Wendy Wang ENG 2D0-C Ms. Chen June 9, 2008.

THE HOLOCAUST: DOWNFALL OF THE JEWS

They say that people will naturally come together and help each other out in times of need. However, in the memoir Night, written by Elie Wiesel, people are doing the exact opposite. The Holocaust is a time of great darkness and mass chaos, especially to those who are of Jewish descent and residing in Germany. Many unfair acts of inequality are enforced and aimed at the Jewish population. The Nazis especially, have a dark and dire secret that is being kept from the rest of the world, and that is the mass extermination of more than six million Jews. Even with these evil powers at hand, the Jews fight hard and lived on. Some like Elie Wiesel, are fortunate enough to endure the Holocaust and live to tell its tale. In Elie Wiesels memoir Night, the reader is able to connect to and experience the real-life terrors of the prejudice that is engulfing the Jews, how life is unfair and how people are not either, and how some people will go so far as to hurt others that are close to them when put in a life or death situation. First and foremost, the memoir Night, displays the constant use of prejudice and bigotry that is rampant towards the Jewish population. An example of this is when the Jewish people are stripped of their rights and are arrested by the Germans when they have done no harm. On the seventh day of Passover, the curtain finally rose: the Germans arrested the leaders of the Jewish community (10). People got arrested for no apparent reason, with no explanation from the German officers. The Jews have done nothing wrong, yet they are being treated unfairly and differently from everyone else. To add to that, the Germans starts to add even more rules. This time, the Jews lost their freedom and mobility rights. The first decree stated that the Jews were prohibited from leaving their residences for three days, under

penalty of death (10) and also that a Jew was henceforth forbidden to own gold, jewelry, or any valuables (10-11). The Jews at this point in time, have lost the basic rights that every person should have to the biased German community. Lastly, another act of prejudice and discrimination enforced by the Germans on the Jews is when the Jews are herded like cattle and had no choice but to live in the ghettos that they are placed in. Then came the ghettos. Two ghettos were created in Sighet. We gave some of our rooms to relatives who had been driven out of their homes (11). Again, the Jews are being forced by the Germans to do something that they did not want to but had to do. Thus, the Jewish population is being singled out from the rest of the community due to the prejudiced and racial views of the Germans. However, this is not the only matter that the Jews have to endure during the Holocaust. Secondly, Wiesel illustrates in his memoir how unfair life can be at times and also how people can be unfair as well. On the arrival of the Jews at the concentration camp in Birkenau, Jewish people: the old, the young, small children, and even babies, are being killed right on the spot. Wiesel recounts this horrific scene saying: Not far from us, flames, huge flames, were rising from a ditch. Something was being burned there. A truck drew close and unloaded its hold: small children. Babies! Yes, I did see this, with my own eyes children thrown into the flames (32). The reader can comprehend that life in Birkenau is unfair; people are burning small children and babies alive because they are considered to be weak and useless in the concentration camps. In addition, unlucky Jews like Wiesel, who happen to cross a German officers path at the wrong time is beaten for no apparent reason. One day when Idek was venting out his fury, I happened to cross his path. He threw himself on me like a wild beast, beating me in the chest, on my head, throwing me to the ground and picking me up again, crushing me with ever more violent blows, until I was covered in blood. Abruptly, he calmed down and sent me back to work as if nothing had happened (53). Wiesel has done nothing
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wrong and minded his own business, yet misfortune fell on him when he crossed Ideks path and was unfairly beaten. Finally, the selection is another prime example of how life is unfair and how people often are not either. An SS officer will examine the Jews and if he finds a Muselman, (someone who is extremely weak), he will write down his number and that person will be good for the crematorium (70). Through this passage, the reader can easily see how unfairly the Jews are being treated. They are treated like animals and slaughtered when they are of no more use. Evidently, the Jews are being treated unequally, as if they are dirt or less than dirt, by the cruel and unjust Germans. Lastly, Wiesels memoir of his days in the concentration camps reveals the evil and the dark side of every mans heart: willing to hurt others who are close to them in order to protect themselves. Family and friends did not mean or hold any value to the Jewish people anymore. It was every man for himself. While the Germans are relocating the Jewish prisoners to another concentration camp for fear of the Russians, the train stopped at an empty field and the SS gave orders to Throw out all the dead! Outside, all the corpses! (99). Those that are still alive are glad and more than willing to throw out the dead because then they would have more room for themselves. Voluntarily, two gravediggers grabs a deceased Jew by the head and feet and threw him from the wagon, like a sack of flour (99). This shows just how far people will go to make the situation better and easier for themselves, without even thinking about other people. Another example of a time when people acted selfishly and is willing to hurt others in order to protect themselves is the Rabbi and his son in the concentration camp in Buna. The Rabbi has been searching nonstop for his son ever since he lost sight of one another during the journey (91). The Rabbi claims that he didnt have the strength run anymore and that his son didnt notice (91). However, Wiesel remembers that the son did indeed see his father fall behind, but decides to go on without him because he had felt his
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father growing weaker and, believing that the end was near, had thought by this separation to free himself of a burden that could diminish his own chance for survival (91). Clearly, the father is desperately looking for his son, whereas the son finds his father to be a burden to his own survival, and so the son decides to slip away while he still has the chance. Finally, in the last few chapters of Night, when the Jews were being moved to Buchenwald, a horrific scene is presented when a son breaks his bond with his father and murders him on the train, just for a small crust of bread. Meir, my little Meir! Dont you recognize me youre killing your father I have bread for you too for you too (101). This scene proves just how far a person will go to increase his or her own chances of survival, even if he or she has to kill someone for it. Therefore, the horrible conditions that the Jews dealt with led to the insanity and savagery of man; who are more than willing to kill others in order to survive. Thus, Elie Wiesel and his memoir Night, illustrates the struggles and burdens that the Jewish people has to carry through the dark and evil period which has come to be known as the Holocaust. The Jews are dealt with terrible cards, one of which is living in a prejudiced society ruled by the Germans. With this, the Jews begin to realize how unfair life and people can be as they experience life in the concentration camps, and what once started as a loving community is quickly turned into greed and savagery when people kill others in order to increase their own chances of survival. Hence, Elie Wiesels Night teaches the readers some very important life lessons: mourn for those who are killed wrongly, celebrate their bravery and existence, and lastly, treasure the precious value of life.

Works Cited: Wiesel, Elie. Night. Hill and Wang, 2006.

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