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Wiesel's Night -- Blog Post #13

Wiesel's Night -- Blog Post #13

Wiesel's Night is a non-fiction autobiographical account of Elie Wiesel's time in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald's concentration camps. Admittedly, I do no read non-fiction novels very often. This book and Krakauer's Into the Wild surprised me in its content. Not only was it engaging and inciteful, it was more compelling due to being based on true events. Wiesel's in particular was a translation of his account. The loss of his family members and the degradation of his humanity while being imprisoned in these camps being the heaviest reading to bare. As Wiesel described his father, mother, and younger sister with such care, that they felt real - certainly because they were real.

I think I'd personally teach this in a classroom. This topic, though graphic and mature, is just as important as other historical talking points that can be analyzed and discussed like slave narratives and national documents. Much like The Diary of Anne Frank and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Wiesel's Night is poignant and endeavors to educate the reader on the harsh realities of the situation Wiesel had been forced into at a young age. A situation that costed the life of thousands of Jews, including the lives of his father, mother, and sister. His father's life being the most portrayed in his last moments and the guilt and regret Wiesel feels in what he considers his 'abandonment' of him, a few months before he tasted freedom.

This book is definitely one that needs to be digested and read over a series of days as reading it in one sitting will not do it justice. Particularly the details involving the Kommandos and the parallels drawn between Wiesel's relationship with his father and the relationship between the Rabbi and his son, who died further into his account. It revealed how desensitized the narrator had become and the new emotions that were born from his grievances. Emotions he feels disgusted with years later, that were shown in his modern day reflections in each chapter.

Particular with the Parisian woman that tossed coins in to watch the native children strangle each other for. Charity takes on a new meaning here, just as a familial bond did in his account, or rather the deterioration of one. This book is definitely meant for mature readers particularly since it deals with politics, religion, and war. It would be tenser read for literary circles but still a good book to chose all the same.

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