Summary:
Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen, Treblinka, Lublin, and Birkenau were only some of the concentration camps where millions of Jews met their fate in World War II. Terror was in its truest form in these centers of hell, these death camps.
Auschwitz. Bergen-Belsen. Treblinka. Lublin. Birkenau. Only a handful of the countless concentration camps where millions of Jews met their final destination. Terror was in its truest form in these centers of hell, these death camps. Men woke up wondering: Will I die today? Will I be thrown into the gas chamber? Shall I meet the same fate as so many others of my people have? Extremely few people have lived to tell the tale of the horror which existed in such places. One of whom, Elie Wiesel, had a strong advantage for him which greatly helped him survive the wrath of the Nazis: his father. The cause behind Elie's survival of the concentration camps was his family's partnership.
One reason Elie survived was because of his family's accompaniment during his most difficult times. When in the small ghetto, Elie and his older sisters were offered the chance to escape to a safe refuge. (p. 18) "Naturally, we refused to be separated." In the concentration camps many men abandon their families. In one instance, a man killed his father for bread crumbs. Examples in the story show that some grew mad from such solitariness. In the face of horror around him, Elie grew a will to survive within his strong bond with his family.
Elie's father gave him the will to survive. Despite the giant terrors in his midst, Elie still finds glimpses of hope and joy in the companionship of his father. In the book, Elie admits that after arriving at Auschwitz, (p.34) "It was no longer possible to grasp...the instincts of self-preservation, of self-defense...deserted us." After losing his will to live, his sense of pride and dignity, his only other possible reason for survival was for his father. A relative of Elie's father states that his only reason for living is his wife and children: (p.42) "If it wasn't for them, I couldn't keep going." The same applies for both Elie and his father: they kept each other going ((p.106), when his father died, Elie possessed a "weakened conscience", and after his father's death, ..".nothing could touch me anymore."), and with the support of the accompaniment of his father, Elie managed to survive the death camps.
Through his father, Elie had what few people did in the camps: a friend. When in concentration camps, men often did horrible things to each other for a morsel of food: (p. 95) "There was a stampede. Dozens of starving men fought each other to the death for a few crumbs." Every man was for himself in the death camps, and inmates constantly took advantage of others. Late in the book, members in a fellow block beat Elie's father, because he was so sick (p.104) "he was unable to drag himself outside to relieve himself." With one's to look after each other, Elie and his father's chances of surviving were greatly heightened. At points in the novel, Elie saved his father, and sometimes vice versa (p.91), "A selection....my father was sent to the left...I slipped in among the others...such confusion...people...able to come back to the right...among them my father and myself." Both Elie and his father knew that their chances of survival in the concentration camps are slim, and they clung to each other for hopes of living.
As a result of WWII, almost 6 million Jews died. Some in concentration camps, others in ghettos, and in countless other places. Some good came out of the war, but nevertheless, friends and family of those who perished are still bearing the burden of WWII today. Hopefully we have learned a lesson or two as many others did, so we can try to imagine what a painful experience it was to be in the Holocaust: to experience what Elie Wiesel did.
This is the complete article, containing 624 words
(approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page).
