Man in His Capacities

This whole book is a powerful reminder of humanity’s capacity for evil. Although we claim ourselves as generally good, the Holocaust is horrible proof to the contrary. No such evil has been this apparent – to attempt the complete annihilation of entire groups of people. No such evil has expressed the hate and sickness that our species has often bent to. Many sins have been committed throughout history, but this…this is evil. It is terrifying to imagine the sickness inside of a man like Hitler to push this genocide into existence. Atrocities like these are what we like to keep far away from any proximity to reality in our minds. We drive it away until we can almost forget, so we can be content with our definition of human nature. Wiesel’s account brings us back to earth. Humans have chosen wrong many a time. We have chosen evil over good and have made others suffer dearly for it.

But along with our capacity for evil comes the opposite – humanity’s capacity for good. We now have the chance to change what the Holocaust set wrong. Even if the prospect of overcoming such evil causes us to fear, let it never force us into despair! Where the choking grasp of the genocide’s hatred, prejudice, and cruelty reign, we can sow seeds of compassion and love to our fellow man.




For extensive information on the Holocaust, its survivors, and the fight to prevent such evil, click here

Father and Son

When the camp was being evacuated, Wiesel and his father had an extremely difficult decision to make: stay in the camp by cause of Elie’s hurt foot (risking immediate extermination,) or be evacuated with the rest of the prisoners. When they decided to leave, extreme hardship followed. They had to run for days straight. They had no food or water except for snow. Many dropped dead and were shot. Finally, Wiesel’s father’s death was even caused by this. What really disturbed me about this situation was Wiesel’s side-note paragraph written after saying that they decided to leave:

“After the war, I learned the fate of those who had remained at the infirmary. They were, quite

simply, liberated by the Russians, two days after the evacuation.”

What horrible irony! In an effort to assure life, Wiesel had unfortunately chosen hardship and death. It is easy to see how this fate could lead toward his loss of faith.

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Wiesel constantly struggled with his relationship with his father in their last hardships. Keeping an older man alive and in relatively good health required an intense effort on Elie’s part. It was more than enough trouble to keep himself barely alive – now he had to live for both of them. Coupled with this physical struggle was an internal struggle as well. Pressures on many sides told Wiesel to abandon his father, to live for himself and keep himself alive. Other prisoners told him that he would never survive unless he let the old man die. I cannot imagine this internal struggle. Although I would like to say that I would stick by my father, I simply cannot judge a situation like this. It is so extreme, so terrible, so horrifying that I could never choose. It is simply ridiculous.

Humanity and Its Eradication

What most disturbed me about the attitude of the camps was the destruction of the prisoners’ humanity. They were treated like animals from the start: examined, their names replaced by a number, their distinctions shaved with their hair, made to work and live like enslaved beasts. They were forced to obey every order under penalty of death. Yes, death. Always death. The threat hung over their heads with each word muttered by an officer. If one was too weak – death. If one was too old – death. If one was too young – death. Yes, death. Always death. The murder of women and children and men young and old constantly surrounded young Wiesel, and he was forced to age beyond his years by the sting of mortality. Wiesel often comments on how the prisoners no longer desired anything but food. A simple ration was the only thing they could desire anymore. It is disturbing how they have been debased to creatures. They are enslaved to only their primal instincts to survive.

Some in the camp attempted to retain their humanity. Whether it was looking out for someone else or keeping faith traditions, those who kept their humanity held on to sanity. One such example of this was the man with the violin. He had been an accomplished musician before he had been taken, and in the old camp he had even played in the band that played to keep time for marches. But when everyone was evacuated from the camp, everything changed. His role didn’t matter anymore, and he was forced to abandon everything. Still, he took with him his violin. To him, his violin symbolized his humanity, his life – the only vital thing left for him. So he kept it with him even as the entire population of the camp was moved. Finally, when they arrived at the next camp, he was left with nothing else: his strength was gone, he had no food. He lived only for that violin. And in that place of death and failure, the man played the violin – a beacon of hope and humanity in a dark, dark place. He died the next morning, clinging to the instrument that had kept him human during his life.

Arrival

The first thing that strikes me about Wiesel’s writing is his stark, simple language. Although he is considerably descriptive and gets the job done, he is extremely succinct. He does not waste words. His sentences are straightforward and to the point. To me, this reflects his attitude towards life now. He is not frivolous or wasteful. He is beaten and battered by life – and death. To be superfluous is unimaginable by his tortured mind. All he needs to do is describe the horrors simply – he doesn’t need to say “I was terribly horrified by the event.” He knows that his words speak for themselves and he need not elaborate.

The true horrors begin when they arrive at Auschwitz. This was the promise of Hitler – to eliminate an entire race from existence. The entire purpose of the camp was to systematically murder all those who could not be useful any longer; the final purpose was to murder them all. As they arrived at the selection, terrible ambiguity and unsurety surrounded them. They had all heard different stories and they didn’t know what to believe. Were they going to modest work camps? Were they going to be brutally slaughtered like the stories of Moshe the Beadle? One event of this time that specifically hurt me was the babies being thrown into the fire. Living children were simply tossed into a flaming ditch. Wiesel simply cannot understand the magnitude of horror that was occurring. He couldn’t grasp the sick evil that went on all around. I sympathize – I just cannot imagine.

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Preface and Begining

In the preface of Night, Wiesel is more or less crying out to be heard. He describes his story and why he wanted to tell it. He knew that he had to show the world the horrors that he endured so that the world would not undergo such horrors again. In the first chapter, a character parallels the post-war Wiesel himself: Moshe the Beadle. Moshe was once a mystic who taught Elie the truths of the Kabbalah. Then, all the foreign Jews were “expelled” from their town. Weeks later, Moshe returns, a shell of a man. He tells the story of how all the Jews on the train were forced to disembark and dig a mass grave. Then, they were all shot into the grave they just dug. He alone survived when he was left for dead after only being shot in the leg. When Moshe tells this story to the town, many refuse to believe him. They say that the war is almost over, that they have nothing to worry about, that Moshe is a crazy old mystic. He cries and yells in synagogues across Hungary, but no one heeds his warnings. Elie Wiesel is crying to not be like Moshe. He is yelling the horrors of his story so that the world may never again commit the crimes that he endured and witnessed. He is telling his story so that we may hear it and do something about it, unlike the townspeople whom Moshe warned.

The townspeople in Wiesel’s town oddly reflected the pre-war attitudes towards Germany. As Hitler rose to power in the nation, his fascist regime quickly assumed a severely aggressive foreign policy. Hitler took nation after nation in the name of “Germany”. However, soon even that façade was abandoned. It progressed into all out Reich-building aggression. The nations of Europe stood by and watched. Instead of opposing Hitler at first offense, they appeased him in the hopes of avoiding a war. The damage of World War I still lingered heavy in the minds of Europe, and leading powers were still willing to make appeasements than go to war. Eventually, the world was forced to go to war – a war far more devastating than if it had been declared when Germany had conquered less. Similarly, the people in Wiesel’s town remained content to stay and wait out the war in their town even when anti-Jewish policies began. They did not want to leave their homes or their lives for what they considered “theories” or “stories.” However, because they did not sacrifice their homes and careers, they were forced to endure the absolute horror that the concentration camps entailed.