Proverb Assignment: A Night Divided
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in East Berlin at the time when the Berlin Wall was up and Germany was still split between West and East? Jennifer A. Nielsen’s standalone book, A Night Divided, explains life through twelve year old Gerta’s point of view. Her family’s escape story can teach us many things even if they are not a real life family. The many struggles and victories that they experienced can teach the reader life lessons as well as educate them on life in East Berlin during the time the Berlin Wall was in place.
Gerta’s family, like many other families in Berlin, had been split with the construction of the wall. She, her mother, and her older brother, Fritz, struggle to live a normal life in communist controlled East Berlin. Her and her family had always secretly hated the GDR, German Democratic Republic, and had hoped to leave while they had the chance before something bad happened so they are seen as a possible enemy to the state, mostly because of a strike her father was a part of long ago. After the wall went up, years went by and she hadn't heard anything from her dear father and brother, Dominic until on her way to
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The proverb, “where there's a will, there's a way”, mostly describes Gerta's stubbornness and determination that keeps her family digging through all of the hard troubles. In order to persuade her brother, Fritz to agree to the tunneling plan Gerta said,”If you are going to escape, then we need a way for all of us to escape. We’re a family, Fritz. Half of us are already on the other side. If we’re going to cross, to be together, it has to be all of us.” (119). Gerta Lowe knew that any risk was worth if it meant getting her family reunited in the
In the 1930s-1940s, the Nazis took millions of Jews into their death camps. They exterminated children, families, and even babies. Elie Wiesel was one of the few who managed to live through the war. However, his life was forever scarred by things he witnessed in these camps. The book Night explained many of the harsh feelings that Elie Wiesel experienced in his time in various German concentration camps.
The tragedies of the Holocaust forever altered history. One of the most detailed accounts of the horrific events of the Nazi regime comes from Elie Wiesel’s Night. He describes his traumatic experiences in German concentration camps, mainly Buchenwald, and engages his readers from a victim’s point of view. He bravely shares the grotesque visions that are permanently ingrained in his mind. His autobiography gives readers vivid, unforgettable, and shocking images of the past.
I remember reading the Anne Frank diary when I was in middle school, but it did not impact me as much as Eliezer Wiesel’s Night. Elie Wiesel, his father, his mother, and three sisters lived the horror of Nazi Germany. Due to the fact that the Nazis separated males and females, most of the book is based on what Elie and his father went through. The Wiesel family lived in the small town of Sighet, which belonged to Hungary. Elie’s relations with his father drastically change towards the end of the novel, but we cannot judge him because we did not experience the monstrosities him and his father endured.
"Night" by Elie Wiesel is a terrifying account of the Holocaust during World War II. Throughout this book we see a young Jewish boy's life turned upside down from his peaceful ways. The author explores how dangerous times break all social ties, leaving everyone to fight for themselves. He also shows how one's survival may be linked to faith and family.
In my opinion the internal conflict faced by the narrator is Elie Wiesel´s struggle with his religion when he arrived at the camp. The repetition of ¨never shall I forget¨ is important because he's never going to be able to forget leaving his mother and sisters, and seeing the small children being burned to death when they hadńt done anything wrong, and having to decide wether he's going to take his own life or not. Heĺl never forget the horrors of the holocaust. Its important to remember the holocaust because innocent lives were lost for no reason other than the nazis trying to find the better race when the only race in my opinion should be the human race, and if we forget this then it would probably be pretty easy for another genocide to
Elli talks about daily life in her neighborhood. Her mother does not show any compassion for her. When Elli complains of this, her mother brings up excuses that are unconvincing. Elli believes her mother does not care for her and that her brother is the favorite. Hilter’s reoccurring radio broadcast give nightmares to Elli, whos family is Jewish. The nights when the Hungarian military police would come and stir trouble did not provide anymore comfort for Elli. One night, her brother, Bubi, comes home with news that Germany invaded Budapest, the town where he goes to school. But the next morning, there is no news in the headlines. The father sends him back to school. He learns the next day that a neighbor’s son who goes to school with Bubi has said the same. The day after, the newspapers scream the news of the invasion. Bubi arrives home, and the terror begins.
erased from his mind. Thankfully the oldest child knew much more than the father did. She could remember everything, she had an incredible memory. She helped out her younger sibling by telling her stories of the eighties. She knew a lot. She was a very smart girl who was just a year or so older than the younger child. She also knew political stuff that happened during the eighties. Like when she got a piece of the Berlin Wall that was destroyed back in the eighties. The younger child did not believe this was true. On the other hand the father was unaware of this. He was confused, he couldn't remember when his own child had visited the Berlin Wall. The older sister was amazed by his father's poor memory. She brought down a piece of the Berlin Wall from her bedroom.
The end of World War II was the beginning of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States. The Soviet Union had control over East Berlin, which was governed by a communist government and the United States had control over West Berlin, which was regulated by a democratic government. Both countries wanted full control over Berlin, so the Soviet Union set up a blockade on the West but was unsuccessful. The Berlin Wall was then built to stabilize the economy of East Berlin, which meant that fewer people could escape the east to live in the west. In the article “The fall of the Berlin Wall: what it meant to be there,” by Timothy Garton Ash, he highlights the feelings of no longer having a “iron curtain” segregating both sides of Berlin.
If a person had to choose between their life and someone else’s, they’d choose to be the ones to live. Selfishness is a terrible thing that can cause families to fight, it can cause wars, or the death of someone to spare one’s own life. Night by Elie Wiesel, shows many examples of selfishness. Sons leave their fathers to save their own lives, reluctantly feed their dying father and even kill just for a piece of bread. Humans are inherently selfish, it’s a personality trait that doesn’t care about relatives or lovers or anyone else.
Schwartz, Leslie. Surviving the hell of Auschwitz and Dachau: a teenage struggle toward freedom from hatred.. S.l.: Lit Verlag, 2013. Print.
In Elie Wiesel’s Night, he recounts his horrifying experiences as a Jewish boy under Nazi control. His words are strong and his message clear. Wiesel uses themes such as hunger and death to vividly display his days during World War II. Wiesel’s main purpose is to describe to the reader the horrifying scenes and feelings he suffered through as a repressed Jew. His tone and diction are powerful for this subject and envelope the reader. Young readers today find the actions of Nazis almost unimaginable. This book more than sufficiently portrays the era in the words of a victim himself.
In conclusion Berlin Wall was an important milestone in the growth of the Cold War. It was the expansion that represented the thinking of a determined Communist system. Western Capitalism, which was more powerful, eventually defeated the system. The massive wall that did so much harm to a country was finally destroyed, and the people of Germany could now live the way they all wanted to live. They could live the life of freedom. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall East Germany has went through a lot of changes, and it still is not easy for all of the people in East Germany. But no matter how hard it is for the people of East Germany now, it is better than being alone and separated from their families, friends and rest of Europe.
On Sunday, August 13th, in 1962 the Eastern German government began construction of the Berlin Wall (“Berlin Wall”). The Berlin Wall was built to divide the post World War II communist ran East Germany with the democratic West Germany. On that day families in Berlin were awaken to military machinery, barbed wire coils, and armed guards. The families that had crossed the newly made border the night before to visit friends and/or family were greeted to a wall and closed transit systems (“Berlin Wall”). For them this meant they were no longer going to be able to go home and be with their family however long this division of the country would last. As the day went on some government officials in East Germany feared that the citizens would start an uprising. However, contrary to their fears the streets of East Berlin stayed eerily quiet. Almost thirty years after that day the wall still separated friends and family only miles away. The wall was a physical division between the two superpowers of the time: the East controlled by the communist regime in the Soviet ...
Before the wall got built in1961, East German peoples could travel to West Berlin to visit there family’s. On May 8th, 1945 the World War II ended. June 24th, 1948 the Soviet Military started the Berlin Blockade. Germany was divided in four different parts after World War II. Each part was controlled by a different part of a country. Twenty- eight years and “Iron curtain” East and West Berlin got divided in the heart of Germany.
When the Berlin Wall was constructed, East Germany went into a state of panic, fell into poverty, and adopted a communist government. The citizens of the GDR were filled with terror and anxiety when the border separating them from friends, family, and lovers was constructed. Many attempted to escape but every passing day, the wall became more and more menacing. Trapped, the people of East Germany were forced to cope with the shortage of goods, accept the fact that anybody could be a spy for the STASI, and follow the rule of an oppressive government. Although conditions were grim, the people of the East united together in order to survive. The wall is but a thing of the past, but it will always be remembered by every individual in Germany and the rest of the world.