Bystanders In Night By Elie Wiesel

Hitler and his Nazis were not the only ones accountable for the death of six million Jews, bystanders are also responsible. This is one of the themes explored in the memoir, Night by Eliezer Wiesel, which tells of the horrific experiences he went through as a Jew during the Holocaust. He does this by sharing his struggles Wiesel hopes to encourage his audience by recounting the lessons he learned during the darkest days of his life to avoid being bystanders by observing, speaking out, and not conforming.

When a person is observant they are able to sense changes in advance even when based on the most minute of details. This is proven when German soldiers stay in the homes of Jewish families and the optimistic Jewish towns people think that

As Wiesel gives his speech before receiving his Nobel Peace Prize, he places responsibility on the people who witnesses the Holocaust yet remained silent when he states, “Who would allow such crimes to be committed? How could the world remain silent?” Millions of Jews were burned, beaten, and starved for years without people talking about it. Mothers, sons, uncles, sisters, children, lives all silenced because people were either afraid or ignorant. In addition to the community outside of these horrific places there were also citizens in these countries who also continued to watch in muteness, some also contributing to the suffering of the Jews. Wiesel gives an example of this in his speech when he says “Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere.” So many Germans had opportunities to stand up for what was just and right. For the lives of Jews, Gypsies, and fellow Germans but refrained front doing so aiding Hitler in his mass

Wiesel gives an example of how people conformed to Hitler when he says “There was a stampede. Dozens of starving men fought desperately over a few crumbs. The worker watched the spectacle with great interest” (pg. 100). This worker is one of the millions of people who followed Hitler and his beliefs. Treating them as spectacles to cure their boredom. Nazis were no different. When going through the Holocaust Wiesel encountered many Nazis all heartless and cruel, however none were as inhumane as Dr.Josef Mengele, the “Angel of Death”. Mengele presided over the selections, the process of deciding which Jews would die and which would survive, taking thousands of lives with gas chambers and human experiments, both of which Wiesel was able to escape. Wiesel also encounters plenty of civilians all of which turn their heads as if they lack the ability to resists the government and the torcher it caused to humans of every