I read the Nobel Peace Prize winning book, Night by Elie Wiesel, which was translated by his wife, Marion Wiesel. It was originally written in Yiddish and published by a French company in 1958, but was recently re-published with the new translation in 2006. 

Night is an auto-biographical narration of Elie Wiesel’s horrendous journey through the Holocaust. The story begins when Eliezer is fifteen, living in Sighet. At this point in time, Elie’s main priority is studying the Talmud and finding a master to teach him the Zohar. His father continues to tell him that he is too young to be involved in these things and he should just learn the regular school subjects, but Elie refuses. His father hardly knows him anyways, he is never home. As one of the heads of the community, his father was always being consulted on community matters, leaving very little time for him to spend with the family.

“My father was a cultured man, rather unsentimental. He rarely displayed his feelings, not even within his family, and was more involved with the welfare of others than with that of his own kin.” 

[This picture, taken before the deportation, shows some of the members of Sighet, standing in front of one of the synagogues in their small town.]

This book begins quickly; you have very little time to learn about normal life in Sighet before everyone is put in ghettos, and deported soon after. Because Father is such a privy member of society, he has a good idea of what days certain events are going to take place, and is therefore, able to warn his friends and family in ample time. By page 30, the family is in line at Auschwitz, waiting to be separated into the appropriate camps. 

“ “Hey, kid, how old are you?”
The man interrogating me was an inmate. I could not see his face, but his voice was weary and warm. 

“Fifteen.”

“No, you’re eighteen.”

“But I’m not,” I said, “I’m fifteen.”

“Fool. Listen to what I say.”

Then he asked my father, who answered: “I’m fifty.”

“No,” The man now sounded angry. “Not fifty, you’re forty. Do you hear? Eighteen and forty.” ”

From then on, those were the ages that Elie and his father were; it was the only way they wouldn’t be alone. They had to stay together, which meant they had to lie.

The rest of Night deals with Elie’s journey in many different concentration camps.  No matter where he goes though, his main priority is his father. The man he had once felt so distant from was the only driving force through this period of genocide. He did not concern himself with anything other than finding food and protecting the health of his father, who was much less agile than himself.

“My father had never served in the military and could not march in step. But here, whenever we moved from one place to another, it was in step. That presented Franek with the opportunity to torment him and, on a daily basis, to thrash him savagely. Left, right: he punched him. Left, right: he slapped him.
I decided to give my father lessons in marching in step, in keeping time. We began practicing in front of our block I would command, “Left, right!” and my father would try. The inmates made fun of us...But my father did not make sufficient progress and the blows continued to rain on him.”

[This is actually a picture from Elie’s camp. He is in the second row of bunks, seventh from the left.] 

Elie also deals with his relationship with God throughout this journey. He doesn’t understand why all the Jews continue to praise God, even though He is the one allowing them to be tortured like this. He doesn’t like that they celebrate God’s faithfulness, when he feels as if God is being far from faithful. He begins not to celebrate holidays, or pray, when the other Jews are, just out of spite for God. 

Wiesel does a great job with the imagery of the Holocaust. You are able to learn how some of the inmates really thought throughout this time. They weren’t always optimistic, they weren’t always kind, they weren’t always reliant on God, they dealt with all kinds of things we could have never imagined. It is especially interesting to hear all of this from a fifteen year old boy who is trying to be a man. 

[The children of Buchenwald camp being liberated by American troops.] 

In the original Yiddish writing, Wiesel included a line that said, “Books no longer have the power they once did. Those who kept silent yesterday will remain silent tomorrow.” I am very thankful that Mr. Wiesel did not remain silent and that he had hope that books still have power, because I, among others, believe his book definitely gave power to many people.