My Thoughts

NIGHT was a horrifying moving emotional account of the atrocities of the Holocaust. Elie Wiesel related his experiences as a fifteen- / sixteen-year-old boy in Auschwitz and Buchenwald. Of his six-member family, only he and his two older sisters survived. Wiesel witnessed the death of his father only a few months before the liberation of Buchenwald, and it’s presumed that his mother and younger sister died while in Auschwitz.

While reading his account, I learned more about the horrors of the Holocaust than I had before. There were things I never realized happened, and I’m even more horrified than I ever thought possible regarding the treatment of the Jews during World War II. It was hard for me to believe that human beings can be so cruel, yet I know it had happened and continues to happen today.

I found two passages especially moving.  The first is a poetic recount of how Wiesel’s world changed during his first night in Auschwitz. Not only did he witness the barbaric things that happened to the people in the concentration camp, but he also realized how very real everything was and began to lose his faith. This was especially disturbing to him because he had devoted most of his short life to becoming closer to God.

Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, that turned my life into one long night seven times sealed.

Never shall I forget that smoke.

Never shall I forget the small faces of children whose bodies I saw transformed into smoke under a silent sky.

Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith forever.

Never shall I forget the nocturnal silence that deprived me for all eternity of the desire to live.

Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes.

Never shall I forget those things, even were I condemned to live as long as God Himself.

Never.

The second passage is one that I find the saddest in the entire book.

But now, I no longer pleaded for anything. I was no longer able to lament.  On the contrary, I felt very strong. I was the accuser, God the accused. My eyes had opened and I was alone, terribly alone in a world without God, without man. Without love or mercy. I was nothing but ashes now, but I felt myself to be stronger than this Almighty to whom my life had been bound for so long. In the midst of these men assembled for prayer, I felt like an observer, a stranger.

This passage saddens me more than any other passage because I believe that with God anything is possible. I believe God brings purpose to life. I believe God helps us through these horrible tragedies. And, without a belief in God, what reason is there to live? What reason is there to keep going, especially in the horrible circumstances Wiesel was in? To be left alone to deal with such a horrible experience would be my undoing. I couldn’t imagine facing those tragedies alone, and it saddens me that Wiesel found himself in exactly that position.

I often found myself thinking, “Would I have forsaken my faith like Wiesel had I been in his shoes?” I like to believe I wouldn’t have. I like to believe that my faith would increase and that I wouldn’t find myself angry at God. However, only God knows. No matter how many accounts I read of the Holocaust or of someone suffering in such horrible conditions, I can’t know how it felt to suffer like they did. I can only have empathy and compassion for what they faced and how they learned to keep going.

I didn’t realize NIGHT was the first of a trilogy when I started reading it for class. I’m not sure when I’ll read the other two books, but I’m sure I’ll read them at some point.