Pascua 1

Shaune Pascua
Mrs.Cruz
English
10/9/2015
Night Essay
The Holocaust began in 1933 Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany and ended 1945
when the Nazis were defeated. The term Holocaust, originally from the Greek word
Holokauston which means sacrifice, refers to the Nazis persecution and planned slaughter
of the Jewish people. During this time the Nazis killed approximately two-thirds of all Jews living
in Europe while they were on the concentration camp they would be forced into work even in
extremely harsh conditions and without rights. The short memoir Night by Elie Wiesel is about
when he was in a concentration camp while he was young; was put to the test by Dr.Mengele
when he runs for his life. The excerpt reminds and educates the reader about this horrible
historical event during the World War by showing what the Jewish people had to go through
from the selection, camp conditions, hard labor, and separations from family members.
The memoir Night shows us different ways how it was on the concentration camp by
the prisoners daily routine, how the soldiers on the camp treated the prisoners and their camp
conditions. The quote All the prisoners in the block stood naked between the beds (55-56) this
quote gives an example of how prisoners lived by saying they had no clothes at all also what
this historically means is during the Holocaust most prisoners were never well clothed or some
didn't have clothes in general. Another quote that help shows the prisoners lifestyle and their
daily routines is I had to drag heavy blocks of stone about. this just says he had to carry heavy
blocks around or this illustrates that prisoners in the concentration camp were forced into heavy
labor.
Nazi soldiers also treated people on the camp with a lot of disrespect. For example this
quote The kapos had orders to kill a certain number of prisoners everyday (20-21) this meant
many people died but it can also mean that the german had a disrespect for human life and
killed Jewish people out of discrimination killing thousands. Another quote is A merciless
selection... yes, youre lucky. Explicitly the Nazis were selecting people what is also can mean
is during this time selection was a horrifying process were prisoners had to go to and the
Germans would decide their life either if they would live or die.
Finally life on the concentration camp was extremely terrible. A quote that shows it is
There was no water, no blankets less soup, and bread. A night we slept almost naked and it
was below thirty degrees (18-19). While reading this I can infer that they have no sources to
live but what I think Mr.Wiesel would like you to get from this is that all the prisoners on the
camp was never given enough at all and they were forced to live with the conditions with no
choice. Another good quote The bell, Already we must separate , go to bed. Everything was
regulated by the bell. It gives me orders, and I automatically obey them (106-107). I can infer
that this quote meant a bell to notify you to go to bed. Implicitly the camp had a bell that notified
the prisoners to go to bed and they must obey it they did not have any choice.
Knowing about the Holocaust is very important because it educates us how horrible this
historical event was, reminds us about their struggles, how much torture the Jewish people had
to live, how some people had to live for a few years, and another way is that there can be a
possibility that history can repeat itself and we do not want that to ever happen again.