Night
Night
Night
The book Night, by Elie Wiesel, is an autobiography about his experiences during the Holocaust. The story takes place in the 1940�s. The main characters are Elie and his father. Other characters are Elie�s mother and sister.
In the beginning of the book, trouble is starting around the town in which Elie lived. Eventually German soldiers come into his town. At first, they did not seem so bad. The Kahn�s, a family who lived across the street from Elie, were housing a German soldier. The Kahn�s said that the German was quiet, but polite.
As time went on, the Germans forced all Jews to live in ghettos. This hardship was easier for the Wiesel�s because their house was located inside where the ghetto was going to be set up. Initially, the Jews were able to have their own government and police system. After living in this ghetto for a while, the Germans forced them to relocate into a new ghetto some miles down the road. This new ghetto did not last very long and the Jews were forced to move again. The Germans forced the Jews to board a train and travel to a concentration camp. Elie, Elie�s mom, father, and sister all boarded a train heading for the concentration camp called Auschwitz. When they arrived, the SS separated the men from women. This was the last time Elie saw his mother and sister ever again.
From this time on, Elie only had his father to protect him. The person in charge of their barrack was fairly nice because he treated the Jews like human beings. They were able to eat thick soup with bread, and were occasionally allowed to drink black coffee as well. Since they had no real jobs, what they mainly did was sleep. Elie and his father stayed in Auschwitz for three weeks. At the end of three weeks, the person in charge of their barracks was executed for being too humane. Elie, his father, and many other Jews were forced to go to a new concentration camp. Their destination was a camp called Buna.
When the Jews arrived in Buna the camp looked like �it had suffered an epidemic�. The camp looked empty and dead. Elie�s job here was to count bolts, bulbs, and fix small electrical lighting fixtures in a room where German soldiers ate and listened to music performed by Jewish musicians. Elie was beaten after witnessing the rape of a young Jewish girl by the leader of Elie�s barracks.
There were occasional air raids during Elie�s stay in this camp. The prisoners believed that the Germans were losing ground against the Americans. Soon, there were rumors going around that the Red Army was advancing on Buna, and it would only be a matter...
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