Memoir on the Book Night by Elie Wiesel - Essay Sample

Introduction

Night by Elie Wiesel is a terrifying experience of a small Jewish boy who narrates his life story growing up in a Nazi concentration camp in Auschwitz. It was in Nazi camp where Elie lost his mother, sister, and later his father." Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed," Elie. He further documents his experience through the Holocaust as a young boy. Elie concludes his story with his liberation and experiences at the end of the Second World war. There are a lot of lessons about this memoir. The lessons focus on the terrifying accounts the world remembers and the memories of such events, which help prevent a future horrid act of injustice. A wise man named Michael Moore once said," The unfortunate thing about humans is that once abused, some seek to abuse others…this happens when people undergo too much abuse and violence and take drastic, irrational measures to protect themselves."

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The Holocaust

Many people lost their identities through the Holocaust. The saddest aspect of the Holocaust was not how many lives were lost, but the many souls lost. For example, Eliezer starts an innocent Jewish boy where the Nazi concentration camp experience strips him and his Jewish prisoners of their identities. His hair is shaved, his clothes replaced with a prison uniform, and tattooed alongside other people in the Nazi camp, which is against the Jewish law.

Furthermore, the Holocaust made people lose their humanity towards others. This is evident in the Nazi concentration camp where Elie witnesses an old man crawling away during the scramble for bread. Elie thinks the old man has been hit on his chest, but later realizes after snagging away with some bread, a young man comes to him and starts to strike him mercilessly." Meir, my boy!" weeps the man, "Don't you recognize me, I'm your father, … you're killing your father." The young man eventually kills his father and takes the bread. Unfortunately, he gets spotted by others, and they jump on him, killing him too (Manseau & Peter 387).

Antisemitism.

Upon reading Elie Wiesel's book, Elie was imprisoned by the age of 12, which is against Jewish law. This brings out how Jewish are discriminated against by the Romans. Elie soon becomes possessed by oppressing others, especially the guards who inflict suffering on the prisoners. The guard tortures the prisoners as sadistically as possible, for they appear to have little regard for the victims. "It was from that moment that I began to hate them, and my hate is still the only link between us today. They were our first oppressors. They were the first of the faces of hell and death."

Religion and racial prejudice

At the beginning of the book, Elie's faith is absolute. Later on, his faith and his fellow prisoners are shaken by the horrible Holocaust experiences they all go through at the Nazi camp. It is evident how atrocities can make one lose faith in their religion. Elie's book brings out some of this evidence. For instance, the killing of babies makes in Nazi concentrated camp puts Elie's faith to test where he struggles with the atrocities of the people, later on, making him have doubts about God. Eliezer not only loses faith in God but also that God is just. As a result, he perceives God as unjust and indifferent to human suffering, thus concluding God does not deserve worship and praises from the Jews. His fellow prisoners as well follow his path; for example, Akiba Drummer also loses his faith.

This struggle does not dimmish Elie's faith but still retains some. He is asked why he prays. He replies, "I pray to the God within me that He will give me the strength to ask Him the right questions." This is a fact that he still remains committed to God.

Elsie fought fortune from the armed SS men in the Zani camp making him a victim of oppression and prejudice. As a result, this made him lose his faith as well.

World war 1

As world war 1 was in progress, a program for questioning was developed by Hitler, and his counsel called the "Final Solution." The program was known to be the greatest result of genocide because it was used to exterminate the European Jews. The greatest number of victims were killed in the Nazi concentration camp, for it was the place where Jews, enemies of Germans, were gathered, imprisoned, and forced to labor. As a result, six million Jews were murdered, and half were victims by the end of world war 11.

The experience of world war 1 had demonstrated the aspect of shared life and death, thus bringing the importance of responsibilities of one's own National border. As millions suffered and sacrificed during the course, many promises of rights were made, which were due to be fulfilled (Samuel 251).

Nazi's taking power

Millions of people were unemployed in German as the country was hit hard by the worldwide economic depression. As a result, many Germans perceived the parliamentary government coalition as weak and unable to stabilize the economic crisis. Later, this crisis offered good ground for the rise of Adolf-Hitler and his Nazi party. Hitler's prowess attracted large numbers of voters desperate for change. Nazi party felt the need of its people and decided to step up. The Germans were promised economic restoration. Later on, the Nazis pledged to restore its cultural values, put people back to work, protect from the uprising communists' threats, and restore back Germany to its rightful position. Hitler and his Nazi party had successfully won the hearts of Germans and directed the population's anger and fear against the Jews. Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany by Hindenburg, the president then (Andrew 155).

Nuremberg Laws being passed

Nazi people announced new laws during the annual party in Nuremberg. The laws excluded German Jews from Reich citizenship and forbade them from marrying or having a sexual relationship with people belonging to the Germans. As the laws became known, they had believed that a Jew was recognized as someone having three or four grandparents but not someone with certain religious beliefs. However, German Jewish were required to register their property and "Aryanizing" Jewish business. Again, Jewish doctors were prohibited from treating non-Jews, and lawyers were not allowed to practice any law. Finally, as it was mandatory to carry an identity card, the Nazis government later added a special mark to their cards; a red J stamped and new middle names for those who did not possess the Jewish first name. This made it easy to be identified by the police.

Work Cited

Encyclopedia, Holocaust. "Nuremberg Race Laws." (2019).

Heiden, Konrad, Norbert Guterman, and Ralph Manheim. Der Fuehrer: Hitler's rise to power.

Jennings, Mary A. "Hitlerland: American Eyewitnesses to the Nazi Rise to Power." Library Journal 137.1 (2016): 113-114.

Manseau, Peter. "REVISING NIGHT: Elie Wiesel and the Hazards of Holocaust Theology." CrossCurrents, vol. 56, no. 3, 2016, pp. 387–399. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/24461408. Accessed 8 Dec. 2020.

Totten, Samuel. Teaching about genocide: Issues, approaches, and resources. IAP, 2016.

Wiesel, Elie. "WIESEL'S NIGHT RECALLS THE HOLOCAUST." Great Events from History II: 1897-1921 (2015)

Wiesel, Elie. Night. Trans. Marion Wiesel. New York: Hill and Wang, 2016. Print.