Dawn | Themes & Symbolism

Dawn Significant Topics

Politics and Impact on Individual Actions

Wiesel's Dawn is set in Palestine right after World War II. It is a volatile time with the Jewish people, many of whom suffered the Nazi persecution, coming into Palestine. Tired of accepting persecution in silence, they now want to make into reality the age-old dream of an independent nation. This brings them into direct clash with the English forces, which occupy Palestine as a part of the British Empire. Some, especially the idealists and young people, join the Movement, which engages in terrorist tactics to drive out the English by any means necessary.

As the Movement engages in various terrorist tactics, the English begin to retaliate by executing captured members of the Movement. When the sentence of death by hanging is passed down to David ben Moshe, the tenth such person to be captured, the Old Man, the leader of the Movement, orders the death of one Englishman for...
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