Execution In Ellie Wiesel's Night

In the book Night by Ellie Wiesel a young boy describes his experiences as a Jew in the concentration camps during World War II. During this time, Wiesel witnessed many horrific acts. Two of these were executions. Though the processes of the executions were similar, the condemned and the Jew’s reactions to the executions differed tremendously. The first execution he describes in his book is one of many that occurred during his time in the camp. It was a hanging of a man that stole during an alert of the camp. In this execution, prisoners helped in order to get extra food during dinner. They felt like the man brought it on himself stealing for his own personal gain. During the ceremony, Wiesel recalled that a man named Juliek was standing when he asked “Do you think the ceremony will be over soon?”(59). This is a great example of the prisoners that were watching this horrific event didn’t feel any remorse or compassion for the man being hung. After the hanging had been complete, the prisoners had to walk by the hanging body and stare into his already dimmed gazed eyes. Wiesel states later that night he thought the soup

The little boy was to be hanged for helping the Oberkapo with stocking a secret area with guns that would be used for a rebellion. No prisoners took part in this execution; the Lagerkapo won’t take part in the killing of a little boy. When the nooses were placed around their necks, the prisoners watching were weeping. When the chairs were kicked out from underneath the prisoners, the two adults necks snapped quickly, but the child didn’t weigh enough to kill himself immediately. As he was hanging there dying, the prisoners were forced to look the boy in the eyes and watch the live in him disappear. After the executions were finally over, the dinner bell rang, as the men sat there and ate, Wiesel states “the soup taste of