8A Night Blog 2018

his study has gave me a whole new view on the Holocaust. I was enlightened to what the Holocaust entailed, including the torture, not just physically, but emotionally, like when a loved one was lost. In the video, Life is Beautiful , I realized how hard it must have been to be separated from your family during the war, or if you were lucky enough to be in the same camp, to make sure that person, or people were still alive, and to protect them. On the other hand, in Night, even though Elie tries to look out for his father, by the end, it’s every man for himself. In order to survive, it becomes extremely hard to watch out for other people, even if they are your closest loved one. These texts have given me a new realization of the Holocaust. It is hard to believe it happened in the twentieth century, not in medieval times, as Elie Wiesel said in his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech. The 1940s, were relatively not that long ago. It is also heartbreaking to think that the Americans did n...

The Germans The Germans Who consumed my faith forever Who deprived me of my will to live Who turned the first night, into one long night Who I began to hate Who made deportees content with their fate Who tossed small children into the flames, whose bodies transformed into smoke The Germans My father’s murderers My mother, my sisters A few crumbs, a ration Fighting desperately Never shall I forget That night The most horrendous I was afraid Never shall I forget The Germans The Nazis

My prompt is about faith/loss of faith that occurs in the book Night. Throughout this book, Elie Wiesel’s faith consistently wavers. There are some points where he can not even believe someone like God could exist in a terrible time such as the Holocaust. “I no longer accepted God’s silence. As I swallowed my ration of soup, I turned that act into a symbol of rebellion, of protest against Him.” (68). This quote is extremely monumental. At this point in the book, it is Yom Kippur, a day where Jews are supposed to fast. Jews fast on Yom Kippur, as a sign to God, as asking for forgiveness from all their sins that past year. Not fasting is an act of defiance against God.  Even the Rabbi cannot believe that a God can exist. “One day, he said to me: ‘It’s over. God is no longer with us.” (75). This was a Rabbi speaking. At this point, everyone has given up hope. Even the extremely religious people. However, at other times, he prays to God, such as times like the Sabbath, or religious h...

https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1180427 A Russian mother holds a child at a collection point a Displaced Person camp, with an onlooking soldier, holding a bowl for liquid food. Taken in 1945.

The memoir makes me feel an emotion between anger and sadness. Throughout the book so far, it had been hard to grasp that all that happened, that Wiesel was describing, was real. It was hard to imagine that something this cruel would have actually happened. “Father,” I said. “If that is true, then I don’t want to wait. I’ll run into the electrified barbed wire. That would easier than a slow death in the flames”. (33). This quote moved me. It was not so astonishing that a young boy of 15, would rather take his own life than die a painful death. It is understandable to want to not endure pain. What is astonishing is that people, ordinary German people, could live with knowing the misery that they put other humans in. This quote ties in with the theme of Jews being viewed as “Alien” or “Parasite”. The Germans took viewing the Jews as Aliens or Parasite so extreme, that when it came time to kill the Jews, there was not much second-guessing. “Never shall I forget those flames that consumed ...