blog post #3- Malaysia

Reading Night has been like a roller coaster, because my emotions throughout the book have changed so many times, and so fast. Sometimes I'll read one page and be super happy but as soon as I start the next page I almost cry. I feel like the way Elie words everything is very powerful, and each word was chosen carefully to create the most impact. Throughout the book, one of the main themes that stood out to me was 'divide and conquer' because the Germans knew that by turning the Jews against each other they will waste their energy fighting each other instead of trying to fight back against the Germans. The Germans also knew that by turning the Jews against each other it in some ways destroys their last bit of hope. If the Jews all start turning on each other they become an easier target for the Germans. when some German officers come into Ellie's barrack looking for strong men, he thinks it would be best to try to portray himself as strong, while his dad says it would be best to not draw any unwanted attention to them. Later, they find out that Ellie's dad was right. "a few SS officers wandered through the room, looking or strong men. If vigor was that appreciated, perhaps one should try to appear sturdy? My father thought the opposite. Better not to draw attention. (we later found out that he had been right. Those who had been selected that day were incorporated into the Sonder Kamando, the Kamando working in the crematoria. Bela Katz, the son of an important merchant of my town, had arrived in Birkenau with the first transport, one week ahead of us. When he found out we were there, he succeeded in slipping us a note. He told us that having been chosen because of his strength, he had been forced to place his own father's body into the furnace.)(Wiesel 35) Whether or not the Germans knew that they were forcing Bela Katz to lower his own father's body into the furnace, it's obvious that there's a reason they wanted Jews to help with the job. Germans, of course, couldn't guarantee that the Jews on the job woil end up lowering a family member's or a friends body into the furnace, they knew that it would affect the Jews no matter what. The Idea of dividing and conquering is a very powerful tactic. I don't think the Germans would've gained as much control over the Jews in the beginning if they hadn't used the divide and conquer tactic.