Elie Wiesel Journey Map

Tenth Stop: Buchenwald and Liberation

• The Final stop for Elie before he was liberated.
• His father passed away in the medical ward at this camp after taking a fatal blow from an officer.
• Liberated on April 11, 1945, but did not describe his life during this time because of his father's death.
• "I woke up at dawn on January 29. On my father's cot there lay another sick person. They must have taken him before daybreak and taken him to the crematorium. Perhaps he was still breathing... No prayers were said over his tomb. No candle lit in his memory. His last word had been my name. He called out to me and I had not answered."

Sixth Stop: Auschwitz-Birkenau Barrack

• Assigned to it after thinking he was headed to the crematoria
• All of his belongings were taken: clothes, hair, and identity
• "The barrack we had been assigned to was very long. On the roof, a few bluish skylights. I thought: This is what the antechamber of hell must look like. So many crazed men, so much shouting, so much brutality."

• Elie is very religous
• Hasidic Jew
• Devoted to his studies
• Wants to study the Kabbalah

First Stop: Sighet.

• Village Elie lived in his whole life pre-World War II.
• Germans occupied the town in 1944.
• Two ghettos made in the town.
• He lived a normal life until the Germans came.
• "By day I studied the Talmud and by night I would run to the synagogue to weep over the destruction of the Temple."

Third Stop: Sighet Train Station

• The Jews that were being deported were sent to be loaded up in cattle cars.
• Their journey throught concentration camps began here.
• Journey- any type of travels where one discovers something about themselves at the end
• Elie first encountered a time where he needed to survive for himself. The Hungarian police took all of their belongings and they were left with nothing.
• "The next morning, we walked toward the station, where a convoy of cattle cars was waiting. The Hungarian police made us climb into the cars, eighty persons in each one."

Second Stop: Sighet Ghetto

• Elie lived on Serpent Street, in the first ghetto.
• Appointed an all-Jewish government of police force, labor committee, health agency, and a Jewish Council
• Lived here until the Jews were liquidated for the concentration camps. "The ghetto was to be liquidated entirely. Departures were to take place street by street starting the next day."

Night by Elie Wiesel

Matt LaMar

Fifth Stop: Auschwitz-Birkenau

• Elie believed copnditions would be good there
• He felt thankful since he believed it was a great place, compared to what has been happening so far.
• "The conditions were good. Families would not be seperated. Only the young would work in the factories. The old and sick would find work in the fields. Confidence soared. Suddenly we felt free of the previous nights' terror. We gave thanks to God."

Seventh Stop: Main Auschwitz Camp

• He thought it was better than Birkenau.
• Lost his identity as a person; became a number, A-7713.
• Survived the selections for whom should die.
• "In the afternoon, they made us line up. Three prisoners brought a table and some medical instruments. We were told to roll up our left sleeves and file past the table. The three 'veteren' prisoners, needles in hand, tatooed numbers on our left arms. I became A-7713. From then on, I had no other name."

Eighth Stop: Buna Concentration Camp

• Elie was told by a veteran one could survive by themselves here.
• He wanted a good Kommando, but he wouldn't give up his shoes for one. They were taken from him later in exchange for nothing.
• "'Would you like to get into a good Kommando?' 'Of course, but on one condition: I want to stay with my father.' 'All right,' he said. 'I can arrange it. For a pittance: your shoes. I'll give you another pair.' I refused to give him my shoes. They were all I had left. 'I'll also give you a ration of bread with some margarine...' He liked my shoes; I would not let him have them. Later, they were taken from me anyway. In exchange for nothing, that time."

Ninth Stop: Buna Infirmary

• Elie's right foot started to swell from the cold in January.
• If not operated on, he could lose his toes and eventually, his whole leg.
• He liked being in the infirmary better; there was better bread and soup, he didn't have to go to roll call, and he could send rations to his father.
• "Actually, being in the infirmary was not bad at all: we were entitled to good bread, a thicker soup. No more bell, no more roll call, no more work. From time to time, I was able to send a piece of bread to my father."

About Night and Elie Post-Liberation

• Elie wanted to wait ten years before publishing his first copy; it took 13 years for it to actually happen.
• He first wrote the book in 1954 in Yiddish and it was 865 pages. Then, it was shortened to 245 pages and called "Un di Velt Hot Geshvign" in Buenos Aires.
• It was first published in France, 178 pages long and titled "La Nuit." In the U.S., it was 116 pages and called "Night."
• He had trouble finding a publisher, so it wasn't published until 1958 by Jerome Linden.

Fourth Stop: Kaschau, Czechoslovakia

• They stopped here after two days of travelling
• German soldier reminded the Jews that they were under German control in Czechoslovakia.
• The officers took any gold, silver, or watches and said that anyone found with these after collection would be shot.
• Anyone out of the eighty people that goes missing would cause everyone to get shot on the spot.
• "The door of the car slid aside. A German officer stepped in accompanied by a Hungarian lieutenant, acting as his interpreter. 'From this moment on, you are under the authority of the German Army. Anyone who owns gold, silver, or watches must hand them over now. Secondly, anyone who is ill should report to the hospital. That's all...There are eighty of you in the car,' the German officer added. 'If anyone goes missing, you will all be shot, like dogs.'"

My Reaction to "Night"

My ideas about what happened in concentration camps changed drastically after reading this book. I never knew exactly how horrible concentration camps treated their prisoners. I've never read any literature from a concentration camp before, so this was eye-opening. I now feel pained looking back at what these people had to endure.