Night by Elie Wiesel Relations to the Holocaust

Inhumanity can be defined as an act of atrocious cruelty. In my opinion, there is no better explanation for the holocaust. The Holocaust was an extremely demoralizing time for millions of families all over Europe during the period of World War II. Its vast amounts of violence and torture affected not only the people who lived through it, but also affected anyone who were in any way connected to its survivors. These people were lucky to have made it through the horrible times, but now must live with the memories and flashbacks that will haunt them forever. In the memoir Night, Elie Wiesel uses the motifs of loss of faith, death, and loss of innocence to portray to the reader the many overwhelming effects that the Holocaust had on its victims. In times like these, losing hope and faith in God is something that could not be avoided, and so it is a tool that the author uses to display his experiences. Throughout this memoir, Wiesel’s numerous encounters with death frequently cause him to contemplate the importance of being alive. Night represents one individual’s horrifying story and follows him through his loss of innocence and journey to manhood. Wiesel’s work expresses all of his memories and portrays to the reader why devastating times such as these need to be remembered and recognized in order to prevent them from ever taking place again.

How is one expected to maintain faith when terrible things are happening to innocent people all around them? This is how many of the Jews had felt during the times of the Holocaust. In many instances throughout this memoir, Wiesel is forced to question the existence of God and his authority. He does so when he says, “For God’s sake, where is God?” (Page 65). Many Holocaust victims were forced to lose trust in God throughout their countless disturbing experiences. “... there was no longer any reason for me to fast. I no longer accepted God’s silence.” (Page 69). Ellie Wiesel talks about fasting in the Auschwitz concentration camp in honor of his religion and how he no longer sees the point. If God is not going to take care of him, why should he still honor his religious traditions? During his struggles, he begins to no longer believe that God is by his side watching over the Jews, which he clearly explains when he says, "I did not deny God's existence, but I doubted His absolute justice." (Page 42). Although many Jews lost faith in God, it is not the only thing that they lost trust in. Many of them also lost faith in the in the hopes of making it out alive. “…there was no longer any reason to live” (Page 99). Clearly Wiesel demonstrates his loss of faith in the fact that if he fought hard enough, he would get through these dreadful times and make it out of the concentration camps. The Holocaust did this to many of its victims. Fooling them into thinking that there was no justifiable reason to continue fighting for freedom, causing them to give up and lose many of their lives.

Auschwitz , Belzec, Bierznow, Gross-Rosen... these are just a few of the torturous concentration camps that there was a possibility of being sent to during the times of the Holocaust. The majority of those who were interned in the German concentration camps during World War II did not return to their homes after liberation. To most victims, death was their only option. Elie Weisel comes in contact with death numerous times throughout his struggle to survive. One way millions of Jews were killed in the camps was by the furnaces. The weak were thrown into these chimneys and burned alive. Wiesel’s earliest encounter with the furnaces was immediately after his admittance into his first concentration camp. They are described to him by a veteran of the camp on page 28 when he says, “…that’s your grave, over there”. Of course Wiesel himself was not sent to his death by way of the furnaces, but he witnessed many innocent people who did. Staying alive under the harsh conditions of these camps was extremely difficult to do. There were just too many ways to die. "Was there a single place here where you were not in danger of death?" (Page 37). Even some of those who battled constantly