Resumo de Night, Holocaust Biography

A true story of survival, challenged faith, and incomprehensible evil, Night, written by Nobel Peace Prize winner, Elie Wiesel, depicts the Holocaust from a perspective only a survivor can. Most American?s have seen pictures of the concentration camps and know about the Nazi?s attempt to eradicate the Jewish Nation during World War II. While the photographs of the piled bodies and starving Jews taken from within Jewish camps are nauseating and sobering, the magnitude of horror is beyond our understanding, almost surreal. One can only wonder how the inmates got trapped into such misery and how the survivors endured suffering worse than our darkest fears. This biography is the bridge that closes the gap between history books and our ability to understand the real human consequences of the Holocaust.

Elie begins by explaining his life, family, and community in addition to their concerns about living on a continent engulfed in war. Rumors of the Jew oppressing Germans initially caused great concern. Unfortunately, these concerns were offset by disbelief and whisperings of Germany losing the war on the eastern front. The attitude within Elie?s community changes as his family and friends are expelled from their homes and forced to move into ghettos. Real suffering and panic began while the crowds were loaded into cattle cars for the long journey into the labor camps.

Emotionally, life in Auschwitz and other camps drained residents until they either succumbed to death or focused on nothing but survival. Fear of the crematoriums, execution, suffering, and other horrific crimes combined with the knowledge of never again seeing their families caused many prisoners to give up on their Jewish faith and lives. The author explains how his thought process continued to change until only his basic instincts remained to battle starvation, dehydration, freezing weather, and death marches.

Recently published copies of the book conclude with the remarkable transcript of Elie Wiesel?s Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech. His speech brings the books relevance into the modern era. Though millions of Jews were exterminated during the closing years of the war, Elie explains that by honoring their memory through education and the good will of mankind, future genocide can be prevented. As long as nations continue to oppress, terrorize, and kill innocent people, human civilization has a responsibility to interfere, thereby ensuring all cultures their basic human right to freedom and a decent future.

Resumos Relacionados