Night Blog

Night Blog

Prompt: How do Elie's experiences during the Holocaust change him as a person?

        These horrific events greatly change Elie and as well as many other survivors. Before the war Elie had a great life. He had friends, faith, and family. Before he knew it, all of that was taken away. He was separated from his mother and sister, he became distant from his religion, and only thought to stay with his father. As the war progresses he forgets about his other family and friends, revolts against his previous religious views, and almost start to think his father is a burden.

        The first sign of seeing him change is when he first arrives to Auschwitz. He saw the people and children being born. He thought of running to the electric fence to end the horror. He thought to himself, "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?" P.31. This shows Wiesel's thinking during this disturbing event. He can't believe that his all mighty God would let such a thing happen. As events like these go on for this part of his life, he doesn't follow his beloved faith anymore. When Rabbi loses his son, Elie still prays for him. However, he says, "And in spite of myself, a prayer formed inside me, a prayer to this God in whom I no longer believed. "Oh God, Master of the Universe, give me the strength never to do what Rabbi Eliahu’s son has done." Wiesel specifically states he doesn't believe in his God anymore, he doesn't believe in his justice and his ways. However he still accepts his existence because he still prays to him.

        Throughout the entire war Elie is absolutely determined about one thing: staying with his father. Both at some point are weaker than the other. They cared for eachother. When Wiesel's father was sick he gave him his rations and would do anything for him. When Elie hurt his foot his father got help. They lived for eachother. Even with all of this love and care, Elie in the end basically saw him as a burden. After Elie wakes up and knows his father is gone he says, "I woke up at dawn on January 29. On my father’s cot there lay another sick person. They must have taken him away before daybreak and taken him to the crematorium. Perhaps he was still breathing … No prayers were said over his tomb. No candle lit in his memory. His last word had been my name. He had called out to me and I had not answered. I did not weep, and it pained me that I could not weep. But I was out of tears. And deep inside me, if I could have searched the recesses of my feeble conscience, I might have found something like: Free at last!" This is showing when Elie and his father are separated for good, Elie feels that he has no more responsibilities. He feels as if a weight has been lifted off his shoulders. It shows how much he's changed because all he lived for was his father, now that he's gone he feels almost happy. 

        

Night by Elie Wiesel

Night Blog

Prompt: Write an editorial, an opinion essay, about an event/character from your reading.  

        Night by Elie Wiesel is a memoir about the holocaust. So, the author is also the main character. The reader and the author himself learn a lot about how people react to gruesome situations like being put in a concentration camp. We learn that author was becoming almost completely dehumanized. He was losing faith, hope, and care.

        Elie's world before this traumatic event was basically revolved around his religion; Judaism. When he was younger he became extremely interested in reading the Cabala. However, his father thought he was way too young to understand the wisdom it brings. He eventually continued to study it secretly with Moché the Beadle. Once he was forced from his home, family, and life, he would start to lose his faith.

          The first sign of Elie revolting against his religion was when he was entering Auschwitz. They were walking towards the flames and saw the burning children. He thought, ""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?" P.31. This is showing him seeing all these horrible things and thinking, what God would ever let this happen? Another example of him questioning God is when they are speaking of him Auschwitz, "Some talked of God, of his mysterious ways, of the sins of the Jewish people, and of their future deliverance. But I ceased to pray. How I sympathized do with Job! I did not deny God's existence, but I doubted His absolute justice." P. 42 This is showing how people he is surrounded by are passionately talking their faith. If Elie hadn't changed so drastically he would probably be praying along with them. However, with all of the gruesome events he has witnessed, he questions whether God is good or bad, he questions his justice and whose side God is on.

 

Holocaust AOW Impressions

        This weeks AOWs were all somewhat current vents related to the Holocaust. Several articles were about survivors sharing their stories and experiences with schools and students. Those survivors teach about how hatred guided the whole war. Other articles were about survivors getting revenge from the war. A group of fourteen Holocaust survivors sued the Hungarian government for working with Hitler and the Nazis in WWII.

        Throughout most of the articles a lot of them had the same theme; history repeats itself. My article also had this theme. These articles were survivors speaking about how similar current events are to WWII events. Most of them talked about the Syrian refugees. They were saying if countries don't let in the refugees because of fear of terrorism and other issues, it is disturbingly similar to countries during WWII refusing to let Jewish refugees in. They are noticing some events like these are repeating themselves/ The survivors are trying to remind the public about the horrifying events during WWII, so they hopefully won't repeat themselves in current situations.

"Lights Out" Butterfly Project

I commented on Giovanna's blog, Jared's blog, Evie's blog, and Justin's blog.

Berlin Memorial Activity

During this WWII memorial activity I learned that Hitler and his government created laws that slowly but surly took away Jews's human and civil rights. In the beginning they took away their ability to seek entertainment. They made laws such as: Jews expelled from all sports, choir, and automobile clubs, Jewish actors prohibited from performing, and Jews banned from swimming pools. These were slightly minor compared to everything else. At the same time Hitler took away their jobs. They made laws that prohibited Jews with certain careers from working and basically got them fired. Hitler took away their ability to make a living. Then Hitler took more personal things. Things such as their pets, names, identity, valuables, homes, family, basically the government took away their way of life.

I think this monument was built to remind the generations of what Hitler did to innocent people and how the population followed his way of thinking. This monument shows things that no one realizes could easily be taken away, especially because it has been done before. It really helps people these days to respect what they now and not take advantage of their freedom. It show freedom is very valuable yet very fragile. The monument really puts things in perspective.

I noticed that in some years there were more laws passed and in others there were only a few. I think this happened because it was Hitlers plan to slowly take away freedom and conquer the world. In the beginning he made quite a few laws regarding Jews and their freedom (or lack of). In 1938 he really started to pound down on the Jews with labeling them, changing names, segregation, etc. Then he made a few more each year, but in 1942 he really took Jews lives away; literally and figuratively. He took their possessions, family, and their actual lives. 

I think the restrictions I would have the most trouble dealing with would be taking pets away. I love animals, and pets are literally family to me. Taking away a dog or cat would feel like someone taking my heart out. I wouldn't be able to handle it. I live for my animals, it's would terribly hard to live without them. Obviously it isn't as bad as the ghettos or concentration camps, but in my eyes it's a close second.