Holocaust History

Lesson 2: Legalizing Hate

"Night," Chapters 3 & 4

Our eyes were opened, but too late.

Night, pg. 21.

Assignment: Read Chapters 3 & 4 of Night

The historical, emotional, and philosophical ideas presented by Elie Wiesel become poignant at the account of the deportation and concentration camp experience. Night is dramatically different from the other originator of Holocaust literature, Anne Frank.

Night uses a style that recreates a harsh reality of the victims of the camps. The account of events in the camps and on the forced march becomes a multi-layered story of cruelty and hardship. The reader is confronted with the reality of the atrocious behavior of man and loss of faith. Wiesel takes the reader that defines the indefinable. He reveals this reality through exacting detail. Each story written about his experience in the camps becomes a complex examination of thought, feeling, and reality. Pay close attention to the detail in examining the text, not only for the emotional and historical effect, but also for Wiesel’s use of language, description, and use of metaphor.

In your journal you should reflect on the following themes:

• Reality versus disbelief
• Human strength and weakness
• Tradition and ritual, continuation and disintegration
• Hope, memory, instinct

With the forced entrance into the cattle cars and the story of Madame Schäcter, Wiesel begins the descent of his journey through the disbelief and terror of the camps. Leaving behind the close security of Sighet, the world of the boy is changed forever. Each layer of his experience reveals his shock and innocence with this new cruel, horrific world. Wiesel uses the train to symbolize a “hermetically sealed” coffin. As Madam Schäcter envisions the fires of the ovens of Auschwitz humanity begins to crumble within the cattle cars. Wiesel recognizes the loss of his childhood, “I too had become a completely different person. The person of the Talmud, the child that I was, had been consumed in the flames.”

Elie is transformed into a bitter and frightened boy who begins to lose faith in the God who was once his guide for life. He is now faced with the terrifying and unbelievable horror of the SS and the kapos. He is plunged into physical depravation and spiritual turmoil. Elie says, “For the first time, I felt revolt rise up in me. Why should I bless His name? The Eternal Lord of the Universe, the All-Powerful and Terrible was silent. What had I to thank him for?”

Use this quote to prompt further journal writing. Use these focus questions to guide you:

• What are the physical conditions of the camps?
• Faith in humanity diminishes for Elie. What incidents alter his view of humanity?
• How does instinct supplant spirituality? To what purpose?
• How does Elie struggle with self-preservation versus the commitment to save his father?
• Where do we hear the anger in cynicism in Wiesel’s voice?
• How does Wiesel use metaphor and artistic imagery to reveal the events of the camps?
• How is hope diminished and replaced by fear?
• What place do tradition and ritual have in a concentration camp?

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