“Don’t forget that you’re 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. Everyone lives and dies for himself alone.”
This statement bears witness to the inhumanity and wickedness of the concentration camps and death camps. You must forget everyone else around you and only care for yourself. You must become an animal to survive. Elie felt almost nothing after the first few months in the camps. His mind was altered. His body transformed. A constant sense of death creeps and crawls around you. It becomes so unbearable you don’t even recognize yourself. This is what happened to Elie Wiesel.
I view this as a key quote from the testament of Elie Wiesel. I believe it shows how they were alone in more ways than one. Alone in death. Alone in spirit. Many men die without any notice at all. The corpses are just forgotten and thrown out to make room for the living. They were also alone in this fight against evil. Where was the liberation? Where was the support? More importantly, where was the world? The world certainly knew about these horrors. And yet nothing was done. It is incomprehensible that no action took place to help these innocents. It was only until years into the mass murder that countries helped stop the monstrosities and free the tortured. Wiesel’s tale is such terror that one begins to wonder how these actions could ever have surfaced. His story will never be forgotten. Hopefully, neither will the holocaust.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Night: Part Two
“Where is God? Where is He?”
“Where is He? Here He is – He is hanging here on this gallows…”
During Wiesel’s stay at the death camps and concentration camps, he began to question his faith. Many people did the same. In fact, they were convinced there was no God at all. How could God let this happen? He believed that God frequently kills and ignores his own people. Such is the case for Adam and Eve, the Great Flood, and now the death of the Jews by the Germans. This is quite a statement. Wiesel has been transformed into something other than human. When his father was beaten, he felt no emotion. At the gallows, he did not even cringe. He lived with death and met it face to face. These victims believe that God was dead.
I think this is powerful no matter what you believe. This was a time when millions of people began to question the existence of God. A time where children where seperated from their motherd and fathers and thrown into crematories. How can still have faith in the most extreme conditions? And how could God let millions upon millions of his own people be murdered? Not too long ago, the United States suffered from the same questioning of beliefs. September 11, 2001 was a very grave day in not only American history, but world history as well. A day where nearly 3,000 Americans were killed because of terrorists. A day where time stopped and God was doubted. It describes a point in which, I would assume everyone's life, that they doubt what they believe. But to overcome this doubt, they must find the power to perservere and to withstand. To withstand and to have faith is proving you cannot succumb to the evil of terror. And that is God intends for all of us to do.
“Where is He? Here He is – He is hanging here on this gallows…”
During Wiesel’s stay at the death camps and concentration camps, he began to question his faith. Many people did the same. In fact, they were convinced there was no God at all. How could God let this happen? He believed that God frequently kills and ignores his own people. Such is the case for Adam and Eve, the Great Flood, and now the death of the Jews by the Germans. This is quite a statement. Wiesel has been transformed into something other than human. When his father was beaten, he felt no emotion. At the gallows, he did not even cringe. He lived with death and met it face to face. These victims believe that God was dead.
I think this is powerful no matter what you believe. This was a time when millions of people began to question the existence of God. A time where children where seperated from their motherd and fathers and thrown into crematories. How can still have faith in the most extreme conditions? And how could God let millions upon millions of his own people be murdered? Not too long ago, the United States suffered from the same questioning of beliefs. September 11, 2001 was a very grave day in not only American history, but world history as well. A day where nearly 3,000 Americans were killed because of terrorists. A day where time stopped and God was doubted. It describes a point in which, I would assume everyone's life, that they doubt what they believe. But to overcome this doubt, they must find the power to perservere and to withstand. To withstand and to have faith is proving you cannot succumb to the evil of terror. And that is God intends for all of us to do.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Night
Night is the account of Elie Wiesel living in numerous concentration camps during Adolf's Hitler totalitarian rule of Nazi Germany. It explains the inner horror of these camps and the Nazis who served there. Through his tale, we learn of true hatred, evil and suffering.
“Without passion, without haste, they slaughtered their prisoners. Each one had to go up to the hole and present his neck. Babies were thrown into the air and the machine gunners used them as targets.”
Right from the beginning of his horrifying tale of suffering, Elie Wiesel describes the death camps and the killings of countless innocents. As a reader, you gather a lot from this small paragraph in Night, portraying the cruelty of the Nazis and the reality of the concentration camps. It is hard to visualize and comprehend how something so atrocious and inexplicably evil could ever have happened. Thousands upon thousands of Jews were marked and labeled as unequal. Their fate was to be sent to a place where Satan himself resides: a place of death, murder, and malice.
This, as well as other disturbing passages, is a common theme in Wiesel’s account of pain and suffering. A young Wiesel even begins to question whether God exists and how human beings are capable of such acts. I believe however, that one of Wiesel’s ultimate morals will be of perseverance and strength through faith. The other shall state why we should never let this sort of terror happen again. It has however. Multiple occasions. There have been quite a number of holocausts. Darfur, Rwanda, Uganda, Burma. How can something so evil and wicked take place? Is it human nature? We will never no the question.
“Without passion, without haste, they slaughtered their prisoners. Each one had to go up to the hole and present his neck. Babies were thrown into the air and the machine gunners used them as targets.”
Right from the beginning of his horrifying tale of suffering, Elie Wiesel describes the death camps and the killings of countless innocents. As a reader, you gather a lot from this small paragraph in Night, portraying the cruelty of the Nazis and the reality of the concentration camps. It is hard to visualize and comprehend how something so atrocious and inexplicably evil could ever have happened. Thousands upon thousands of Jews were marked and labeled as unequal. Their fate was to be sent to a place where Satan himself resides: a place of death, murder, and malice.
This, as well as other disturbing passages, is a common theme in Wiesel’s account of pain and suffering. A young Wiesel even begins to question whether God exists and how human beings are capable of such acts. I believe however, that one of Wiesel’s ultimate morals will be of perseverance and strength through faith. The other shall state why we should never let this sort of terror happen again. It has however. Multiple occasions. There have been quite a number of holocausts. Darfur, Rwanda, Uganda, Burma. How can something so evil and wicked take place? Is it human nature? We will never no the question.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
The Perils of Indifference
The speech made by Elie Wiesel is nothing short of awe inspiring and one hundred percent truth. He talks about indifference and how it is humanity’s plight. It is much easier to turn away and ignore those who are being oppressed in the world than to unite together and fight evil and pursue justice. Wiesel was there – in a place worse than hell – and he now devotes his life to fight this “indifference” and “appeasement”.
His speech was very invigorating and made me think of why indifference is an issue. I don’t understand. Every country has an obligation to seek world peace. If a neighboring government is killing its own people, the international community must take action. That is what The United States and its coalition did with Iraq and Saddam Hussein. There was a threat and we took action. However, sometimes it might lead to further chaos and destruction but the risk must be taken. Imagine if France and Britain stood up and defied Hitler? It’s a matter of global security and peace. We must look at indifference and overcome it.
Indifference is still a problem presently. It was a problem in the 1930s when Hitler rose to power. It was a problem when the Rwandan genocide took place. I fear that it will always be a problem. The Iranian regime has made their intentions clear – they want the destruction of Israel. The more horrifying thing is that this might come to be. French president Chirac told reporters that it’s no big deal if Iran gets nuclear weapons. With a very destructive country who is a state sponsor of terrorism, it is very disturbing to see political leaders appeasing to this imminent threat.
His speech was very invigorating and made me think of why indifference is an issue. I don’t understand. Every country has an obligation to seek world peace. If a neighboring government is killing its own people, the international community must take action. That is what The United States and its coalition did with Iraq and Saddam Hussein. There was a threat and we took action. However, sometimes it might lead to further chaos and destruction but the risk must be taken. Imagine if France and Britain stood up and defied Hitler? It’s a matter of global security and peace. We must look at indifference and overcome it.
Indifference is still a problem presently. It was a problem in the 1930s when Hitler rose to power. It was a problem when the Rwandan genocide took place. I fear that it will always be a problem. The Iranian regime has made their intentions clear – they want the destruction of Israel. The more horrifying thing is that this might come to be. French president Chirac told reporters that it’s no big deal if Iran gets nuclear weapons. With a very destructive country who is a state sponsor of terrorism, it is very disturbing to see political leaders appeasing to this imminent threat.
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