Presented by: Sasha Lidman
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• Elie Wiesel- a biography……………3
• Chapter 1 summary…………………11
• Chapter 2 summary…………………12
• Chapter 3 summary…………………13
• Chapter 4 summary…………………14
• Chapter 5 summary…………………16
• Chapter 6 summary…………………18
• Chapter 7 summary…………………20
• My reflection of the book…….22
• Bibliography……………………………24
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Elie Wiesel was born in the small town of Sighet in
Transylvania, where people of different languages and religions have lived side by side for centuries, sometimes peacefully, sometimes in bitter conflict. The region has long been claimed by both Hungary and Romania and, in the
20th century, has changed hands repeatedly, a hostage to the fortunes of war.
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• Elie Wiesel grew up in the close-knit Jewish community of Sighet. While the family spoke Yiddish at home, they read newspapers and conducted their grocery business in German, Hungarian or Romanian as the occasion demanded. Ukrainian, Russian and other languages were also widely spoken in the town. Elie began religious studies in classical
Hebrew almost as soon as he could speak. The young boy's life centered entirely on his religious studies. He loved the mystical tradition and folk tales of the Hassidic sect of Judaism, to which his mother's family belonged. His father, though religious, encouraged the boy to study the modern
Hebrew language and concentrate on his secular studies. The first years of World War II left Sighet relatively untouched. Although the village changed hands from Romania to Hungary, the
Wiesel family believed they were safe from the persecutions suffered by Jews in Germany and
Poland .
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• The secure world of Wiesel's childhood ended abruptly with the arrival of the
Nazis in Sighet in 1944. The Jewish inhabitants of the village were deported en masse to concentration camps in
Poland. The 15 year-old boy was separated from his mother and sister immediately on arrival in Auschwitz. He never saw them again. He managed to remain with his father for the next year as they were worked almost to death, starved, beaten, and shuttled from camp to camp on foot, or in open cattle cars, in driving snow, without food, proper shoes, or clothing. In the last months of the war, Wiesel's father succumbed to dysentery, starvation, exhaustion and exposure.
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• After the war, the teenaged Wiesel found asylum in France, where he learned for the first time that his two older sisters had survived the war.
Wiesel mastered the
French language and studied philosophy at the Sorbonne, while supporting himself as a choir master and teacher of Hebrew. He became a professional journalist, writing for newspapers in both
France and Israel.
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For ten years, he observed a self-imposed vow of silence and wrote nothing about his wartime experience. In 1955, at the urging of the Catholic writer Francois
Mauriac, he set down his memories in
Yiddish, in a 900-page work entitled
(And the world kept silent). The book was first published in
Buenos Aires, Argentina. Wiesel compressed the work into a 127-page
French adaptation,
(Night), but several years passed before he was able to find a publisher for the French or English versions of the work. Even after Wiesel found publishers for the French and
English translations, the book sold few copies.
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• In 1956, while he was in New York covering the United Nations, Elie
Wiesel was struck by a taxi cab. His injuries confined him to a wheelchair for almost a year. Unable to renew the French document which had allowed him to travel as a
"stateless" person, Wiesel applied successfully for American citizenship. Once he recovered, he remained in New York and became a feature writer for the Yiddishlanguage newspaper, the Jewish
Daily Forward
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Wiesel continued to write books in French, including the semi-autobiographical novels L'Aube (Dawn), and
Le Jour (translated as The Accident ). In his novel
La Ville de la Chance (translated as The Town
Beyond the Wall ), Wiesel imagined a return to his home town, a journey he did not undertake in life until after the book was published .
As these and other books began to win him an international reputation, Wiesel took an increasing interest in the plight of persecuted Jews in the
Soviet Union. He first traveled to the USSR in 1965 and reported on his travels in The Jews of Silence.
His 1968 account of the Six Day War between Israel and its Arab neighbors appeared in English as A
Beggar In Jerusalem . In time, Wiesel was able to use his fame to plead for justice for oppressed peoples in the Soviet Union, South Africa, Vietnam, Biafra and Bangladesh
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He has written plays including Zalmen, or the
Madness of God and The Trial of God (Le Proces de
Shamgorod ). His other novels include The Gates of the Forest, The Oath, The Testament, and The Fifth
Son. His essays and short stories are collected in the volumes Legends of Our Time, One Generation
After, and A Jew Today. Although Wiesel still writes his books in French, his wife Marion now
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collaborates with him on their English translation
In 1978, President Jimmy Carter appointed Elie •
Wiesel Chairman of the United States Holocaust
Memorial Council. In 1985 he was awarded the
Congressional Medal of Freedom and, in 1986, the
Nobel Prize for Peace. The English translation of his memoirs appeared in 1995 as All Rivers Run to the Sea.
Since 1976, he has been Andrew Mellon
Professor of Humanities at Boston University. He makes his home in New York City with his wife and
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their son, Elisha
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pages 1-20
This part of the book begins with the description of a man called Moche the Beadle. This man was a mentor to Elie, teaching him the Cabbala against his fathers will. One day, Moche was deported , along with the other Sighet
Jews. They were all soon forgotten, until Moche returned and told the townspeople what happened to the others- how they were forced to dig their own graves and then mercilessly killed. Even though Moche only came back to warn the Jews, they did not believe him , thinking he was trying to get money or sympathy. The Jews remained optimistic even when the German soldiers entered their territory and the first decrees against the
Jews were formed. When the Germans set up the Ghettos in Sighet, the Jews became optimistic,hoping they would remain in the Ghetto until the end of the war. Soon, however , they received news of a deportation soon to come. Elie’s family had a week to prepare for the departure, and they prepared for a long journey not knowing where they would be taken. When it was finally time to leave, the Jews were literally stuffed into small cattle wagons.
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pages 21-26
• In this part the Jews are taken somewhere in a cattle wagon. The conditions are awful, there is no food and the heat is unbearable.Here began the slow transformation of the Jews from human beings into animal-like creatures- Elie complains that the youngsters had sex openly in the train, inconsiderate of the others.
Also, when an old woman named Madame Schachter went out of her mind and started screaming of a fire and a furnace she sees, the men beat her up repeatedly to shut her up. Later they even tied her up and gagged her, even though she was obviously unwell after the loss of most of her family. In the end of the chapter the Jews actually saw the flames she saw earlier. The Jews had arrived in
Birkenau- the reception center for Auschwitz.
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pages 26-44
• This section of the book was quite disturbing. The first shock was when
Elie was separated from his mother and sisters. Then, the most horrible of all- he saw the burning pit of babies and young children. Thinking he was to be burned Elie thought of suicide on the electric wire to save himself the agony of burning.It’s then when the first question in god rose in him. Interesting though, that while questioning God’s mercy and refusing to bless him, he had never questioned his existence.
• Here, the Nazis begin the work of robbing the Jews of their individuality and humiliating them- all have their hair cut and are given ill-fitting prisoners’ clothes. The guards threated them as animals. The men that were singled out for being “stronger” were made into the “Sonder-
Kommandos.” ,made to burn their fellow prisoners, their own brothers!
To me this is the most horrible torture imaginable.
• At the camp the next day, the sign on it said, “Work is liberty.” “Liberty”? In
Auschwitz? Yet, it was, in a way, logical., as long as you could work, you were free from death. The head of Elie’s block met the prisoners with kind, human words and they regained hope. It was at this camp that the man
Stein approached Elie and his father. He was a distant relative that Elie’s father did not remember, but Elie had recognized him. Stein wanted to know if they had heard anything about his family, so Elie lied and told him that he had heard that they were alive and well. Elie was wise enough to realize that this white lie would bring Keep Stein alive. Later Stein received some real news of his family. Elie had never seen him again.
• In the end of the chapter the remaining Jews marched to buna,
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pages 45-62
In this chapter Elie and the other Jews adapted in Buna. They were threated by the Kapos as cattle or merchandise. Elie got in a pretty good unit, with friendly comrades, a sympathetic foreman who even placed him with his father and an easy warehouse job.
Sometimes the Kapo would have a rage outburst and beat whoever got in his way. Once, Elie did, and Idek beat him severely.Then,a young girl that worked there as French, helped him and even comforted him in German- even though she was risking herself by that . Another time, the victim was Elie’s father- and Elie wasn’t mad at the Kapo but at his father- for not knowing how to escape the outburst! This is what camp life has made of him.
Later on, the foreman had noticed Elies gold tooth. The sympathetic, intelligent youth was no more- the greed had turned him heartless and he tormented Elie’s father. Eventually, Elie had to give in.
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One Sunday, the camp was bombed by American planes.
This gave the Jews a new hope, even though each bomb could kill hundreds of them! But they didn’t fear death anymore.
During the alert, one of the prisoners stole some soup.
A week later, he was executed for the crime.
He died with a curse upon Germany on his lips and all the prisoners were made to look at him.
This wasn’t the last execution Elie had to witness. He tells of one that had shaken him more than the others: the execution of a young child who was loved by all in the camp.The child worked under an oberkapo found guilty in sabotage. He was put to torture beforehand but would not speak.
When the child was hung Elie felt as if god had died.
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pages 63-80
The summer was coming to an end, and the Jews celebrated
Rosh Hashanah. Elie’s mind revolted against the prairs-
He had been through so much until now that his faith was gone. He stirred against praising the god that let all this hell happen to those who pray before him and accused god for leaving them. In Yom Kippur Elie did not fast, as if protesting against God.
After Yom Kippur came two selections. Elie , among with his father and everyone else, panicked. His father even left him an inheritage- a knife and a spoon, preparing to die.
Luckily, the father managed to escape the selection. But
Akiba Drummer didn’t. In all the previous chapters he was the one never losing hope… But lately he had lost his faith in God. Elie explained his death by this.
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• When the winter came, the conditions in the camp went even worse, and in January Elie got a frostbite on his right foot. He had it examined and the doctor insisted on an operation. In the hospital Elie saw near-human conditions again- he had forgotten them by then! His neighbor advised him to get out of the hospital as soon as possible, but Elie didn’t know whether even to trust him or not…
• Two days after Elie had an operation a rumor of the Red
Army approaching was spread. Soon’ the Jews were told to prepare for evacuation. Elie decided to go with the rest of the Jews,even though his foot was bleeding and he couldn’t walk.. Ironically, the red army did come, and the invalids left in camp were released 2 days after the evacuation.
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pages 81-92
The Jews marched, followed by the SS who soon made them run and shot anyone who couldn’t keep up. Elie was completely exausted, hardly dragging himself. The race was so hard the idea of a quick death started to fascinate him, and the only thing that stopped him from giving up was his father’s presence- Elie had to continue suporting him.
When the Jews were given the order to rest, Elie’s father didn’t let him sleep- those who did, froze to death. They went into a shed and slept in there, taking turns to watch one another.
One of the most unsettling parts of the book to me is the story of rabbi Eliahou and his son, who left him behind. The most horrible part of the nazi abuse was the psychological effect. The Jews turned into mere animals. In the race for survival bonds suck as the one a father and a son share, were erased.
Elie prayed to god for the strength never to do such a deed.
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Finally, the Jews reached Gleiwitz. There, Elie met an old friend – Juliek, the violinist. He had brought his violin with him.Falling asleep among the corpses
Elie heard him play. Juliek played as he would never play again’ putting his soul into the strings. When
Elie woke up Juliek was already dead, his violin trampled.Elie was kept in the camp for 3 days without food or drink. Then there was a selection.
Elie’s father was chosen to die but Elie ran after him and’ causing a confusion, brought him back. Later, the Jews were given bread. For water, each ate a mouthful of snow from his neighbor’s back. The SS offecers laughed at this.
Then, the train arrived. The wagons had no roofs and it was still snowing. The Jews were loaded in and the conoy set out.
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(pages 93-108)
When he was on the train, Elie recalls a stop where a workman threw some pieces of bread on to the train. The prisoners began to tear each other apart for a piecehe saw a man assault his own father for some bread. However, that man was killed right after by another man anyway... The Jews were no longer humans, they ceased to be men long ago. Unable to prove their humanity they acted as mere animals. Elie tells of an event that happened years later where a woman was throwing some money to some poor native children in Aden that reminded him of his situation. The children were fighting mercilessly over the coins, and when Elie asked her to stop, she replied, “I like to give charity....”.
Obviously, it was only done for the entertainment, and so it is in the story. The workmen too didn’t think of the Jews as of human beings.
In Buchenwald, Elie’s father had fallen ill , and the doctors didn’t help.His neighbors abused him and took away his food. He kept begging for water and eventually passed away. Elie had no tears to weep for him, and to his dismay, he even felt a bit liberated from the heavy burden…
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on April fifth, the SS said that they were going to start evacuating Buchenwald one day at a time, and stop the rations of bread and soup.The evacuation began.
Finally, on April tenth, there was an alarm, and a revolt the next day. The prisoners were rescued by the Americans that
Evening. Their first act as free men was to eat. That was the only desire still alive in them .None thought of their families or of revenge. The author ends the book with the
Following lines:
“From the depth of the mirror a corpse gazed back at me.”
The look in his eyes as they stared into mine, has never left me.”
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My experience of reading this book has two aspects. On one hand, it was an amazing book. The author has a very special writing style that helped me imagine all the events vividly. On the other hand that’s what made it unbelievably painful to read. The more I read, the more I realized- If I would be there I would never reach the end of the war.
The Holocaust is pretty much my family’s history, al my parents survived the war. My mind cannot comprehend all this. It is very stirring that all that happened to the Jews only because of their religion! I cant help agreeing with
Elie Wiesel – Where was the Justice?!
I cant say I’ve learned anything new about the Holocaust from the book, since I’ve been reading about it a lot earlier. Still, the book was so vivid it made me almost experience the Holocaust, and of course, understand it better.
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I’m very gald I got to share opinions with a foreign student, since it was very interesting for me to see how an outsider’s point of view on those events. As I see, they stirred my partner just the same.
I believe my English has improved from reading the book- I enriched my vocabulary a lot and learned new expressions.
In the end I feel that I learned something from this project and I’m glad we went through with it.
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