Elie Wiesel Reflection

Before his time spent in Auschwitz, Elie had many good character traits. For example, he was curious, sympathetic, and sentimental. Let me begin with the fact that he is sentimental, “I often sat with him, after services, and listened to his tales, trying to understand his grief. But all I felt was pity.” (Wiesel 7). This is when Elie is still in Sighet, and he’s listening to his friend’s tales of the Nazi Party. At this point, nobody believed him and the whole town thought that his friend, Moishe the Beadle, was crazy. Elie, however, sat and listened to him; he didn’t believe the stories, but he was sympathetic towards his friend and wanted to comfort him in Moishe’s time of need. Because Elie felt bad for the fact that everyone thought Moishe lost his mind, Elie listened to his friend rave about the Nazi party, showing that he’s sympathetic. On top of this act of sympathy, Elie was also sentimental. Wiesel states, “I refused to give him my shoes.” (48). In this part of the book, Elie and his dad had just arrived at Auschwitz, and someone at the camp offered Elie help to get into a good Kommando if Elie gave the man his

     Eli has a definite change emotionally. He thinks about the things he would never consider if he was not in Auschwitz. For example, on page 102, Elie says, “I gave him what was left of my soup, But it was with a heavy heart. I felt that I was giving it up to him against my will.” In the beginning, it was as if Elie would do anything for his father. After all, his father was older and it was Elie’s turn to look after him. After a while, his father seems like almost a burden to him. Elie felt obligated to give him the rest of his food, but if given the choice, he probably would not have given it up easily.

Elie experienced many changes, as a person while he was in Auschwitz. Before Elie was sent to Auschwitz, he was just a small naive child that new very little

Elie has lots of character traits that helped him get through Auschwitz, such as resourceful, traitor, and determined. In Night, Elie states “I went back a week later. With the same excuse: I still was not feeling better” (52). Elie came up with excuses to get out of getting his gold crown out. He got resourceful and came up with the idea to keep making an excuse that he was not feeling well, until they got a new doctor and he got to keep his gold crown. He used what he already had to get more out of people later and use his tooth as an advantage. Not only was he resourceful but he was also a traitor. Elie just let his father die and his father was still breathing yet he didn’t move.“My father groaned once more, I heard: ‘Eliezer…’ I could see that he was still breathing- in gaps. I didn’t move” (Wisel 111). He just let his father died and didn’t even try to help him and he died and his last words were “Eliezer…”, but he is thinking for his own future and if he will live or not. He betrayed and was a traitor to his father and didn’t even say goodbye. He was also very determined on living as said by Elie in the expert from his book, “‘Listen to me, kid. Don’t forget you are in a

In the book, our narrator, Elie, is constantly going through changes, and almost all of them are due to his time spent in Auschwitz. Prior to the horrors of Auschwitz, Elie was a very different boy, he had a more optimistic outlook on life. During the first few pages of the book, Elie tells us a bit about how he viewed the world before deportation, “ I was almost thirteen and deeply observant. By day I studied Talmud and by night I would run to the synagogue to weep over the destruction of the temple.” ( 3). Elie was, as he says himself, deeply observant and devoted most of his time to his faith. He spent almost all of his time studying and worshiping. At this point, Elie’s faith is the center of his life. Elie is also shown to do a few other things and has a few more early character traits aside from being dedicated to what he believes in. Elie also sees the best of people, a few pages later he says, “The news is terrible,’ he said at last. And then one word: ‘transports’ The ghetto was to be liquidated entirely… ‘Where will they take us?” (Wiesel 14). This is one of the only time we hear about Elie being worried or scared because of the Germans before Auschwitz, and still, despite the warnings that were given and the rumors circulating, Elie doesn’t think that the Germans are actually going to do all of those terrible things. Around this time in the book, Wiesel starts to become more emotionally weighted, but none of what has happened takes full effect until much later. There are multiple instances in the book where Elie is given reason to distrust or even hate the Germans, he talks about how the Gestapo treated him and his family on page 19 “‘Faster! Faster! Move, you lazy good-for-nothings!’ the Hungarian police were screaming.”. Yet he then goes on to say, on that very same page, that “Still our first

The Holocaust began around 1933 when Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany and leader of the Nazi Party. During that time, the first concentration camp, Dachau, was established to torture and kill Jewish people. Soon after, in 1935, Nuremberg Race Laws against Jews were decreed and depriving Jews of German citizenship. Germany then invaded Poland, starting World War II in Europe. With the start of World War II came many more concentration camps, and millions of deaths. Six million European Jews lost their lives during this horrific time. Many survivors shared their stories after they were freed, so that the world would know of the horrors they experienced. Elie Wiesel, a survivor of the Holocaust, told his story in his book, Night. Elie Wiesel was a teenager during the Holocaust, but lived on into his eighties and continued to speak out against what the Nazi’s did to his family.

I honestly agree to what Elie Wiesel has to say, “when human lives are endangered when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Where ever men or women are persecuted because of their race, religion or political views, that pace must at the moment become the center of the universe.”

Many thoughts went through my mind while reading about Wiesel’s final experiences as a German prisoner. I felt pity and sadness for him. His last few days as a German prisoner were his most difficult. He lost his father, he went days without food and passed days out in the freezing cold. I was also impressed on how he fought through these events. Despite his exhaustion or hunger, he never surrendered his life. He found strength that he never knew he had and showed the readers how strong humans can be when their lives depend on it. If I could meet Elie Wiesel and discuss with him about his time during the war, I would want to tell him many things. I would tell him that the time he spent at the concentration camps made him the man he is today

Torture and suffering is a thing happening all around the world that should be stopped. The time of the Holocaust was a taunting, and dark times in the world, where torture and suffering seemed the right thing to do to people. Elie wiesel was a victim of the torture and suffering by the Germans, in his book Night, and spoke up when he survived. In the book ¨Night¨ by Elie Wiesel, the main character, Elie, changes due to the time in the infamous death camp Auschwitz.

At the young age of 15, Elie was forcibly moved into a ghetto and soon after taken to a concentration camp. Human minds do not fully develop until a person reaches about 25 years of age. (Sandra Aamodt, Brain Maturity Extends Well Beyond Teen Years, National Public Radio) Comprehending the Holocaust is impossible for anyone, which makes it that much more unimaginable and unbelievable to a child. It is quite simple for one to lose sight of himself when faced with a scene of pure death. It is fair to say that most people will do anything in return to live a while longer with loved ones. Therefore, morals are thrown out the window and traded

Amel shook his head, sighing. He looked disappointed. I had finally quelled the happiness in him. Or, so I thought, until he gave me a small smile. "I'm sure living here for as long as you have has been taxing. The people here are so sad and violent, but they don't want to listen, Cerin. Hope, joy, and love... they don't have to hide very well here. There are so many distractions, so many fake things they tell themselves, that any virtue is easily covered up. God could give us so much food, we'd never ever starve, or so enough money for absolutely everyone to live in a nice house, or even heal all the sick and raise our dead loved ones, and we still wouldn't believe in Him. But He shouldn't even have to do any of that, He already made us, and

Before Elie went to the concentration camps, he had many good character traits such as loyalty, Religious, and Impatient. For Example, on page 33, it says “If that is true then I don’t want to wait. I’ll run into the electrified barbed wire. That would be easier than a slow death in the flames” (Wiesel). During this part of the book, Elie and his dad had just arrived at Auschwitz and were being put in a line that was leading to death. Nevertheless, this shows that he is being impatient because he was facing death head on and knew that he might die so he was choosing a quick death rather than burning and slowly dying. Another trait Elie showed before the concentration camp was loyalty. For instance, on page 36, Elie stated “Please sir I’d like to be by my father” (Wiesel). In this part of the book Elie and his family were being separated at the camp and Elie lied about his age so he could stay with his dad. In contrast Elie showed loyalty to his dad by not going with his mom and sister and staying with his dad. This was a very big decision by Elie because he chose the hard way by staying with his dad even if that meant death.

People can be affected by a lot of things. We can be affected by our friends, family, love, but the worst things to be affected by, are fear and death. Elie Wiesel, who experienced the Holocaust at age 15, was influenced by a lot of bad things. He saw things that no one should ever have to see in their lives. In the book, “Night” he talks about what happened to him at the Holocaust and tells us how he could not recognize himself afterwards.

Yes, in my opinion I do think that learning about historical events can guide people to behave differently. Although you still have the people who don't care about historical events or don't believe that they actually happened, you still have the vast majority that will be able to be changed by these events. I think that if we really understand what happened during these events we will be able to behave differently and appreciate the life we have. People take the life we have for granted, and I think it’s time for that to change.

Before Elie went to the Concentration camp, he had many good character traits. On page 31 - 32 Wiesel states, “The wind of revolt died down. We continued to walk until we came to a crossroads. Standing in the middle of it was, though I didn't know it then, Dr. Mengele, the notorious Dr. Mengele. He looked like the typical SS officer: a cruel, though not unintelligent, face, complete with monocle. He was holding a conductor's baton and was surrounded by officers. The baton was moving constantly, sometimes to the right, sometimes to the left”… “This conversation lasted no more than a few seconds. It seemed like an eternity.” In this part of the book Elie had just gotten to the camp and is getting sorted by the angel of death. This part of the text showed that Elie was brave because Elie had just talked to a man who had killed hundreds of people, and he never said he was scared or acted like he was frightened. Another trait he had before he changed was that he was hard working. One example of that trait is on page 50, “Sitting on the ground, we counted bolts, bulbs, and various small electrical parts.” In this part of the book after they got