Night Essay

Night seems to be a time when dreams and hopes come alive. The world sleeps and everything becomes almost magical in a way. It seems as if almost anything can happen under the stars and the silvery glow of the moonlight. And yet, for some, dreams and hopes are almost nonexistent and inaccessible. For the men and women that survived the concentration camps, not only are these hopes and dreams full of uncertainty and obscurity, but garish nightmares and memories constantly replace them. Many people of the world are constantly haunted by their experiences of concentration camps. Elie Wiesel, author of the Nobel Peace Prize winning novel titled Night, provides insight as to how fortunate many are and how easily it is to take simple daily luxuries for granted. Wiesel’s memoir is the epitome of the dehumanization of Jews during World War II. The Nazis reduced the Jews to a mere object that was not worth any emotion, kindness, or care whatsoever. Night provides numerous events that may serve as the best example for the horrific manner in which Jews were treated. Examples of brutality such as when the cargo train was congested so that no one person had room to even scarcely move, Wiesel’s father was brutalized with an iron bar, and prisoners were forced to run approximately forty-two miles without stopping.
Through the beginning of the journey to the concentration camps large groups of Jews were forcefully separated and arranged for several trips to be made because of the total overbearing quantity of people. Though it was highly possible to make only an almost inconsequential number of more loads, the German officers felt nothing but apathy towards any Jewish person’s wellbeing. No food or water was offered to them throughout the duration of the trip; therefore, any provisions they may have packed had to last them as long as possible. Not only that, but because the German officers treated the Jews so inhumanely, they were given no other option in their situation but to resort to their primitive natures.
Lying down was out of the question, and we were only able to sit by deciding to take turns. There was very little air… After two days of traveling, we began to be tortured by thirst. Then the heat became unbearable… We still had a few provisions left. But we never ate enough to satisfy our hunger. To save was our rule; to save up for tomorrow. Tomorrow might be worse. (Wiesel 21)
The German officers treated no one but themselves with respect or dignity, and failed several times over to put effort into any sort of kindness they could have possibly spared for the confused and scared passengers. Towards the end of the book, Wiesel and dozens more were loaded on a train to be transported from one place to another. They were so familiar with the way they had previously been treated by the officers, not one blinked an eye at their harsh treatment. It is saddening to know that so many boarded the train without hope of surviving the night.
It was late at night. The guards came to unload us. The dead were abandoned in the train. Only those who could still stand were able to get out… The last day had been the most murderous. A hundred of us had got into the wagon. A dozen of us got out- among them, my father and I. (98)
Elie Wiesel found himself a changed person when he witnessed his father being beaten with an iron bar for a minor infraction, while he stood there without a thought as to his father’s sake. Wiesel had actually become angry with his father for not working hard enough to avoid the officer’s punishment. Wiesel’s priorities were engaged on his own self because of the psychological abuse that the Jewish concentration camp put him through.
I had watched the whole scene without moving. I kept quiet. In fact I was thinking of how to get farther away so that I would not be hit myself. What is more, any anger I felt at that moment was direction, not against the Kapo, but against my father. I was angry with him, for not knowing how to avoid Idek’s outbreak. That is what concentration camp life had made of me. (52)
Wiesel’s father committed a minor infraction, if one at all, and had to pay dearly for the overseer’s short temper. Though Wiesel had turned his head while his father was beaten, his warped conscience still recognized the need to protect his family. The officers beat Wiesel’s father savagely whenever they felt his marching was not up to par. In turn, Wiesel gave his father lessons day after day on marching etiquette, though it did not help his father in the long run. Officers still mercilessly beat whomever they deemed worthy of it at that particular moment. All Jews were subject to it at any point throughout the day.
It was when the enemies of the Germans were about to come in and take over that the concentration camp that the prisoners were forced to pack up and be prepared to depart. The Jews were forced to wait in their blocks outside in the snow before they could begin marching. Not long after everyone was forced to run without stopping.
His trousers lowered, he let himself sink down. That is the last picture I have of him. I do not think it can have been the SS who finished him, because no one had noticed. He must have been trampled to death beneath the feet of thousands of men who followed us. (82)
Elie Wiesel witnessed his companion fall to the snow while simultaneously keeping pace for fear of the same fate. When the officers grew tired of running someone else took his place so he may rest, but every single Jew was not to stop under any circumstances, lest it be death. Shortly after witnessing his comrade fall to the snow, everyone was allowed a rest. It was then that "the commandant announced that [they] had already covered forty-two miles" (83). The only sustenance available to the prisoners was the few breadcrumbs in their pockets and the snow on the ground. It is more than probable that every single Jew that was running was beyond exhaustion, and was only functioning because of the brain’s automatic processes. Not only the physical but the psychological damage of being exhausted but continuing to run because of a mob trailing closely behind that would scarcely notice trampling over a body.
Dehumanization is the process by which the Nazis gradually reduced the Jews to little more than "things" which were a nuisance to them, which gives Elie Wiesel’s memoir an entirely new meaning. The Jews were mistreated and tortured for long periods of time, and went through what many can only imagine in a nightmare. Elie Wiesel’s Night can not just be described as a memoir, but a historical and emotional masterpiece. He was able to capture the moving yet historically accurate story of life in concentration camps while still writing his own captivating memoir. It is that which makes the story all the more true and emotionally heartbreaking.
Work Cited
Wiesel, Elie. Night. 25th. New York: Bantam Books, 1982.