World-Changing Events In Night, By Eliezer Wiesel

Throughout history, numerous world-changing events, especially dreadful ones; the common reaction to these occurrences should be to learn from these events to avoid making the same errors. However, as it is evident in history, that is not always the case. In the novella Night by Eliezer Wiesel, he explains how, a host of those dreadful, yet historic, events. In Night, after witnessing genocide, local Kabbalah teacher Moishe the Beadle warns the Jews of Wiesel’s city. They denied his claims, losing their chance to avoid deportation. While at the concentration camps, the guards are hardened to the fact that the Jews are human; they proceed to torture and starve them. Furthermore, even though many countries were aware of the Holocaust, the world
He claims that he had seen the Germans Secret service, or the Gestapo, murder Jewish prisoner, including shooting children. The other citizens denied Moishe’s claims. Nevertheless, what Moishe had claimed became a reality when the German soldiers occupied Sighet and evacuated the Jews from their homes onto trains, and eventually to Auschwitz, a German station. At Auschwitz, the Jews were put through a selection process, being chosen for either death or labor. It is probable that if the other Jews had believed Moishe then they could have left Sighet or retaliated against the Nazi’s occupation of Sighet. Wiesel quotes Moishe in Night, stating, “And as for Moishe, he wept. ‘Jews, listen to me. It’s all I ask of you…” (6). He further quotes Moishe, saying, “They take me for a madman.” (6). Wiesel is accounting how Moishe pleaded with the Jews to take heed to his warning, yet they denied his claims and even his sanity. Again, if the Jews would have listened to Moishe, they could have prepared for the German’s arrival. The fact that Jews do not listen to Moishe, and are eventually taken from their homes and imprisoned clearly stands as one of many reasons to study the Holocaust and retain that memory in order to avoid falling victim to hatred, whether it be one’s
During their imprisonment at Auschwitz, the Nazis stripped them of their belonging and put them through a selection process, to death or to forced labor at the concentration camp. In the concentration camps, prisoners were beaten brutally and starved, in many cases, to death. “As I was biting my lips to stop myself from screaming, with pain, he must have taken my silence for defiance, for he went on hitting even harder.” (Wiesel 39), Wiesel explains about his beating. In reference to the starving, Wiesel writes, “Bread, soup --- these were my whole life. I was a boy. Perhaps less than even: a starved stomach.” Both Wiesel’s mention of his beating and mention of his starving add onto the condition that are, although tragic, useful and necessary to study and remember to avoid committing the same