Andrew Bejean

November 19, 2013

Brown, Period 8
English

Is Silence the Answer?

In his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, Night author Elie Wiesel stated that silence
encourages the tormentor and indifference [is] the most insidious danger of all. Silence in
this context is not merely a lack of spoken word, but an absence of dissent or an unwillingness to
object to cruelty or injustice. The book Night and the movie The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
support this understanding of silence by outlining the tragedy of the Holocaust resulting from a
passive acceptance of the Nazi movements torment of the European Jews. The Washington Post
Magazine article A Secret Life also investigates the Wiesels point about silence but in this
case, silence serves a double purpose, acting to protect both the innocent victims as well as the
guilty tormentors. In different ways, the three works are able to support the message included in
Elie Wiesels speech. Night, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and A Secret Life show how
silence can be used in negative ways by allowing tormentors to act with impunity, but it can also
have a silver lining by insulating some victims from either understanding or from experiencing
further trauma from terrible events.
In Night, Elie Wiesel repeatedly employs the idea of silence as a mechanism that enables and
emboldens the perpetrators of evil. Early on in the narrative, a voice of reason emerges with
direct evidence of the dangers of rising anti Semitism. Moishe the Beadle proclaims I wanted

to return to Sighet to describe to you my death so that you might ready yourselves while there is
still time (Wiesel, 7). Unfortunately, the Jews of Sighet choose to ignore Moishes concerns and
he eventually falls silent, with his advice to flee the area largely ignored. The slow silencing of
Moishes voice as witness to prior murders coincides with the increasing boldness of the
Hungarian police who come to oppress the Jewish population. Likewise, on the train to
Auschwitz, Mrs. Schchter screams incessantly about a non-existent fire off in the distance. The
Jews decide to silence her by beating and gagging her because her rantings were too disturbing:
It was as though madness had infected all of us. We gave up. A few young men forced her to
sit down, then bound and gagged her. Silence fell again. (Wiesel, 26). The words of both Mrs.
Schchter and Moishe the Beadle foreshadow a doomed future, but the rest of the Jewish
community silences them. A final example of the tragic consequence of silence in Night comes
just before Elies father passes away, as Elie struggles with whether or not to speak out and try to
protect his ill father. The SS officer beats Elies father into silence, and by extension silences
Elie, by making fear win over humanity. As his father lay dying in bed, calling to Elie, Wiesel
thinks to himself His last word had been my name. He had called out to me and I had not
answered. (Wiesel, 112). Although his experience took him to the edge of humanity, Wiesel
ultimately found his voice and by writing about his Holocaust experience, allowed the world to
understand the consequence of their collective silence about the Nazi regimes treatment of the
Jews. Silence in Night, as understood as an absence of a voice of objection, perpetuates the Nazi
aggressors ability to vanquish their victims and engage in genocide with very little resistance.
In the movie The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, the proponents of exterminating the Jews
likewise seek to silence any dissent regarding their plans. In the case of Bruno, they allow a
childs innocent misunderstanding of the concentration camps true purpose to persist until he is

old enough to be indoctrinated into the Nazi party. The people who are too innocent to
understand the truth of the death camps or too scared to speak out against the Nazi regime only
add to the strength of tormentors. Bruno is exposed to what was taking place right in his own
back yard, yet he actually thought the concentration camps were just farms, not camps. With this
belief, Bruno asks the young prisoner Shmuel, But that [electric fence] is to stop the animals
getting out, isnt it? Lacking the sophisticated and grown-up view of the world that could
encompass the cruelty of the genocide taking place right next door, Bruno lacks the ability to
register a voice of objection. His grandmother, however, clearly understands the implications of
the death camps and criticizes Ralf for the uniform...and what it stands for. Even with his own
mother, Ralf seeks to suppress this voice of dissent, warning his mother, you should be careful.
Airing your views so publicly could land you in trouble. You know that. Although silencing
those who would object to his mission at the death camp empowers Ralf in his genocidal work,
he ultimately becomes powerless to save his own son, bringing about a devastating personal loss
within his family by providing the mechanism for his own sons untimely death. Perhaps Ralfs
suffering is just a bit of poetic justice on the part of the movies writer, but the final scene in The
Boy in the Striped Pajamas features piles of camp uniforms belonging to those who entered the
gas chambers. This sobering scene reminds the viewer that they should not just mourn the loss
of two innocent boys featured in the storyline, but they should remember the numerous Jews
exterminated by the Nazis as no one spoke out on their behalf. Silence allowed the Nazis to
perpetrate this crime.
Finally, Thomas Hardings article in the Washington Post Magazine entitled A Secret
Life continues to explore the consequences of silence. Similar to the fictional Brunos
privileged upbringing, Brigitte Hss was too young to understand the nature of Auschwitz and

was caught in epic historic forces she could little understand, much less be responsible for
(Harding, 14). Unlike Bruno, however, Brigette lives a long life and becomes aware of the
atrocities perpetrated by her father. When she eventually marries, she and her husband agree that
because she is innocent of her fathers crimes, they should not carry it any further [but] get on
with [their] lives, live happily and leave it all behind (Harding 15). Although Brigittes
continuing fears of reprisals by Jews gives her a reason to remain silent about her past, the store
owners have no such reason to keep quiet and, as Jews who escaped Nazi Germany, might have
felt it appropriate to expose Brigitte to others. Harding believes that Brigittes belief that silence
is the way to deal with her past has a downside, in that one consequence of keeping the past so
private is that it remains insufficiently examined (Harding, 17). Brigitte has not shared her
fathers history with her own grandchildren, although her ex-husband seems to have slightly
opened that door to discovery. Although silence plays a dual role in the life of Brigitte Hss, the
fact that she has been able to emerge from her Holocaust experience with an appreciation for
those who allowed her individuality apart from her infamous father is a testament to the power of
speaking out and also knowing when to keep silent.
Night, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, and A Secret Life all explore the Holocaust and
the role of silence and free speech as an empowering tool. A bully can gain power over his
victim through enforcing silence among those who might object to the bullying, and the Nazis
used this intimidation to murder millions during the Holocaust. But a good friend like the shop
owners who kept Brigittes secret protected an innocent person from becoming a victim. The
positive value of silence or its destructiveness can depend upon the circumstances, but
indifference only serves an oppressor. Either way, as long as silence or free communication is

used to serve justice and protect victims from those who would harm them, people should be
allowed to decide for themselves if silence is golden or if it is deadly.