Today, it is the most commonly read personal read account of the Holocaust and features of syllabi worldwide. In addition to being an unforgettable personal memoir, Night is also of great historical importance. The overarching feeling is horror and awe at the way that seemingly educated and disciplined men could act. As Eliezer, Elie himself, and readers make their way through the novel. It’s impossible not to put oneself in Wiesel’s shoes as he experiences the horrors of Nazi concentration camps, watches his friends and family members murdered and experience the loss of his faith, health, and freedom. When reading the novel again, I immediately recalled how impactful that connection, across time and history, was. I first read Nightwhen I was 15 years old, that same age as Wiesel was when he was deported from his home and saw his mother and sister for the last night. Just as I did, most readers approach Night knowing what the story is going to be about, and despite its brevity, around 100 pages, it is an intense journey, one that’s quite hard to forget. The village does not believe him at first, but the reality of their situation comes home when the Jewish citizens of Sighet are moved into a ghetto, then onto a cattle car and transported to Auschwitz/Birkenau.
Things change when that same mentor is captured by the SS and manages to return to the village, reporting the sight of men and women being executed at gunpoint by Nazi soldiers.
When the novel begins, Wiesel depicts him as studious, dedicated to stying the Torah along with his mentor. Night tells the story of Eliezer, a teenage Jewish boy living in the small village of Sighet in Transylvania. Elie Wiesel’s novel, which is based on his own experiences in the Sighet ghetto and the concentration camps of Auschwitz and Buchwald, is harrowing. It’s a harrowing account of one of the worst periods in human history, told from the perspective of a teenager ripped from his life, family, and aspirations.
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