Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Book report on elie wiesel
Germany and the Holocaust essay
Germany and the Holocaust essay
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Book report on elie wiesel
Some events are so devastating that people cannot recover from them. Elie Wiesel is not one of those people. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986 for writing “Lu Nuit” or Night. (Elie Wiesel Fast Facts) Elie Wiesel happened to be a writer, professor, political activist; most significantly he is a holocaust survivor. Eliezer Wiesel was born on September 30, 1928 in Sighetu Marmatiei, Romania. He was the son of Sarah Feig and Shlomo Wiesel and his 3 siblings sisters including: Tzipora Wiesel, Hilda Wiesel, and Beatrice Wiesel. Elie also undertook Jewish religious studies; this was also before he and his family were sent away to concentration camps during WWII. Elie pushed through all the harsh conditions in the war and within a few years …show more content…
Although Elie Wiesel gives you a detailed account of how the Nazis would treat them; how it slowly started to dehumanize them. For example the Nazis took away their names. “We were told to roll up our left sleeves and file past the table. The three “veteran” prisoners, needles in hand, tattooed numbers on our left arms. I became A-7713. From then on, I had no other name.” (Wiesel 42) Not to mention the Nazis put so much fear into the Jews that they would commit cruel acts that they never imagined they could do. The selection process was another such scarring event that Nazis inflicted on the Jews to put much fear in them. It caused them to do whatever it took to survive. The selection process is when the prisoners would get completely naked and go in front of the SS doctors for examination, the advice given to the Jews is run in front of the doctors, not to walk. Then there were also random beatings for example: “One day when Idek was venting his fury, I happened to cross his path. He threw himself on me like a wild beast, beating me in the chest, on my head, throwing me to the ground and picking me up again, crushing me with ever more violent blows, until I was covered in blood. As I bit my lips in order not to howl with pain, he must have mistaken my silence for defiance and so he continued to hit me harder and harder. Abruptly, he calmed down and sent me back to work as if nothing had happened. As if we had taken part in a game in which both roles were of equal importance.” (Wiesel 53) Among all the disturbing things Nazis did, the fact that they would make Jews look in the face of a hanging corpse is something I do not think they will ever forget. “Then came the march past the victims. The two men were no longer alive. Their tongues were hanging out, swollen and bluish. But the third rope was still moving: the child, too light, was still breathing…
Elie wiesel born sep 30 1928 in sighet , Transylvania. Elie wiesel overcame many things in his life . But one of the things are fear that he will die also there was starvation that took place and that is the most terriblest thing that can happen. Also there was death of the many jews and his mother and sisters. These adversities made Wiesel become the man he is today; he is truly a humanitarian.
On their way to the concentration camp, a German officer said, “’There are eighty of you in the car… If anyone is missing, you’ll all be shot like “dogs” ”’ (Wiesel 24). This shows that the Germans compared the Jews to dogs or animals, and that the German have no respect towards the Jews. Arrived at the concentration camp, the Jews were separated from their friends and family. The first thing of the wagon, a SS officer said, “’Men to the left! Women to the right!”’ (Wiesel 29). After the separation, Eliezer saw the crematories. There he saw “’a truck [that] drew close and unloaded its hold: small children, babies … thrown into the flames.” (Wiesel 32). This dehumanize the Jews, because they were able to smell and see other Jews burn in the flames. Later on the Jew were forced to leave their cloth behind and have been promise that they will received other cloth after a shower. However, they were force to work for the new cloth; they were forced to run naked, at midnight, in the cold. Being force to work for the cloth, by running in the cold of midnight is dehumanizing. At the camp, the Jews were not treated like human. They were force to do thing that was unhuman and that dehumanized
Wiesel suggests that,“Toward five o’clock in the morning, we were driven out of the barracks. The Kapos beat us once more, but I ceased to feel any pain from their blows.” (27) This quote reveals that the officers did not care what time of day it was if they felt like punishing the prisoners they did. Elie was at the wrong place at the wrong time and saw something he wasn’t supposed to see and was punished. “A-7713! I came forward. A box! He ordered. They brought him a box. Lie down on it! On your stomach! I obeyed. Then I was aware of nothing but the strokes of the whip” (Wiesel 42). This quote shows the cruel punishment that Elie and other Jews endured in the Holocaust. The Nazi’s were cruel and inhumane to the Jews when it came to feeding them and clothing them during the cold winters. “Mountains of prison clothes. On we ran. As we passed, trousers, tunic, shirt, and socks were thrown at us”( Wiesel 27) “ Such outfits! Meir Katz, a giant, had a child’s trousers, and Stern, a think little chap, a tunic which completely swamped him” (Wiesel 27) This quote shows that the Nazi’s did not care if they got the right size shirt or pants or not they passed them out and you got what you
Everyday, we go through situations and experiences that affect us in someway, perhaps even change us. Different situations have different effects. The more difficult the situation is, the more of an effect it has on us. Those hard times can be called adversity. How do we, as humans, react to adversity? What are the possible effects it may have?
The effect the Holocaust had on Wiesenthal played a major role on the person he made himself to be. Born on December 31, 1908, Simon Wiesenthal lived in Buczacz, Germany which is now known as the Lvov Oblast section of the Ukraine. The Nazi-Hunter came from a small Jewish family who suffered horrifically during the Holocaust (The Simon Wiesenthal Center). Wiesenthal spent a great amount of time trying to survive in the harsh conditions while in internment camps and after escaping the last camp he attended. Wiesenthal spent weeks traveling through the wilderness until he was eventually captured by the Allies, still wondering the entire time if his wife was even alive (The Simon Wiesenthal Center). Of the 3000 prisoners in the camp Wiesenthal escaped from, only 1200 survived and Wiesenthal was one of them (Holocaust Research Project). Once Simon was safe, he began working for the War Crimes Section of the United States Army and was later reunited with his wife (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). The two were under the impression that their spouse was dead. After their reunification, they had their first child in 1946 (Holocaust Research Project). Wiesenthal opened a Jewish...
Dehumanization Through Elie Wiesel Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night, is an account about his experience through concentration camps and death marches during WWII. In 1944, fifteen year old Wiesel was one of the many Jews forced onto cattle cars and sent to death and labor camps. Their personal rights were taken from them, as they were treated like animals. Millions of men, women, children, Jews, homosexuals, Gypsies, disabled people, and Slavic people had to face the horrors the Nazi’s had planned for them. Many people witnessed and lived through beatings, murders, and humiliations.
Dehumanization was a big part of these camps. The Nazis would kick innocent Jewish families and send them to concentration or death camps. The main way they dehumanized these Jewish people is when they take all their possessions. In Night they go around taking all there gold and silver, make them leave their small bags of clothing on the train, and finally give them crappy clothing. All this reduces their emotions; they go from owing all these possessions to not having a cent to their name. If I was in that situation I would just be in shock with such a huge change in such a short amount of time. The next way they dehumanized the Jewish people were they stopped using names and gave them all numbers. For example in Night Eliezer’s number was A-7713. Not only were all their possessions taken, but also their names. Your name can be something that separates you from another person. Now they are being kept by their number, almost as if that’s all they are, a number. If I was in their place I would question my importance, why am I here, am I just a number waiting to be replaced? The third way they were dehumanized was that on their “death march” they were forced to run nonstop all day with no food or water. If you stopped or slowed down, you were killed with no regards for your life. The prisoners were treated like cattle. They were being yelled at to run, run faster and such. They were not treated as equal humans. If the officers were tired, they got replaced. Dehumanization affected all the victims of the Holocaust in some sort of way from them losing all their possessions, their name, or being treated unfairly/ like animals.
In the book Night by Elie Wiesel, it talks about the holocaust and what it was like being in it. The Germans were trying to make the German race the supreme race. To do this they were going to kill off everyone that wasn’t a German. If you were Jewish or something other than German, you would have been sent to a concentration camp and segregated by men and women. If you weren’t strong enough you were sent to the crematory to be cremated. If you were strong enough you were sent to work at a labor camp. With all the warnings the Jewish people had numerous chances to run from the Germans, but most ignored the warnings.
Activities in the concentration camp struck fear within the hearts of the people who witnessed them, which led to one conclusion, people denied the Holocaust. Nazis showed no mercy to anybody, including helpless babies. “The Nazis were considered men of steel, which means they show no emotion” (Langer 9). S.S. threw babies and small children into a furnace (Wiesel 28). These activities show the heartless personality of the Nazis. The people had two options, either to do what the S.S. told them to do or to die with everyone related to them. A golden rule that the Nazis followed stated if an individual lagged, the people who surrounded him would get in trouble (Langer 5). “Are you crazy? We were told to stand. Do you want us all in trouble?”(Wiesel 38). S.S guards struck fear in their hostages, which means they will obey without questioning what the Nazis told them to do due to their fear of death. Sometimes, S.S. would punish the Jews for their own sin, but would not explain their sin to the other Jews. For example, Idek punished Wiesel f...
Elie Wiesel is a Holocaust survivor and author of fifty seven books including some based on his experience as a prisoner in concentration camps. He was awarded in a Nobel Peace Prize and in his acceptance speech he said “I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation.” The Jews were not the only victims of the Nazi Regime. Hitler's policies targeted groups of people such as the Gypsies , the disabled, and other groups that did not fit into his idea of a perfect race. During the Holocaust, male homosexuals were targeted at a much higher rate than female homosexuals.
Holocaust Hero: A One of a Kind Man. What is a hero? A hero can be classified as a number of things. A hero can be a person who, in the opinions of others, has heroic qualities or has performed a heroic act and is regarded as a model or ideal.
“He’s the man who’s lived through hell without every hating. Who’s been exposed to the most depraved aspects of human nature but still manages to find love, to believe in God, to experience joy.” This was a quote said by Oprah Winfrey during her interview with Elie Wiesel, a holocaust survivor. No person who has not experienced the Holocaust and all its horrors could ever relate to Elie Wiesel. He endured massive amounts of torture, physically, mentally, and emotionally just because he was a Jew. One simple aspect of Wiesel’s life he neither chose or could changed shaped his life. It is important to take a look at Wiesel’s life to see the pain that he went through and try to understand the experiences that happened in his life. Elie Wiesel is a well respected, influential figure with an astonishing life story. Although Elie Wiesel had undergone some of the harshest experiences possible, he was still a man able to enjoy life after the Holocaust.
In looking back upon his experience in Auschwitz, Primo Levi wrote in 1988: ?It is naïve, absurd, and historically false to believe that an infernal system such as National Socialism (Nazism) sanctifies its victims. On the contrary, it degrades them, it makes them resemble itself.? (Primo Levi, The Drowned and the Saved, 40). The victims of National Socialism in Levi?s book are clearly the Jewish Haftlings. Survival in Auschwitz, a book written by Levi after he was liberated from the camp, clearly makes a case that the majority of the Jews in the lager were stripped of their human dignity. The Jewish prisoners not only went through a physical hell, but they were psychologically driven under as well. Levi writes, ??the Lager was a great machine to reduce us to beasts? We are slaves, deprived of every right, exposed to every insult, condemned to certain death?? (Levi, 41). One would be hard pressed to find passages in Survival in Auschwitz that portray victims of the camp as being martyrs. The treatment of the Jews in the book explicitly spells out the dehumanization to which they were subjected. It is important to look at how the Jews were degraded in the camp, and then examine whether or not they came to embody National Socialism after this.
How is Peter Van Pels an example of survival during the Holocaust? How does he show survival? Between five to six million jews died during the Holocaust. In the Holocaust, Peter is an example of survival because he survived many things like the selection, when he had to join the so-called “death march”, and when Mouschi got lost.
Engel’s chapter offered information that is new to me and that I found helpful. Hitler’s view about the Jews surprised me. In the past, I have read about Hitler’s hatred toward the Jews, but never read that he called them parasites. His comparison of Jews to parasites throughout the text kind of bothered me. This is one of the worst words that can be used to describe a specific group or race. I was interested in how Hitler identified Jews as a race and thought they used some secret way to survive without land. I didn’t know back in days lands were available in limited amount. [previous sentence unclear] Just by his assumptions, Hitler named Jews as a danger to all people in the world.