The Holocaust: Elie Weisel's Night

Night Essay The Holocaust is considered the greatest act of hate and anti-Semitism in modern history. This relentless act of hate and genocide was made possible by the Nazi party under Adolf Hitler’s orders carried out by Heinrich Himmler to exterminate Jews and other minorities. The Holocaust is responsible for over 9 million people (an estimate of 6 million people murdered were Jews). Because the Holocaust was so insidious, this part of history cannot be forgotten to prevent these atrocities from ever happening. The book Night by Elie Weisel shows some infamous reasons why the Holocaust should never be forgotten. Elie Weisel wrote, “It is obvious that the war which Hitler and his accomplices waged was a war not only against Jewish men, women, and children, but also against Jewish religion, Jewish culture, Jewish tradition, therefore Jewish memory.” Hitler believed that the defeat of Germany in World War I was the doings of the Jews. Hitler blamed the treaty of Versailles which ultimately leads to the collapse of the German economy in 1929 on the Jews. Because of this belief Hitler sought to exterminate all western European Jews. In order to carry out his plans Hitler made death camps and concentration camps. Auschwitz was the most famous concentration camp of the holocaust, it’s also where Elie Weisel was sent to. Elie wrote “Humanity? Humanity is not concerned with us. Today anything is allowed. Anything is possible.” Humanity did not exist in Auschwitz. An SS officer (SS were in charge of exterminating the Jews, the Heinrich Himmler in charge of the SS) could shoot a Jew without reason. Women and children were sent to gas chambers to face their inevitable death. Another reason why we should never forget the atrocities committed during the Holocaust is because they tend to repeat themselves and how inhumanity played a role. One of the atrocities as Elie Weisel describes in his book Night, “Never shall I forget the little faces of the