Elie Wiesel Night Violations

In the United States’ Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson writes, “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” During World War Two the Nazis violated this and the Declaration of Human Rights In their treatment of the Jewish people. Elie Wiesel, the author of Night, had to live through this torment for almost a year in multiple concentration camps. Elie had to face the death of his mother and sister in the beginning of his imprisonment and the deaths of his father and countless friends until his liberation in April of 1945. During the Holocaust the Nazis violated the

The first instance when this occurred was when the Jewish children were thrown into the scorching fire at Auschwitz. In the autobiography, Night, Elie recollects, “Yes, I did see this, with my own eyes… children thrown into the flames.(Is it any wonder that ever since then sleep tends to elude me?).”(32). This statement suggests that Elie and all of the other Jews had to witness the burning of these babies and small children, which will haunt them forever. Also the children that were burned were going through one of the worst torments possible as they were dieing, this is excessively against Article Five. Elie also recalls, “ I no longer felt anything except the lashes of the whip. ‘One!... Two!’ he was counting... ‘Twenty-four!... Twenty-five!’”(57-58). This statement showed that whipping is an ferocious form of torture and yet the Nazis did this every day, during the Holocaust. On page 65 Elie remembers a hanging, “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.” This statement implies that Nazis did not care if they were cruel or inhumane even to children. Also the Nazis made prisoners watch the boy struggle for life until he finally died, these hangings happened almost every day. It is hard to realise how cruel the Nazis truly were, but with the violations of Article Five, people can see just how inhumane they