Chapter One: Introduction During the English Civil War, in the 1640s, the Earl of Clarendon came up with a novel wheeze: rather than allow those presumed to be parliamentarian enemies to claim the benefit of the rule of law, he would establish a prison on an island off the British shoreline. That way, he reasoned, they could be safely forgotten, buried along with their legal rights. When parliament later looked back on this dark chapter of British history, they passed the Habeas Corpus Act of 1679 to ensure that never again would an unpopular group of people be denied justice. Clarendon was impeached by the House of Commons and fled to France, where he died in exile. Our history of torture teaches us to never repeat the same mistake our ancestors …show more content…
He and his family are later put on a train to an unknown destination along with other Jews from their town. Elie could not have imagined what he saw when the train stopped. The train stopped at Auschwitz, a concentration camp. When the passengers exit the train the men and women are separated and then the men are sorted into separate groups based on their health and skills. Elie is separated from his mother and sister immediately and never sees them again. He and his father are given a hint on how to stick together by a stranger who has been at the camp for a long time. Throughout the novel, Elie and his father must stick together in order to survive. They both do manages to stay together even after switching camps. Elie witnessed many atrocities during his time in concentration camps. Elie Wiesel in his book “Night,” asserts “Then came the march past the victims. The two men were no longer alive. Their tongues were hanging out, swollen and bluish. But the third rope was still moving: the child, too light, was still breathing … And so he remained for more than half an hour, lingering between life and death, writhing before our eyes. And we were forced to look at him at close range. He was still alive when I passed him. His tongue was still red, his eyes not yet extinguished.” In other words, Elie Wiesel explained how hard it was to watch people being tortured and couldn't do anything about it. When Elie’s dad was being tortured by the SS men, Elie couldn't do anything about it because he wasn't strong enough to take them down. Most of the time people would like to help others but sometimes it’s hard because they will get themselves into trouble. Before my dad got married he was taken by the Iranians soldiers. They kept him in their prison for five years. My dad explained to us how the Iranian soldiers, they used to give them small amount of food, and what my dad