The Holocaust - the Faithful Escape

Kaelan Richards

The Faithful escape

The Holocaust was the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of approximately six million Jews by the Nazi regime. So for the brave, faithful people, who never gave up during the holocaust, they needed a miracle to survive. The book "Night" by Elie Wiesel, is narrated by Eliezer, a Jewish teenager who, lives in his hometown of Sighet, in Hungarian Transylvania. He and his family are transported to Auschwitz, A German labor camp, where Eliezer and his father are separated from his mother and sister and never seen again. After a few torturous years Eliezer loses his father to sickness. Soon after that the German camp is liberated and Eliezer is freed. The Overall theme of Night is faith, throughout the whole book we see a young man depending on faith, and faith alone to survive. Faith can often be described as a complete trust or confidence in someone or something.

Elie started off as a boy who had faith and innocence and believed god would always be there for him. His favorite activity as a child was studying the Talmud and spending time at the temple with his teacher, Moshe. He had very strong faith in God at a very young age. When Elie first arrived at the Auschwitz he saw first-hand how many people were being killed. "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" (31). This was the first time in his young life that Elie began to question his faith in his God. Another example Elie losing his faith is when the pipel, a young child, was hung in front of the whole camp. The pipel was only a child and it hurt Wiesel to see such a cruel act. People all around him asked "where is God, where is he." Elie asked himself the same question "Why, but why should I bless Him? In every fiber, I rebelled. Because He had had thousands of children burned in his pits? Because He kept six crematories working night and day, on Sundays and feast days? Because on His great might, He had created Auschwitz, Bierkenau, Buna, and so many factories of death" (64). As you can see his faith in god is dwindling fast, but not completely.

Although Elie's faith is tested, he manages to keep it intact.