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” (Wiesel 33).
Night” is the story of Elie Wiesel, the author, and his first hand accounts with the Holocaust. In this book Wiesel brings together emotions like rage, horror, and mourning. This is a very difficult book to read, but nevertheless very moving. It is a book that will make you weep, while also reassuring you that there are no obstacles that you cannot overcome. “Night” tells the dreadful truth of what took place in the midst of the Holocaust. Throughout this critical book response I will be focusing on how denial played a huge factor in the book. I will also give my personal summary of the book “Night” and other opinions of the book.
Summary of “Night”
Elie Wiesel’s book “Night”, is a horrific book where Wiesel tells of true life experiences in which he and his family were taken from their home to the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1944 and then to Buchenwald. The story starts out when Wiesel is fifteen years old. At this point in his life he aspires to learn all he can about the Jewish culture from his mentor Moishe the Beadle. When the Hungarian police deported all foreign Jews, Moishe was among them. Moishe soon returned but the people could tell he had changed in some way. He desperately tries to warn the people of the town of what he has experienced. No one pays any attention, trying to believe Moishe has gone mad. Soon after his warnings German troops enter their town. Laws were passed to Jews; do not leave your households, turn in all valuables, wear a yellow star at all times, move to two ghettos, and etc.
The laws continued day by day until everyone is forced into cattle cars and transported to a concentration camp. It was not until arriving at the concentration camp that fear began to set in the people. This would be the last time Elie would see his mother and sisters. Upon arriving at the camp they were immediately separated. In order to avoid the terrifying crematoria chimneys in the distance, Elie and his father lied about their ages. In Birkenau the prisoners were forced to do backbreaking work while only receiving a small portion of food daily. If they refused they would be beaten and/or killed. Those who survived were forced to march endlessly to Auschwitz concentration camp. All this time the people held on to their faith for hope, but going through rigorous days of labor and witnessing so much death caused the people to stop believing in their God. The people no longer have any hope, only living for their small portion of meals each day. It seems that the people changed into something less than human. Unlike the first days in camp the people were no longer concerned with looking out for each other.
Towards the end of the book, Wiesel tells of the Russians advancing towards Auschwitz. The sounds of the cannons give some people the ounce of hope needed to survive the wait. The German troops force the people to run fifty miles to another camp. Many of the prisoners do not make the trip and those that do, only days later are forced in cattle cars for yet another move. Elie and his father survived the exhaustion and the starvation of the cattle cars but in the days after Elie’s father got sick; he slowly died. Elie does not know whether he is in agony or relieved over his father’s death. Shortly after, Americans liberate the concentration camp. Wiesel was able to survive this horrible time period and now shares his experiences through this book, “Night.
Denial: A source of Hope
While reading the book “Night”, Elie Wiesel made it clear to me that denial could have been a huge factor in why himself, along with the people of his town almost willingly were placed in concentration camps. The first place in the book where it is noticeably clear that the Jews of Sighet are in serious danger is when all foreign Jews were expelled from their town. Even when the foreign Jews were loaded into cattle cars, Wiesel makes it seem as if this took place with little or no concern from the other Jews. As Wiesel says, “The deportees were quickly forgotten. A few days after they were deported, it was rumored that they were in Galicia, working, and even that they were content with their fate” (6). The people started this rumor because they were in denial of what was happening to them. How could have the Jews of Sighet believed that these people were content with being taken from their homes, family, and friends to work as slaves? Moishe the Beadle was a respected Jew that was among these deportees. Months later after the foreign Jews were deported he was the only to return. He told everyone possible of his horrific experiences and everything that took place around him. “But the people not only refused to believe his tales, they refused to listen”, Wiesel explains (7). With knowing what was to become of the Jews of Sighet, many would think they were ignorant for not believing. How could the people believe these stories Moishe told? This sort of thing does not happen in our time. Moishe’s stories were in comprehensible for someone to believe.
Rumors were circulating throughout Sighet that the Red Army was advancing and many believed the war was almost over. It was not until receiving news of the German troops penetrating Hungarian territory that the people began to worry. But denial was still overwhelming the people. They made themselves believe that the Germans would not come that far, not to their town. It is crazy to believe that at this time in the book emigration certificates could still be purchased to Palestine. When so many people could have left town, few or none at all did. Why did Elie’s family not sell everything and leave town; denial is why. Denial of what was taking place around them; denial of what was to become their fate.
Wiesel said that the people became scared with receiving news of German troops advancing but when the troops entered Sighet, they were still in denial. In one scene, Elie writes, “The Germans were already in our town…and the Jews of Sighet were still smiling” (10). When Jews were given rules such as: cannot own valuables, cannot leave your homes, must wear a yellow star, and must move to two ghettos, Wiesel gives the notion that the people almost happily went along with this. I do not believe the whole story was told here.
As the days passed in the ghettos it became aware to the Jews they would be transported just as the foreign Jews were. With the news of this the denial of the people stopped them from trying to flee. Once again they believed that they were just going to work. In the book Wiesel gives the notion that the Jews of Sighet did not believe that there life was going to be in danger or even that their way of living would change drastically. During this whole time the troops were staying in the homes of families and many considered the troops nice people. It was not until Elie’s family was moved to the second ghetto that the troops began to treat them bad. Elie says that this was when he began to hate them. Elie’s father made himself believe that all the army wanted was their valuables and that they were on some kind of “vacation” (21). The following day they were transported to cattle cars and sent off.
When the trains arrived at Auschwitz, no one knew the place. The officers sent two people from Elie’s car to fetch water. Upon the two returning Wiesel describes what they told to everyone, “When they came back they told us that they had learned, in exchange for a gold watch, that this was the final destination. We were to leave the train here. There was a labor camp on the site. The conditions were good. Families would not be separated. Only the young would work in the factories. The old and the sick would find work in the fields” (27).The people had confidence and no longer feared what was to become of them. Even with everything that has taken place the people denied what was happening by believing what these two people were told. Wiesel makes the readers believe that the people were content with this news.
When they arrived to the camps the people were quickly sorted in two groups. Elie went with his father, but his mother and sisters went with the other group. When his group started moving forward his saw a huge fire coming from a ditch. Following this scene Wiesel writes a sentence that is so bone-chilling it is difficult to read. “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” (Wiesel 33). Elie denied what he saw. How could you not be in denial upon seeing such a horrific thing?
After this scene in the book one can tell that the people no longer denied what their fate was to become. The denial was so great in the people of Sighet, that it took first hand experience to strip them of this.
Throughout “Night” there are countless scenes in which denial affected the people. Elie Wiesel has lived and will always live with these horrific memories of the Holocaust. Although it was surely hard for him to write about his experiences, this book is a great way to inform people of what did take place. This book tells of how during the Holocaust terrible experiences changed the people into something less than human. Elie Wiesel’s story is very moving, but I believe “Night” does not do his story complete justice. A story of this magnitude should not be constrained to just one hundred and thirteen pages of text. Overall “Night” is a great book with a very touching story. I have yet to read a book, which should be in every classroom worldwide until reading Elie Wiesel’s “Night”.
Works Cited
Elie Wiesel. Night. Jan. 2006-revised edition.
