Closing Remarks

I feel that there are not that many kids that know only the basics about the Holocaust; a lot of Jewish people died in concentration camps, there were gas chambers, they were separated from their families. But what most people do not know is that they got a coffee substitute in the morning, soup in the afternoon which was unappetizing , and then for supper they got 300 grams of black bread, 25 grams of sausage or margarine, or a tablespoon of cheese or marmalade. Not a typical mean we have and take for granted every single day. They also probably do not know that if a prisoner was suspected in helping another prisoner escape, they would be sent to black cells with just a tiny dot of light from the one air hole in the room. They would have to sleep on the cement until the escapee was found. They also would not get fed till the escapee was found so most of the prisoners in the cells died from starvation. The list could go on and on, but there are definitely things that kids these days do not know about. That is why I feel like this book should be read more often, so more kids get a feel for how good they have it and that we should not take things for granted. We never know how long we will have some of the things we have now in life.

Losing Faith

While in the camps, many people would lose faith in God. They thought, how could He let all of this bad stuff happen to them when he is suppose to protect them and save them from evil. Elizer saw babies thrown in the air as targets, innocent people being shot, people being starved and forced to do hard labor. They also had terrible living areas; wooden beds, a tiny blanket, no pillow, no heater for the winter, and no AC for the summer. Most people started to lose hope in one another, but not Elizer. He was tempted many times by other prisoners telling him to save himself and take his fathers food because his father would not make it that must longer anyway. His father wanted to give up so many times and just fall asleep and die in his sleep, but Elizer kept him moving and going so he would not pass on him and leave him in that horrible place.

Auschwitz

The first and concentration camp they went to was Auschwitz. They arrived to Auschwitz in freight trains. Most people died in the freight trains because there were tiny windows for the people to breath and they were jammed in there so tight that they could not even sit down. They also died from the extreme heat, starvation and thirst. In the book, Elizer and his father gets separated from his mom and sister and then they go through "Selection". There were many stories about the things Elizer saw in the concentration camps. He told stories about babies being thrown up in the air as targets for the soldiers to shoot at. He also said that men had to dig a huge trench and then when they were done, they were shot in the head by the soldiers and then they would fall into the trench that the prisoners just got done digging.

That was not the only horrible things that happened in Auschwitz. In Auschwitz, they were put of this sort of diet. In the story, Elizer's father was so thirsty but Elizer knew that if he were to give him water that his father would become even more thirsty. They got a piece of bread, and soup to eat in the concentration camps Elizer was at. Inmates would lose some many pounds a week that by the end of that month, that person would not be recognizable; just bones and barley any flesh. There was even a part in the book where they were on the freight trains and a very old father crawled on the floor and found a piece of bread. The son noticed that his dad had found food so he attacked his own father, which actually killed that dad. While he was fighting with his dad about the food it brought attention to them and more people tried to get that piece of bread. Then a rush of people attacked the son for the piece of bread, and that mob of people actually killed then killed the son.

 The longer they stayed in Auschwitz, the less they started to care about their loved ones. When they were walking to another camp, during the winter season, a son was running next to his father. The father started to lag behind, and if you started to slow down, you would be shot. The son did not even look back to see if his father was okay, he just kept running like nothing even happened. When they got to their destination, the father was looking for his son because he never got shot like the son had thought he would. The father asked Elizer if he had seen his son, which Elizer had, but he did not want to tell him that because ELizer knew that the son left the father behind to die.

Another horrible thing was that when they had made it to Buchenwald, Elizer's father had gotten really sick and weak. His dad actually got beat up every day because he was no use to the other prisoners. Elizer's dad would yell at Elizer to make them stop whipping him, but Elizer just stayed in him bed and did not move because he did not want to get whipped. Every time his father would say his name, Elizer's dad would get whipped one more time. If that was anyone in my family, I know that in a heart beat I would pounce on whoever was hurting them no matter what condition I was under. Then the next morning, his father was not there. Elizer figured that he was sent to the gas chambers or the crematorium.

Summary

This book written by, Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor, is a true story about Elie when he was in his teens being in the Holocaust. It starts out with his family living their normal lives, not believing that the Germans were coming or that they would never see their families every again. They were first sent to Ghettos. Once they left the ghettos, Elie was sent to three different concentration camps: Auschwitz, Buna (a subcamp of Auschwitz), and then they were marched to Buchenwald. In the camps Eliezer, the boy portraying Elie, is tested on his faith. All this cruel stuff that he witness, made him wonder how there could even be a God. He sees things a teen boy should never see; babies being thrown into a pit of fire, or thrown up in the air as targets to shoot at.  When you read his book, you get a feeling of what a innocent boy had going through in the harsh times of the Holocaust. Being separated from his mother and sister, having to watch innocent people die; even his father dying, are some of the major things he went through during that tragic time. This book will have anyone tearing up from beginning to end with all the horrid details, and a look at the Holocaust in a different perspective than in the history books everyone reads.