Chapters 8 and 9

After the horrible train experience, Elie and his father arrive at Buchenwald with Elie's father giving up hope and Elie trying to keep him going. Elie starts wishing that he didn't have to put up with his father however he realizes what he is thinking and he goes to help his father. Elie's father suffers from dysentery and even when Elie takes him to a doctor, there is nothing he can do. Elie's father complains that he is beaten by his bunkmates and when calling out for water he is beaten by the SS. Eventually, Elie's father dies and Elie feels guilty over his lack of emotion over the event. I feel that this must have been a trying time for Elie's conscience as he dealt with a lack of emotion over his father.

Elie, emotionally spent, remains within Buchenwald until April 11. As the front came closer the Germans decided to kill all of the Jews within the camp. On April 10, a resistance movement takes control of the camp during an assembly and later that day American tanks arrive. Elie then suffers from food poisoning and during this time he manages to look into a mirror only to find that he cannot believe what he looks like as he had not seen his own image since the ghetto.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gG2QaN_LUao&feature=player_embedded#at=60
This is a video of the The Auschwitz Album which is the only surviving visual evidence of the process of mass murder at Auschwitz-Birkenau. It is a unique document and was donated to Yad Vashem by Lilly Jacob-Zelmanovic Meier.

Chapters 6 and 7

The prisoners were forced to run with the threat of the SS shooting anyone who cannot keep up with the march looming over them. Death was also possible by being trampled and this entire journey must have been incredibly hard for Elie considering the condition that his foot was in. Elie did manage to march on though with the thought of his father pushing him onward. They eventually stop at a village and the frigid cold keeps them from falling asleep. I cannot image the difficulty that Elie must have had with this entire trip with his body telling him he can't do it but his mind willing him on. The prisoners then arrive at Gleiwitz and Elie's father is nearly killed however he is saved when Elie causes confusion and gets his father out of the line that led to certain death.

There is then a ten day train ride in which 20 dead corpses are thrown out of the train. Elie's father was nearly one of the corpses that were thrown out however he managed to convince those throwing the corpses that his father was still alive. This same father son love is not seen in the rest of the train as rations are not given and when a morsel of bread is thrown into the car, fighting ensues in which a son kills his father for the bread and is then killed himself. This just shows how desperate and scared, as well as hungry the prisoners were when they are killing each other over a piece of bread.

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005189
A link to a page with information about Auschwitz as well as subcamps such as Gleiwitz

Chapters 4 and 5

At Buna they are quarantined for 3 days before being sent to the orchestra block. Elie and his father are assigned to work in a unit of prisoners whose job includes counting electrical fittings in a civilian warehouse with his father serving in the same unit. He meets new people including the Czech brothers Yossi and Tibi who wish to go to Palestine should they survive the camp. He also encounters a dentist who was supposed to remove his gold crown however he feigns illness twice to avoid the visits and when he returns once again he finds the dentist's office to be closed and that the dentist had been killed for selling gold teeth. Elie finds no pity for the dentist and is grateful to still have his gold crown because it has the potential to be very useful in the future especially for getting food which is becoming more and more of a problem for him. He is also beaten and then helped by a French girl who he would meet again in Paris in the future. The girl must have been brave for helping him and her advice to him was wise as will the brutal strength of the German resistance would have been far too dangerous.

The Jewish years ends and on New Year's Day Elie finds that where this day was once a huge event for him, now he cannot praise God but rather he blames God for all of the terrible things that have happened. Yom Kippur also came and Elie debated whether to fast or not. He ended up eating his food however he is feeling farther away from God. Although religious reasons may have told him not to eat, I think he made the right choice as with the food problems he was already experiencing, not eating that day would not have helped. Elie must also have surgery on his foot which comes at an inconvenient time as they soon are fleeing from the Red Army which is getting closer.

                                    Symbols of the Jewish faith that Elie was having trouble maintaining

Chapters 2 and 3

Elie and his family are among the last of the Jews to leave the ghetto and get into the train which is described to be a very uncomfortable, crowded, and hot space. They were not sure where they were going and the women named  Mrs. Schachter who kept screaming out paranoid warnings about fire. Much like Moishe,  Mrs. Schachter's warnings are immediately written off as crazy and she is even physically assaulted by the others on the train. This was yet another time that the people of Sighet ignored a warning out of fear and thought foolishly towards a future that would not be as bad as many warned that it would be. They eventually arrive at their destination, Auschwitz.

The horrible events that occurred to Elie such as getting separated from his mother and sisters and then facing the threat of being incinerated are all incredibly horrible and extremely difficult to imagine actually happening to a human being. He and his father manage to stay together and experience sorting processes in which some Jews are allowed to advance whereas other are not so lucky. They are advised to lie at times in order to keep themselves from not seeming able to work and being killed right away. Both Elie and his father survive this process and find themselves being disinfected and showered before being sent to their barracks. They keep their faith in God despite the many atrocities that they have already seen. They are eventually moved to Buna which is the work camp where they will be residing.

The one night when he was almost incinerated must have been a terrible ordeal as well as a powerful awakening to Elie as well as the others from Sighet who at one point had perhaps thought that life wouldn't be so bad under the Germans but now realized the cruelty which they were facing as even babies were thrown to the flames.

The gates of Auschwitz

"Work Makes You Free"

                                         
Further information on Auschwitz
  http://www.auschwitz.dk/auschwitz.htm

Foreword and Chapter 1

In the foreword, Wiesel explains his reasons for writing the book as well as how horrible the events that occurred during the holocaust were. It is easy to see the powerfull effects the events have had on this man as through his words you can tell how emotional he is over the subject of his book. He talks about not wanting to forget those who had died and from the way he presents his story I am compelled to read his story.

In chapter one Wiesel presents Moishe who is a man that Wiesel had been learning from at one point however that was then taken away by the government only to escape and return to the town, Sighet, to warn the people of what could potentially be dangers awaiting them. They fail to acknowledge his warning and simply ignore him and his seemingly crazy message. The Jews then realize their fears when Germany does come into their town and the Jews begin to experience the cruel acts of the German that they had heard about and had even been previously warned about by Moishe.

  Elie Wiesel

The Elie Wiesel Foundation For Humanity
http://www.eliewieselfoundation.org/