Holocaust History

Lesson 3: Legalizing Murder

Night

And then I remembered that I had a father.

Assignment: Read Chapters 5 & 6, Night

The final chapters of Night focus on the evacuation and forced march to the concentration camp Buchenwald. These chapters examine the relationship between fathers and sons. From the very beginning, Elie makes a commitment to stay by his father's side no matter what the choices are. They survive the selections in the camps and share food, shelter, care, and morale. But, the circumstances of the march take Elie into a world yet to be revealed to him:

the disappearance of moral and ethical behavior between father and son and the extinguished respect and care given to an elderly loved one. As the head of the block advises Elie,

Don't forget you are in a concentration camp. Here, every man has to fight for himself and not think of anyone else. Even of his father. Here, there are no fathers, no brothers, no friends.

This statement shakes the very being of Elie who is faced with not only his own struggle to live, but his father's also. Desperate and starving, Elie still makes a prayer to the God he believes has abandoned the Jews. He constantly questions the will of this same God.

Reflect in your journal on the following questions on Elie's disintegration of Elie's faith in man and God:

• How does physical necessity replace intellect and emotion?
• What is the pact between Elie and his father? How and why is this pact challenged minute to minute during the march?

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