In
the last section of Night, we learn about the cruelty between the inmates and
how they will do anything to survive. It's no longer the Jewish people against
their oppressors. It is now every prisoner against one another. They had left Auschwitz
after rumors of the Red army closing in. Men were shot if they could not keep
up with the rest of the men running. Elie ran next to a young boy who he worked
with in the factories. The little boy couldn’t keep up but Elie was begging him
to keep going. He insisted on stopping and lowering his pants. That was the
last image Elie had of him. Elie didn’t know if he was shot or trampled to
death by the hundreds of men running behind him. All the
prisoners took a train to Buchenwald. They were put 100 per car. Even with them
being so emaciated, they were still cramped inside. When they passed through
German towns, people would just look at them like they expected nothing more. The
townspeople began to throw bread into the cars just to gawk at the men fighting
over the little food. One man had snuck food into his shirt for his son. The next
thing Elie sees is a group of men jump the old man and his son. When the men
finally walk away all that is left is the old man and his son dead. Elie was
16. Could you imagine being 16 and watching a father, trying to help his son,
and his son beat to death for a small bite of bread? Or how about watching a
son turn a blind eye to his father losing pace with the rest, leaving him left
for dead? Elie prays to the god he no longer believes in. "Oh God, Master
of the Universe, give me the strength never to do what Rabbi Eliahu's son has
done"(p.91). When the men reach the gates of Buchenwald it is almost like
they have reached the gates of heaven. They trample each other to get within
its gates. Inside the walls, Elie's father becomes ill. He doesn't want to
live. Elie's father talks to Elie "Elizer… I must tell you where I buried
the gold and silver… In the cellar… You know…"(p.108). Elie's father dies by the crematorium or so
he believes. On April 11 Elie was liberated along with the other prisoners. What
would your first thoughts be if you were free? Would you seek revenge or seek nourishment?
Not the Jewish prisoners. They didn’t seek revenge, 2, 3 or even 20 days later.
They were just happy to be alive. How would you act in that situation?
While I was reading your post Jaci, I was agreeing with everything you were saying. One part that stuck out to me the most that you wrote was "Elie prays to the god that he no longer believes in", because it is completely true, and I can't help but blame him really. There's no way I could imagine ever going through what these poor, helpless people went through..but being 16 myself, if I was experiencing and seeing everything taking place I would question my faith. How could there be a God while all this is going on? When the townspeople basically teased them by throwing little pieces of bread at them, that broke my heart to read. How cruel could people be? That question actually seems dumb to say after reading this memoir of the young Holocaust survivor.
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