Night Reflection

The event that had a very strong emotional impact on me was when Elie’s father was given a
deathly blow to the head after calling his son’s name out in a rattling tone. The next day Elie’s father is
gone with another man in his bunk. And like Rabbi Eliahou’s son, Elie is relieved that he can survive on
his own without looking over his father. And at such a young age, how can you be relieved to have your
father killed? It is only afterwards, looking in the mirror, does he see that he is really dead inside.

This experience felt very powerful and painful, but as Elie describes it as a relief, it really shows
how disgusting the holocaust was. You wish it was a fiction story, but really it’s a horrible truth that
makes you wonder how this could have happened. It’s very depressing, and at the same time, it makes
you glad. It’s depressing because if you went through it, you will never forget it, and you will always
have to go through that terrifying sequence of murder, and the smell of flesh in the air. But you will be
glad knowing that it will never happen again, in a modern world where people are tolerant.

If I were to have gone through this exact same experience, I know for sure that I would have
done the exact same things he would have. The things you are forced to do, the starvation, the labor,
the beatings. Of course you would do anything you need to survive. I understand that Elie felt relieved
that his father was dead, the holocaust did many things that no one should have gone through. I
definitely would have done the exact same things as Elie.

Before I read this book, all I knew was that the holocaust was where millions of Jewish people
were slaughtered. But after reading this book, I realize that it wasn’t just Jewish people, there were
many others. I haven’t read anything so descriptive of the atrocities the Nazis have done. I feel like I
have a great life, and that all the small problems I have is nothing compared to what holocaust survivors
have gone through. And I feel that there are a lot of people who believe that they have a life that’s
unfair, that need to read this book and realize that they don’t have it so bad.

What mankind and humanity should take from the holocaust is the need for tolerance for other
religions, people, and remove all this hatred from the world. We know this today, yet many people in
the world feel as if they’re superior because they may be a certain skin color, or a certain religion.
However, as technology progresses, education of affairs such as the holocaust, will be remembered, and
people will learn that disastrous genocides such as will be impossible to occur again.