. The most famous collection of survivor testimonies to this day is the Shoah Foundation that was headed by Steven Spielberg. His goal was to find every living Holocaust survivor and interview them so that we have a fully documented story on each and every person that had survived the Holocaust. It contains more than 55,000 videos of survivor testimonies and over 115,00 hours of footage stored in their archives. It even has a list of over 1.95 million names available to search for.

Works Cited

1. Wiesel, E., Perry, J., & Natchez, J. (2002). Night: Elie Wiesel. New York: Spark Pub.
2. Levi, P., & Levi, P. (1986). Survival in Auschwitz. New York: Summit Books.