“Night” is a book that was written by Eliezer Wiesel on his life during the Holocaust period. Before the Holocaust, Wiesel and their family lived very happily. He and his family lived in the modern-day Romania. Wiesel was among the Jews that were very religious. He used to visit the temple every night. His greatest desire in his childhood was to learn Kabbalah. However, his father could not allow him to learn the Kabbalah because he thought he was too young. Luckily, he was taught little Kabbalah by Moishe, a foreign Jew. Wiesel was not taught much of Kabbalah because the Hungarian Police expelled Moishe. It was only after some months that Moishe returned and told Wiesel about the sad events that had happened to him. He warned the people of Sighet of impending death, but no one listened to him. After a short period, the Germans came and started mistreating people. The coming of the Germans led to very many events, which had negative effects on the life of Eliezer Wiesel.
One of the events that had a great impact on the life of Wiesel took place in the concentration camps established by the Germans. After Wiesel and the other prisoners had just come from their work, they were called to witness three other prisoners being hanged. To them, the hanging was completely different from the other hangings they had witnessed. This was because there was a boy among those who were to be hanged. Although the other adults died right away, the small boy wiggled and kicked before he could die (Wiesel, 35). Wiesel and the others stood there for a long period to witness the painful death of the boy. The event made Wiesel start doubting the existence of God, although he was very religious before that incident. Wiesel’s belief in the Almighty God started to decline from that time. The reduced belief in God was evident when all the Jews met in the celebrations of Rosh Hannah. In the previous years, Wiesel had asked God to forgive him for the sins he had committed. However, during this time, Wiesel did not ask for forgiveness. He felt that he was the accuser, and God was accused (Wiesel, 37).
Later on, Wiesel, his family, and other Jews were displaced from their places of residence and put under extreme conditions. The extreme conditions made many young people start copulating without considering the people that had surrounded them. That incident had an impact on Wiesel during his later life. Despite the fact he was mercilessly whipped, Wiesel kept quiet after he had caught Idek and a Polish girl making love.
The burning of the children is another event that had a great impact on Wiesel. This occurred on their first night in the camp. To him, the small children did not deserve to die such a painful death. The incident made him have a very different view of life, as the prayer for the dead was being recited. He did not see why God should be thanked when many individuals had died painfully because of fire (Wiesel, 19). He thought that God should be thanked when he did good and great things.
The killing of a young father due to bread thrown into the wagon is another event that occurred during the time when Wiesel was not a freeman. Meir was the name of the boy who killed his father due to a very small piece of bread. He had forgotten that his father could still give him a bite, but he hurt him (Wiesel, 54). The incident made Wiesel feel very bad.
The other traumatic event happened when Wiesel, his father, and the other prisons were being taken to Germany. The SS guards had ordered all the dead bodies to be thrown out of the train (Wiesel, 53). Thinking that Wiesel’s father was dead, they wanted to throw him out, but Wiesel made an effort to make sure that he was not thrown out. Had it not been not because of the presence of Wiesel in the train, he would have lost his father at that time.
The swelling of Wiesel’s foot because of cold also had a significant impact on him. Because of that swelling, he was taken to the hospital where an operation was carried out on his leg. Here, life was different. He was sleeping on a bed covered with white sheets. Bread with thick soup was now given to him (Wiesel) and he was even able to send a bit of the bread to his father. There was no work and roll call (Wiesel, 43).
The separation of Wiesel from his mother and their other kids had a great impact on his life. If Wiesel had not been separated from them, he would have faced the same death they faced. In addition, his father would have faced many challenges after falling sick for he would not have had a child near him to take care of him in the same way Wiesel did.
The disappearance of his father is yet another event that had a significant impact on the life of Wiesel. It happened when they were taken to Buchenwald. It is at this place that his father wanted to wash his body using hot water, but due to the crowding of the prisoners, he thought it would be wise to rest for he was very tired. Wiesel did not want his father to rest after he had seen the ground covered with dead bodies. However, they were sent to sleep but in different blocks. When Wiesel finally woke up, that is when he remembered his father. He went to look for him, but silently prayed that he could lose him so that he could take care of his own life. His father was later hit on the head by an officer while Wiesel was not near; he later died thus making it easier for Wiesel to take care of his own.
Despite the fact that he felt relived, that emotion was momentary for he regretted deeply later. The life of Wiesel ceased to exist following the death of his father. He even said that he had nothing to talk about his life after the death of his father. Evidently, the death of his father is another event that had a great impact on his life.
The war between the American troops and the soldiers at Buchenwald is also another event that had a great impact on Wiesel. The war became an avenue for the children to throw themselves where they could get something to put in their mouths. Maybe the children, Wiesel included, could have died due of hunger before the battle was over for they had eaten nothing for quite a long period. Wiesel and the other children had not put anything in their mouths for six days (Wiesel, 63). On the brighter side, this event made Wiesel a freeman.
In conclusion, Eliezer Wiesel faced many challenges from the point when the Germans, came at Sighet. At first, he could not complete learning the Kabbalah, which Moishe was teaching him. He ended up to be taken to the concentration camp, where many traumatizing incidents occurred. It is at this place also that his faith in God was shaken due to the things that he witnessed. He witnessed the killing of a young boy by hanging. He witnessed the death of small children burnt by fire. He was also separated from his family members and later lost his father. The conditions at the concentration camp were unbearable. However, finally, the American troops made their way to the concentration camps thus making Wiesel a freeman. All in all, the book is crucial in understanding the horrors of the Holocaust from a first witness account.
Work Cited.
Wiesel, Elie, and Marion Wiesel. Night. , 2011. Internet resource.
