From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany sent over 6 million Jewish people into concentration camps. Elie Wiesel’s Night is a book detailing his experiences in these camps and the various atrocities committed by the Nazis to both him and the rest of the prisoners, which included his father. These things affected his psyche, his attitude, and his faith. Elie’s view of God slowly changes throughout the book, directly caused by what the Nazis did to Elie and his father. Elie, in multiple parts of the book, slowly loses his religiousness. Elie is introduced in the beginning of the book as very religious. Later in the book he is sent to Auschwitz, one of the most infamous concentration camps. In chapter 3, early in the book, Elie ceases to pray, thinking, "I was not denying His existence, but I doubted His absolute justice." (45). At the beginning of the book, Elie is very passionate about religion, but at this part of the book he's questioning his faith because of the …show more content…
When Elie was first imprisoned in the camp, he witnessed the burning of the bodies of children. Early in the book, Elie thinks as a result of this, “Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, that turned my life into one long night seven times sealed. … Never shall I forget the small faces of the children whose bodies I saw transformed into smoke under a silent sky. Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith forever. … Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes.” (34). In this quote, he’s acknowledging that what the Nazis had done had destroyed his faith. His faith is shaken by the existence of the horrors that the Nazis are doing, in this case the children being burnt. He compares the smoke from the children’s bodies to his faith also going up in smoke; his faith being destroyed along with the