Night - grade A PDF

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A look at Elise Wiesel's "Night", A look at the novel by Elise Wiesel...

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Tiffanee Zenes 10/19/12 History 1700 Night by Elie Wiesel The details that Elie Wiesel brings to his book Night are absolutely mortifying and are impressively represented. I was thrown into the sense that I was onboard the train full of corpses and with those struggling to survive or that I was a young adult being held in the concentration camp, working until death crept beside me. It was extremely upsetting to read of the obstacles that Elie and his family went through, as well as the other individuals in the camps. The concentration camps were set up by the German Nazis’ under the direction of Adolf Hitler. They were a staple at the time of World War II that sought to dehumanize innocent victims. It was Hitler’s way of getting rid of a group of people to banish them from further existing and taking control of government. Their job under the camp system was either to work in the camp, or death by the chimney. Never again shall History repeat itself and a group of persons be subject to death for being shunned by a sick minded human being. In the early stages of Hitler’s system when the concentration camps were first beginning to be set up, the Nazis’ were still trying to search for their power. Originally the camps were heavily concentrated on imprisoning individuals who were political leaders. As time went on, concentration camps became the home to many homosexuals, homeless individuals, woman who appeared to be deemed prostitutes, and Jehovah’s Witnesses’. These were people who Adolf Hitler claimed were not fit to live in his society. When Jews were under attack in 1938 Hilter sheltered them in the concentration camps to “protect” them, when in all reality they were being held in the camps for being Jewish. Disabled men, woman, and children were placed in the camps to be taken care of, eventually sent to be killed, what was known as “special treatment”.

In the camp system the prisoners were seen as a hierarchy. The prisoners were set apart by the color of their badges. Those near the top of the pyramid would often be chosen to help control the rest of the prisoners. During Elie’s stay at the camp, Idek, a prisoner who became a Kapo (guard), beat Elie after he caught him spying on him. These people came off as brutally cruel as the Nazi party, as they expressed their strength in order to receive more privileges. There are many divisions that helped contribute (or assist) the Nazi party. When the Germans and the Hungarian police first entered Sighet they ordered the Jews to hand over any valuables. While being held in the ghetto, the Gestapo (secret German police) were seen for the first time by Elie’s mother. The SS, or the Schutzstaffel, were known as the officers who patrolled the concentration camps and served as the administration. Dr. Mengele was the man who inspected the prisoners and oversaw the experiments that were conducted. The Blockläteste was the block leader who was either a German soldier or a prisoner assigned to patrol the buildings. The Lagerälteste was the individual who was the head officer of the camp. As Elie recounts in his book these men played not only a rule in controlling the camp, but at times they were also in charge of executing the prisoners. At one time, the Lagerkapo (camp captain) refused to execute a child and three officers did the deed in his place. They could not even stand their place in the Nazi party at times. The concentration camps, sadly, were indeed effective to Hitler’s pursuit of the “Final Solution”. His goal was to terrorize a group of human beings and he did just that. Adolf Hitler didn’t necessarily reach his goal of eliminating a group of people, but the methods he used in the camps were found to be effective. In Night, Elie speaks of seeing men, women, and even children digging holes that would eventually become their own burial. Once the digging was finished, the German officers would shoot the prisoners and they would fall into the holes. One

bullet would most likely never be enough and fearing that the prisoners would try to climb out, they were shot multiple times. In the early 1940s gas chambers came into play and were seen to be more effective. Because bullets were not being wasted, gas chambers became a faster and more efficient way to kill the prisoners. In addition to death by bullet and gas chambers there was death by hanging. Not only did methods of death seem effective, but experiments played a role in the camp system. Personally I would say that concentration camps were illegal. It just doesn’t seem okay, by law, that a group of people can be detained in work camps and be subject to death. It is a form of murder and prejudice acts, which should be illegal even outside of concentration camp use. After investigation I learned that the concentration camps were indeed legal. International Law states that “Foreign civilians who pose a threat to a party to a conflict may be put in places of internment or given an assigned residence.” In this case, there has to be a true threat by action or they could be detained to be kept safe from war. I think being kept safe from war goes to an extent; being kept safe means to be placed in a safe environment, not a place where you put in extreme danger. It was indeed World War II, but Hitler had the idea of sheltering and killing the groups, not protecting them. Not only were they considered legal, but concentration camps could not be abolished because there was no actual definition as to what a concentration camp could be. Even if one believes that it is illegal, the law presides over opinion. To those who oppose the Holocaust, there is no way to justify the Holocaust. To Hitler, who initiated the troubling times, he saw it to be acceptable because the Jews were “sub-human and destroyed Germany.” He had the all the right intentions to overthrow the heavily influenced Jewish government, but could have done it differently. It could be said that since God created man, he could do whatever he desired to do, yet it is not God’s burden as it is ultimately the

perpetrators choice. To the other members of the Nazi party, they could say that they were obeying orders (or they would be sentenced to death) and that made the destruction acceptable, but that excuse doesn’t cut it. If he and others couldn’t tolerate people of certain races and identities, why didn’t they just do something less horrific? Those of the Nazi party could have ignored the issue all together and respected those who differed from them. But Hitler was a sick man who lingered for control, not a man who could ignore something. There is absolutely no way that I can say why his solution wasn’t acceptable other than that killing innocent human beings is immoral. No such action shown by the Nazi party should be used today. I have said this many times in this essay already, but I will repeat myself. Hitler had no right to terrorize and murder human beings; end of story. These actions could and are being used today as Hitler has most definitely influenced the World not entirely by his actions, but the result of his actions. Although the KKK existed before WWII, discrimination of races and certain people still happen today, which was one of Hitler’s missions. Hitler’s actions promoted new KKK White Supremacists groups including the American Nazi Party, Nationalist Movement groups, and Skinheads. It should not be a question of whether the actions could or should be used today, but how they are being prevented. To help prevent genocides from happening again, the International Criminal Court tries people of genocide, war crimes, and crime against humanity. The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide is the law that states the punishment of genocide and other killings. It is better to prevent as many of these actions from happening today, than rather take part in the crime. Night is a very powerful book that contains many accounts of what cruel actions happened within the camp system, but I found the Death March to be very effective. It showed

the strength of the men, but at the same time it was a way of torture. I believe that the march was a way to kill off more prisoners and for those who would live, it would scare them to not want to want to experience that again. The march to Buchenwald was a horrendous act. While some men would be trampled on when they grew tired from marching, others were shot when they would stop to take a quick break. Elie remembers how Rabbi Eliahou was looking for his son, who he didn’t know had purposely gone ahead of the crowd when he saw his father in pain. Elie lies to the father, telling him that he had not seen the boy. He prays that he would never do what the young man did to his father. Night is significant to Elie personally, for throughout the book he struggles with his search for God, who he eventually loses faith in. The message that Elie is trying to convey is that darkness and silence can go hand in hand. The historical impact that the book left on me is that he wants to let the reader understand how men and women suffered in the camp and realize why this destruction can never happen again. In the end, Elie looks at himself in the mirror and takes note of the loss of humanity he has witnessed and that everything that he once believed in has vanished. He and those who survived would have to start all over again Nations would have to start from scratch, but the horror would never leave them. Night is proof that history should never repeat itself.

Works Cited Dr. Doris Bergen. “Nazi Ideology and the Camp System”. PBS. Web. 30 October 2012. http://www.pbs.org/auschwitz/40-45/background/ideology.html.

“Auschwitz: The Camp of Death”. Holocaust Teacher Resource Center. Pages 17-18. Web. 30 October 2012. http://www.holocaust-trc.org/wmp17.htm

Mike Carlie. “Into the Abyss: A Personal Journey into the World of Street Gangs”. 2002. The Florida Gang Investigators Association. Missouri State Education. Web. 30 October 2012. http://people.missouristate.edu/MichaelCarlie/Storage/white_supremacist_groups.htm

“International Law: Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity”. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Web. 30 October 2012. http://www.ushmm.org/genocide/int_law/

“Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide”. Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Web. 30 October 2012. http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/genocide.htm...