Elie Wisel

The Story of Elie Wiesel
Flipping through the pages of your history book, you see millions of words, hundreds of pictures, and overall the context on the world around you. In almost everyone book you will see many of the same “important” people and figures occur. For example, George Washington was America’s first President, commander in chief of the Continental army, and was known as the Father of His Country. Sacajawea is known as a Shoshone Indian, who acted as a geographic guide, diplomat, and interpreter for the Lewis and Clark expedition, and was issued by the U.S. mint, a circulating dollar coin with her resemblance. The image of Uncle Sam, with his white hair and top hat, became famous during World War I, recruiting posters, and is still a well known figure in today’s society. People like George Washington, Sacajawea, and figures such as Uncle Sam and hundreds of others are known for very different things, but are all taught and reviewed all over America. However, I am not writing to summarize your knowledge on what you were already taught, but to show you what history books forgot to teach you. Why are there a limited amount of people chosen to be in history books, and hundreds of others are left a mystery to the world? Other than the people that people already know about, what about the other hundreds of people that also contributes to America’s history? I am writing to open the minds of people, and to show them how they should begin to acknowledge and perceive people, even if they aren’t in history books; in hope that more people would consider a new edition of different people to be taught in American history. I am starting the first steps to this movement with explaining the story of Elie Wiesel.
Elie Wiesel was born on September 30, 1928, in a small town called Sighet; now part of Romania. Elie had two older sisters and a younger sister. His childhood, like a typical European Jewish child at the time, focused around his family, community, religious study, and worship. His father Chlomo Wiesel, was an orthodox Jew and owned a grocery store. His mother, Sarah, was a daughter of a farmer and had two sisters. Elie grew up speaking Yiddish at home, and Hungarian, Romanian, and German outside. Chlomo implanted a powerful sense of intelligence in Elie, as he encouraged him to learn Modern Hebrew and to read literature; whereas his mother encouraged him to study the Torah and Kabala. His instruction of the Torah ended short because Moshe the Beadle, his instructor was deported. When Moshe returned, he said the German secret police force took charge of his train, led everyone into the woods, and brought harm to them. Nobody believed Moshe, and was looked at as a lunatic, but Elie saw more to him and made Moshe a somewhat heroic figure. Elie Wiesel was just like any other young boy growing up in Europe; wishing to impress his parents, growing up with a hero, and doing what he is told to do. However, an ordinary boy’s life began to turn in 1944. Increasing power in an economically and politically unstable Germany, Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party rearmed the world. Hitler's invasion of Poland starting in September 1939, caused the Western Alliances to declare war on Germany, and World War II had begun. Over the next six years, the conflict continuously took lives and destroyed more land and property around the globe than any preceding war. Among the estimated 45-60 million people killed, six million Jews were murdered in Nazi concentration camps, as part of Hitler's “final solution” or also known as the Holocaust. This shows how millions of people were affected; some people taught in everyday text books and others like Elie who’s story isn’t yet told wide enough.
Going back to 1944 during the Spring of bloodshed, the Nazi’s occupied Hungary, where Elie lived. Eventually, a series of increasingly laws were passed, Community leaders were arrested, Jewish valuables were confiscated, and all Jews were forced to wear yellow stars. Now, take a moment to think about your home and how much it means to you. A home is a place that you feel comfortable in, a peaceful place where you can raise a family, relax, and are able to say “there’s no place like home.” Imagine if you were at home one day with your family, and suddenly had to pack a few belongings and are forced to leave your house and never return. You can imagine how dreadful it must feel, but you will never get the full understanding of this feeling that Elie and his family experienced. All the Jews of Elie’s towns were forced out of their homes and into small ghettos within Sighet, and this was just the beginning of Elie’s dreadful journey. They transport from one ghetto to another and eventually, one day they were forced onto cattle cars. Inside the cattle cars, the Jews were put under unbearable conditions. There was nearly any air to breathe, intense heat conditions, no room to sit or rest, and almost everyone was hungry and thirsty. Due to fear, they began to lack their appearances. Some men and women began to flirt more openly on the train if they were alone, while others pretend not to notice. Some people even died in the cattle cars. After several days of traveling, the car finally stops at the border of Czechoslovakia; when Elie and the other Jews realized their no longer just transporting to another “home”. They are yelled at and threatened to be shot at, if they refused to eliminate their belongings or if they attempted escaping. Imagine the horror these innocent families felt, and knowing that the good life you once accomplished will never be returned.
After the frightening experience on the cattle cars, Elie and his family were taken to Auschwitz Concentration Camp; one of the largest and deadliest concentration camps there was. Here, was where he was separated from his mother and sisters. His only family and person he knew was his father, who was aging and fragile. The Auschwitz concentration camp included three main camps, and each deployed prisoners at forced labor. The SS authorities established three main camps near the Polish city of Oswiecim; Auschwitz, Auschwitz II, and Auschwitz III. One of them also functioned for a longer time period as a killing center. The camps were located approximately 37 miles west of Krakow, near an area that Nazi Germany annexed in 1939 after invading and conquering Poland. At the concentration camp, people were killed on the spot, in mass murders, during examination checks, and as a daily routine. At least 960,000 Jews were killed in Auschwitz. The Jews were given little food, and horrible sleeping and living conditions. Jews were also worked to a large extent, and eventually all began to become weaker and weaker. However, despite the fact that Auschwitz could considerably be compared to a living hell, this is where Elie’s strong characteristics were shaped. Elie is a very kindhearted person, who puts himself in front of others; even during his experience at the concentration camp. At Auschwitz, people are usually independent and only think about themselves, struggling to survive. Though, Elie took a different and distinct approach on survival. He began to put others, like his father in front of his personal needs. When he realizes that his father is on the edge of death and wasn’t fed, Elie says “I gave him what was left of my soup.” (100). Even though Elie doesn’t receive a large amount of food and needs to stay alive himself, he still tries to help his father live and be hopeful. This shows how Elie, again is just like any ordinary boy who shows acts of kindness towards the people he loves. When people mock his father and bring harm to him, Elie struggles and tries to help him. His love for his father exemplifies his kind personality. Throughout his experience, you can also tell that he values his family, home, life, and god. After his experience, Elie wrote his memoir called “Night” and it is about his life in the concentration camps during the Holocaust. The book portrays Elie’s struggle through the hardships in the camps he was placed in, the lost of the faith in the human race and God. Elie sees his writing to be a message to people saying that this horrible thing happened to me and six million other Jews, but the world was silent. He wants to spread the word on how something like this will and should never happen again. As the reader, I understand that this is Elie’s message because he also plays a part in helping the world. He brings food to countries in need to show that humans can make a difference if we stand up and speak out against human cruelty so something like the Holocaust will never happen again. Many people think of his work to be inspirational and begin to help the world and live by the things Elie does. People and I are in awe of the courage, power and strength it took him to survive though the hardships and near death experiences he was faced with. I would think no one would find his work to be questionable because it is a proven fact that the Holocaust did happen and many people like Elie spread their stories or experiences of their experience during the Holocaust. This shows how Elie is such an important figure to our world, and how is story is so touching and life changing. Now, it is to you, to help spread Elie’s story and help make the world a better place by simply putting his name in our modern day textbooks and being just as courageous as he is.

Works Cited http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005189 http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/elie-wiesel-13.php http://www.factmonster.com/ce6/people/A0851533.html
Wiesel, Elie, and Marion Wiesel. Night. New York, NY: Hill and Wang, a Division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006. Print.