The long, hard journey has made Elie's father extremely weak. He is near the point of death. Elie starts to believe that there is no reason to go on and keep fighting. If the two "gravediggers" find anyone that is dead or as good as dead they are tossed from the wagon without as much as a goodbye. One of the Jews tells the "gravediggers" that Elie's father is dead because it will give him more room in the wagon. Elie refuses to let his father be thrown from the wagon and frantically jumps on top of him and slaps him in hope he will wake up. When Elie's father finally decides that he wants to give up and die, Elie is infuriated; "Tp have lived and endured so much; as i going to let my father die now!" The next morning when Elie discovers that his father has not recieved any food because it is seen as a waste for they will die soon anyone, he grudgingly gives his father the remainder of the soup. He then remembers the Rabbi's son who had left his father for dead and Elie realizes he has failed. The saddest part of Elie's father death is the fact that he feels "Free at last!" from having to care for his father.
On April 5, all the Jews are about to be killed but the underground resistance force of the camp has decided that they wont allow for the Jews to be exterminated. Elie and the rest of the 600 people from the children's block are told to return and not leave no matter what. A few thousand inmates are evacuated each day and the remainder of the prisoners recieve no more food or water. By April 10, the decision was made to evacuate all the remaining prisoners at once because the Russian front is getting closer. The evacuation is postponed to the following morning. Just as the everyone is to be evacuated, the resistance force takes over and forces the SS to flee the camp. "At 6 oclock that afternoon, the first American tank stood at the gates of Buchenwald."
When they are all freed they go immediately to the food. Never is there a single thought of revenge against Hitler and the rest of the Nazis. Free, they are free at last. Everyone must have been ecstatic. I wonder how Elie must have felt after losing his father not that long before they had been free. Do you think he felt guilty that he couldnt keep his father alive long enough for help to arrive? I'm sure he felt some guilt and regret but there is no other feeling in the world that can match being free.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Friday, May 23, 2008
Pg 85-97
Elie and the other prisoners who are being evacuated from Buna are no longer marching but are running through the cold winter night. If they stop running and begin to walk they will be shot. Zalman, who is running alongside Elie, stops running. He isn't shot but rather is trampled by the people running behind him who are too afraid to slow down in fear that they too will be shot. I understand that they are all underfed, tired, and probably sick, but i find it hard to believe that Zalman would just give in when he knew that death would surely follow. After they had gone through so much and the Russians were soon to be upon the Germans, why quit now? Elie with his injured foot and all keeps up for his father's sake.
Once Elie and the rest of the evacuee's reach a deserted village after a 42 mile run, they stop. Elie and his father rest in the shelter of a shed. Rabbi Eliahou find Elie and his father and questions them if they had seen his son at all during the whole ordeal. Elie lies to the Rabbi and says that he has not seen his son. Truthfully Elie did see him and couldnt find the strength to tell the Rabbi that the son had abandoned him because he thought that surely his father would fall behind and be killed. I know for sure that i wouldnt be able to tell any father this. Maybe just in fear of the father's reaction at the realization that the one who raised had abandoned him for his own good. Elie then prays to God that he will never have to or be tempted to abandon his father. Elie is beginning to return to his faithfullness in God.
Finally, the prisoners arrive at the Gleiwitz camp. Elie meets up with his friend Juliek but when he wakes up Juliek is dead. Another selection is made and Elie's father is once again condemned to die. Elie runs after him and in the confusion they are both able to sneak to safety. They are then loaded onto cattlecars and are forced to throw out the bodies of the dead Jews that still remained in the cars. They are forced to survive on snow because they have not been fed for three days. Occasionally, a villager along the way would throw bread into the cars just for the entertainment of watching the Jews fight each other to death for it. If you think that dog-fighting is wrong, this is that much worse. Everyone onboard is going crazy. A son kills his father and then is killed by other men. One night Elie is strangled in his sleep and Meir Katz is called to help him. By the time they reach their destination only 12 of the 100 men on the train remain alive.
Once Elie and the rest of the evacuee's reach a deserted village after a 42 mile run, they stop. Elie and his father rest in the shelter of a shed. Rabbi Eliahou find Elie and his father and questions them if they had seen his son at all during the whole ordeal. Elie lies to the Rabbi and says that he has not seen his son. Truthfully Elie did see him and couldnt find the strength to tell the Rabbi that the son had abandoned him because he thought that surely his father would fall behind and be killed. I know for sure that i wouldnt be able to tell any father this. Maybe just in fear of the father's reaction at the realization that the one who raised had abandoned him for his own good. Elie then prays to God that he will never have to or be tempted to abandon his father. Elie is beginning to return to his faithfullness in God.
Finally, the prisoners arrive at the Gleiwitz camp. Elie meets up with his friend Juliek but when he wakes up Juliek is dead. Another selection is made and Elie's father is once again condemned to die. Elie runs after him and in the confusion they are both able to sneak to safety. They are then loaded onto cattlecars and are forced to throw out the bodies of the dead Jews that still remained in the cars. They are forced to survive on snow because they have not been fed for three days. Occasionally, a villager along the way would throw bread into the cars just for the entertainment of watching the Jews fight each other to death for it. If you think that dog-fighting is wrong, this is that much worse. Everyone onboard is going crazy. A son kills his father and then is killed by other men. One night Elie is strangled in his sleep and Meir Katz is called to help him. By the time they reach their destination only 12 of the 100 men on the train remain alive.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Pg 66-84
The Jewish year is coming to an end and instead of celebrating they are working at a concentration camp. How would you feel if on New Year's Eve you were forced to do hard labor and werent allowed much to eat. Elie once agian questions the nature and even existence of his God but the Jews still pray before they eat.
Shortly after this "holiday" Elie is separated from his father and placed in the work kommando. Elie is one of the strong but his father was not. His father is condemned to death. He brings Elie his only inheritence; a knife and a spoon. They are then separated and Elie is almost certain he will never see his father again.
One day Elie returns from work and discovers that a second selection has been made and his father will no longer be killed. However Akiba Drumer was not so lucky. Winter is approaching and Elie is forced to have an operation for his swelling foot. While he is in the hospital he hears news that the Russian army is approaching and they may be liberated. Elie fears that those of them in the "hospital" will be killed when the Germans decide to evacuate the camp. So Elie and his father leave with the rest of the prisoners. As ELie is walking and leaving a trail of blood in the snow, his fellow members from the hospital have been freed by the Russians.
Shortly after this "holiday" Elie is separated from his father and placed in the work kommando. Elie is one of the strong but his father was not. His father is condemned to death. He brings Elie his only inheritence; a knife and a spoon. They are then separated and Elie is almost certain he will never see his father again.
One day Elie returns from work and discovers that a second selection has been made and his father will no longer be killed. However Akiba Drumer was not so lucky. Winter is approaching and Elie is forced to have an operation for his swelling foot. While he is in the hospital he hears news that the Russian army is approaching and they may be liberated. Elie fears that those of them in the "hospital" will be killed when the Germans decide to evacuate the camp. So Elie and his father leave with the rest of the prisoners. As ELie is walking and leaving a trail of blood in the snow, his fellow members from the hospital have been freed by the Russians.
Friday, May 9, 2008
Night Pg 47-65
When Elie and the rest of the prisoners he is traveling with reach their temporary location, they ask which block they should try to enter. The inmates answer without hesitation, "Buna is a very good camp. One can hold one's own here. The most important thing is not to be assigned to the construction commando..." Following his medical evaluation, Elie is sent to the orchestra block. He is told they will be working in an electrical factory where the work is "neither hard nor dangerous." During Elie's first work experience he meets to Czechoslovakian brothers named Yossi and Tibi. They lost their parents at Berkenau. Judging that they were roughly the same age as Elie and myself, I can almost imagine myself in their shoes. They are in a weird situation and alone. They dont have their parents to turn back to. How horrifying an experience it must have been for the two boys. Their only strength lied in the fact that they could rely on each other.
We are then told that they have a "blockaleste" or a German Jew as their leader. Isnt this ironic that Hitler wanted to exterminate all the jews, but yet there was a Jew with some authority at one his death camps? He was named Alphonse and he took it as his job to defend the people of his block. One day when Elie returns from work, his number A-7713 is called to go to the dentist. Originally Elie is unsure why he of all people is going because he doesnt have the slightest toothache. "It didnt take long to learn the reason for our summons: our gold teeth were to be extracted." The dentist is also a Jew. Unfortunately he is the complete opposite of Alphonse and his face looks to be the "mask of death." Elie cleverly says that he is sick and asks to come back another day. As if almost by amazement of Elie's return, the dentist grants him another delay. When Elie returns for the third time the dentist office closed. The dentist to be hung for trading in the gold teeth for his own personal gain. It looks like Elie would be keeping his teeth after all.
I find Elie's conversation with a woman several years later in life simply remarkable. He is sitting there reading his newspaper and recognizes her from his their days in Buna. They get into quite a conversation and she tells Elie from the moment she saw him she knew he could be trusted with her secret. During a time like this how could Elie be thinking about anyone but himself? I know my thoughts would have been focused solely on saving my own skin first and if possibly my family and closest friends. Somehow Elie is able to form strong bonds with the people he meets in Buna. FIrst it is Yossi and Tibi, then he makes a relationship that wouls survive many years down the road when they would cross again during normal circumstances. Utterly astounding..........
the crematorium at Auschwitz http://youtube.com/watch?v=xptP9Hk0vPw
The National Holocaust Museum in DC http://www.ushmm.org/
We are then told that they have a "blockaleste" or a German Jew as their leader. Isnt this ironic that Hitler wanted to exterminate all the jews, but yet there was a Jew with some authority at one his death camps? He was named Alphonse and he took it as his job to defend the people of his block. One day when Elie returns from work, his number A-7713 is called to go to the dentist. Originally Elie is unsure why he of all people is going because he doesnt have the slightest toothache. "It didnt take long to learn the reason for our summons: our gold teeth were to be extracted." The dentist is also a Jew. Unfortunately he is the complete opposite of Alphonse and his face looks to be the "mask of death." Elie cleverly says that he is sick and asks to come back another day. As if almost by amazement of Elie's return, the dentist grants him another delay. When Elie returns for the third time the dentist office closed. The dentist to be hung for trading in the gold teeth for his own personal gain. It looks like Elie would be keeping his teeth after all.
I find Elie's conversation with a woman several years later in life simply remarkable. He is sitting there reading his newspaper and recognizes her from his their days in Buna. They get into quite a conversation and she tells Elie from the moment she saw him she knew he could be trusted with her secret. During a time like this how could Elie be thinking about anyone but himself? I know my thoughts would have been focused solely on saving my own skin first and if possibly my family and closest friends. Somehow Elie is able to form strong bonds with the people he meets in Buna. FIrst it is Yossi and Tibi, then he makes a relationship that wouls survive many years down the road when they would cross again during normal circumstances. Utterly astounding..........
the crematorium at Auschwitz http://youtube.com/watch?v=xptP9Hk0vPw
The National Holocaust Museum in DC http://www.ushmm.org/
Friday, May 2, 2008
Pg 29-46
The first indication that things will not be as Elie and the rest of the Jews he is traveling with thought they would be is when Elie and his father are told by an inmate how old they are, rather than the other way around. Had they kept their real age, it was possible that Elie would have been too young and his father too old to do some of the more brutal work. They are being exploited.
When Elie and his father arrive at the crossroads they come upon Dr. Mengele where they lied about their age. THey were sent to left. Elie's mother was sent to the right. It seems that the left leads to the crematoria. Here there are truckloads of babies being burnt to ashes. THis is extremely hard to think about. Who were these babies that were begin born? Maybe one would a great scientist who found the cure to a terrible disease. Another the world's greatest leader.
Just as Elie is about to step to his death they are herded into a barracks. Here they are stripped of their clothes and their heads are shaved. People lose their identities. Everyone is just another unrecognizeable fact in the crowd. Wiesel says "surely it was a dream." When they arrive in a new barrack they are greeted by a Pole. He says that they "have already eluded the worst danger: selection." By the end of the chapter they are sent to a new camp called Buna.
a tribute to Elie Wiesel by nicole dupree http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6g_ssxBxco
When Elie and his father arrive at the crossroads they come upon Dr. Mengele where they lied about their age. THey were sent to left. Elie's mother was sent to the right. It seems that the left leads to the crematoria. Here there are truckloads of babies being burnt to ashes. THis is extremely hard to think about. Who were these babies that were begin born? Maybe one would a great scientist who found the cure to a terrible disease. Another the world's greatest leader.
Just as Elie is about to step to his death they are herded into a barracks. Here they are stripped of their clothes and their heads are shaved. People lose their identities. Everyone is just another unrecognizeable fact in the crowd. Wiesel says "surely it was a dream." When they arrive in a new barrack they are greeted by a Pole. He says that they "have already eluded the worst danger: selection." By the end of the chapter they are sent to a new camp called Buna.
a tribute to Elie Wiesel by nicole dupree http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6g_ssxBxco
Friday, April 25, 2008
Pg 23-28
"There was a woman among us, a certain Mrs. Schachter. She was in her fifties and her ten-year-old son was with her, crouched in a corner. Her husband and two older sons had been deported with the first transport, by mistake. The separation had totally shattered her." Today in religion we watched a movie about the Holocaust. I specifically remembered one woman who was about 10 around the time of the ordeal. When she got on the cattle car for her deportation from her home to the concentration camp, she saw her father. When she and the rest of the people she was traveling with got of the car her father was no where to be found. She never saw him again. I cant even imagine losing a loved one without the idea of even knowing what happened to them. No body, no nothing. It makes it seem as if they simply disappeared off the face of the Earth.
Obviously the woman from the movie survived to tell her tale and it didnt appear that she had completely lost her mind. Unfortunately, Mrs. Schachter wasnt as lucky. On the third night since the disappearance of her family, she claimed to a see a monstrapolous fire in the field just outside the train. When the rest of the captives looked to see the "fire" all they saw was the darkness of night. If you think you cant stand your parents now, think about if they were going mad. Maybe we shouldnt be as sorry for the mother as we are for her son. He is only 10 and has not yet found his place in the world (and with what is to come may never find it). It is likely that he will never see his brothers and dad again not to mention his mother has completely lost it.
I think the most startling fact of this book so far is the fact that Elie is being taken to Auschwitz. Yes it is completely remarkable that Elie survived this terrible ordeal in the first place but it is simply astounding that he survived Auschwitz. It is estimated that more than 1.25 million people wre brutally killed at the death camp. I find the initial reaction of the people onboard the train quite ironic. "There was a labor camp on 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. Confidence soared. Suddenly we felt free of the previous nights' terror. We gave thanks to God." If only they knew what lied instore for them here......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNhFxV79_Kc
Could the train tracks at the beginning be the ones that Elie found himself on?
Obviously the woman from the movie survived to tell her tale and it didnt appear that she had completely lost her mind. Unfortunately, Mrs. Schachter wasnt as lucky. On the third night since the disappearance of her family, she claimed to a see a monstrapolous fire in the field just outside the train. When the rest of the captives looked to see the "fire" all they saw was the darkness of night. If you think you cant stand your parents now, think about if they were going mad. Maybe we shouldnt be as sorry for the mother as we are for her son. He is only 10 and has not yet found his place in the world (and with what is to come may never find it). It is likely that he will never see his brothers and dad again not to mention his mother has completely lost it.
I think the most startling fact of this book so far is the fact that Elie is being taken to Auschwitz. Yes it is completely remarkable that Elie survived this terrible ordeal in the first place but it is simply astounding that he survived Auschwitz. It is estimated that more than 1.25 million people wre brutally killed at the death camp. I find the initial reaction of the people onboard the train quite ironic. "There was a labor camp on 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. Confidence soared. Suddenly we felt free of the previous nights' terror. We gave thanks to God." If only they knew what lied instore for them here......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNhFxV79_Kc
Could the train tracks at the beginning be the ones that Elie found himself on?
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