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.
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.
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