Monologue From Renata Reisfeld's Letter To The Germans

The Holocaust, yet another unpleasant time in history tainted with the blood and suffering of man. Human beings tortured, executed and starved for hatred and radical ideas. Yet with many tragedies there are survivors, those who refused to die on another man’s command. These victims showed enormous willpower, they overcame human degradation and tragedies that not only pushed their beliefs in god, but their trust in fellow people. It was people like Elie Wiesel author of “Night”, Eva Galler,Sima Gleichgevicht-Wasser, and Solomon Radasky that survived, whose’ mental and physical capabilities were pushed to limits that are difficult to conceive. Each individual experiences were different, but their survival tales not so far-reaching to where the fundamental themes of fear, family, religion and self-preservation played a part in surviving. Although some of these themes weren’t always so useful for survival.

It has been days. I stumble, foot over foot to the crack of sunlight that beams into the car. I feel the train rock back and forth, side to side as we tumble over the tracks to a “better life.” A better life. More bread. They care about us. I hear the screech as the cars stop as we are all tossed forward. “Welcome to Auschwitz, Jews.” I hear a man scream be strong. I hear the crack of a whip and gun shots. I know they lied.

Everyone experiences emotional and physiological obstacles in their life. However, these obstacles are incomparable to the magnitude of the obstacles the prisoners of the Holocaust faced every day. In his memoir, Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, illustrates the horrors of the concentration camps and their mental tool. Over the course of Night, Wiesel demonstrates, that exposure to an uncaring, hostile world leads to destruction of faith and identity.

In a quote from the author Elie Wiesel, “To forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time,” holds true because the holocaust is too important to forget. Elie Wiesel from night tells his story first hand of the tragedies. But throughout his years at the camp, Elie changes very dramatically in many ways. Including spiritually, emotionally, and self preservation, he transforms from a young innocent boy to a strong fighter.

In the 1930’s and 40’s, Jews were stripped of their identities and put into death camps by the Nazi soldiers. This is what happened to Elie Wiesel when he was only 15 years old. Elie and his family were captured and put into an extremely large death camp called Auschwitz. As soon as he and his family stepped through the gates, his mother and sister were murdered and Elie and his father were put to work. This memoir, Night, is a description of how Elie stayed alive in the camp and how he lost belief in his religion. When put into a horrible situation, it’s easy to lose faith.

During the duration of World War II, the Jewish people of Europe were subjected to such inhumane actions at the hands of the Nazi party. Ellie Wiesel, in his memoir Night, describe this demoralizing treatment in great detail. As the reader delves deeper into Wiesel’s experiences, the dehumanization of the Jewish people becomes greater and greater. First, they were stripped of their possessions, then their names, and finally their dignity, and though the Nazi tried to finally stripped them of their humanity, they were unsuccessful.

Imagine yourself in a tiny, dank dungeon with one hundred other people. Now imagine having one piece of bread and a small bowl of soup a day, or less, then working yourself to the point of death. Now imagine surviving all of that for years and living to tell your story. In the book “Night”, by Elie Wiesel, that is exactly what happened. The story of the destruction of the Jewish community is told from the perspective of a survivor of all the cruelty brought upon those people. The Holocaust is a despicable act of cruelty of the Germans, who imprisoned and killed millions of Jews. Although there was much hardship and cruelty among the prisoners, the true loss of identity of the majority of them can be seen through the prisoner’s ID’s, no longer following their religion, and being rationed for food.

1.“I know this is insane, but I somehow wish I had been in Auschwitz with my parents so I could really know what they lived through.” (Spiegelman 16)

“Death wrapped itself around me till I was stifled.” Elie Wiesel was a young boy, only 15 years of age, when he encountered the tortures of the largest concentration camp, Auschwitz. Another Auschwitz survivor, Susan Pollack, experienced the horrors of her family being taken away right before her eyes (Connolly) .The life stories of Elie Wiesel and Susan Pollack are two examples showing the graveness of the mass butchery and abuse the Auschwitz prisoners endured, therefore portraying their immense joy when they were liberated by the Soviet soldiers on January 27,1945 (Wiesel 92).

After reading Night, I will never forget to not to forget. I will not forget the horrible conditions of Auscwitz. I will never ever forget the name Auscwitz. I will never forget the cries of the babies that were burned alive. I will not forget the feeling I had after watching real images that convey the reality of being a prisoner at Auscwitz. I will not forget how important it is to remember and to never loose hope. Because hope summons future. And last but not the least ,I will not forget to cherish , thank and respect my parents.

The Holocaust was a terrifying event that lasted for over 12 years and brought the deaths of about six million Jews. The main cause of death was the concentration camps that the Nazis set up throughout Europe. There, Jews and other minorities were gassed, cremated, shot, and forced to work. Elie Wiesel, author of the memoir Night, was one of the few Jews that survived the Holocaust. In Night, he writes about the harrowing experience of being deported from his home country to a concentration camp, where he and his father are separated from his mother and sister. Although they hadn’t been close before the deportation, Wiesel and his father are left with only each other to rely on, and they endure

Born from that very same heart came forth a devoted being which even at the verge of death only thought of happiness for himself, his family, and to those who were victimized by the Holocaust. Facing the horror of the concentration camp never extinguished his main perspective “I tried to live my life in such fashion, so that in my last hour, I would rather be happy than fearful [...] I found happiness within me, resulting from the realization, that his fight was worth it” said by Witold Pilecki. Hence why even through death heroism should never be forgotten, no matter how long ago it was; it would be

The holocaust was an event that undoubtedly left a mark on millions of people’s lives. But among those people, those most affected were the survivors who, by chance, could walk away from Auschwitz with their lives. Upon reflection of the tragedies we now know occurred within the Jewish internment camps, one can only imagine the scarring effects that must have been left on the survivors. Through three texts I was able to identify a conversation of just how deteriorating the Jewish internment camps were to those who managed to live through them.

Next Jews were taken trains as a transportation. These trains gave somber vibes due to the fact that they were always in squalid conditions. Jews were shoved into these trains with no choice. Many people were in these trains at once. Women, men, elderly, and children could all be in the trains at once. They

This assignment gave me a deeper insight into the minds of the captured, abused, scarred prisoners who found themselves trapped behind the bars of Germans for no reasonable explanation at all. Completing this quote journal helped me realize that they didn't lose all of their humanity, the prisoners and Nazi's both. Although many German soldiers could care less about the thoughts and feelings of the Jews, some showed that their heart still had compassion, even if it was just a little bit. Riva was filled with despondency at times, yet her strength remained and she survived. The memories of her family was with her during the time she was held at camps, and the little bit of hope that they too could be alive still was a reason to keep herself