Hogg 1

Dejah Hogg
Mrs. Cruz
English 3-4
9, October 2015

Night Essay
This was a time of misery, depression, and cruelty for the Jewish people. Over 33,000
Jews were murdered in a matter of two days during the Holocaust. The year was 1941 when it
all began. It started with Adolf Hitler, a Nazi. The man who hated Jews and wanted them all
dead. In the following I will analyze the trials and tribulations of Elie Wiesel and how his
experiences in the concentration camps shaped his identity throughout the short story.

Elie and his father were sent to one of the many horrendous concentration camps in
Nazi, Germany. Times were hard, they had very little to eat, drink, and wear. In the story Night
Elie quotes, I had to drag heavy blocks of stone about (7-8). Imagine being 16 and having to
drag heavy stones for long distances with no energy from being deprived of food. Hitler did not
make things easy for all the men and children in these camps. All the prisoners in the bloc
stood naked between the beds (55-56). Mind you, these quote on quote beds were not ordinary
beds. They were hard, rubbish and made of wood. No padding probably no blankets or pillows,
just a place to lay your head in below 30 degree weather.
Over 40 thousand concentration camps were opened all over europe. Any person that
did not match Hitlers standards of being white with blue eyes was sent to these camps. Elie
talked about how when you were tested to live or die it was call selection. During selection you
would have to test your strengths if you passed you lived if you didn't you died. My head was
spinning: you're too thin, you're too weak, you're too thin, you're good for the furnace(72-73).
This would run through Elies head as he would go through selection.

Hogg 2
The holocaust is one of the single most striking events of the 20th century. It was a real
and terrifying fact and attempt to start a total genocide. Elie and his father were one of the very
few that survived these harsh camps. Were there still miracles on this Earth? He was alive
(176). Imagine having to think that about your father every time he left. Wondering if your father
would ever return to you, not knowing if he is dead or alive.