Night by Elie Wiesel

Night by Elie Wiesel is an account of Wiesel's time in Auschwitz during the Holocaust. Wiesel lived in Sighet, Transylvania. When the German solder first arrived in Sighet, they seemed polite. "They never demanded the impossible, made no offensive remarks, and sometimes even smiled at the lady of the house"(p.10). The soldiers almost gained the peoples' trust. The Jews didn't think the Germans were there to hurt them. They lived their lives without caution. This action soon backfired. The Germans soon arrested the Jewish community leaders. They set up ghettos where the Jewish people were supposed to live. Next, they were told to give up all their jewelry, gold, and any valuables. The Jweish people were forced to wear the "yellow star" which identified them as Jews. Wiesel's father tried to comfort the people by saying "The yellow star? So what? It's not lethal..."(p.11). Wiesel asks if this yellow star is not lethal then why were so many Jews killed because of it? Wiesel and his family had a chance to flee and go stay with a former maid. Mr. Wiesel wouldn't hear any of it. He choose to keep his family in Sighet. One day all the Jews were to pack their bags and valuables because they were soon to be transported to some unknown location. People were packed into cattle cars. They were dehydrated, and they were starving. One women was so distraught about being seperated from her husband and two other sons that we should scream "fire, fire" randomly. Was she crazy? Or did she really see the fire burning in the chimneys at Auschwitz? Inmates were yelling at Wiesel and the others. They were beaten repeatedly for no reason. They were stripped of their identities. They were stripped of all their clothes, their heads were shaven, and they were tattooed with numbers which was the way they were now identified. What is worse: dying Elie Wiesel or being stripped of your entire identity, having to go by the number tattooed on your arm? For those who survived, their hair grew back, they were called by their names, and even the tattoos faded. What these people lived through, the family and friends they lost, and the livese they saw perish before them, will live with them for eternity.