How Does Elie Wiesel Enticed To Remain Silent

Why are people enticed to remain silent? Elie Wiesel’s memoir, Night, explores his experiences in a concentration camp during the Holocaust. He among countless others were dehumanized, abused, and treated horrifically. Millions of people witnessed and were subjected to unjust and cruel violence. When faced with this violence, characters in Night remained silent in order to prolong their own life and survival.
To maintain his own survival, Wiesel didn’t speak up for his father. Upon their first arrival to Auschwitz, newcomers were lined up and selected for either work or death. During this process, Wiesel’s father made the mistake of asking a question, resulting in a hard slap in the face. Wiesel thought to himself, “I stood petrified. What

In fear of his own life, Wiesel chooses to stand back as his father is struck. This leaves Wiesel with an immediate sense of guilt and remorse. But this is not the only time he decides to remain silent. When the prisoners were loading diesel motors onto freight cars, their supervisor, Idek, seemed on edge. When Idek ultimately lashed out, his target was Wiesel’s father. While his father was beaten, Wiesel “had watched it all happening without moving”(54)-- he kept silent. He pondered to himself, “In fact, I thought of stealing away in order not to suffer the blows. What’s more, if I felt anger in that moment, it was not directed at the Kapo but at my father. Why couldn’t he have avoided Idek’s wrath? That’s what life in the concentration camps had made of me.”(54) With the knowledge that he would be beaten if he had spoken up, Wiesel decided to stay quiet. If he were to be beaten, his ability to work would be impaired, leaving him vulnerable to the selection. Knowing this, he keeps silent– preserving his abilities to work and increasing his likelihood of survival. Through his act of remaining silent, Wiesel revealed thoughts

When weapons were discovered in Dutch Oberkapo’s block, he was tortured and sent to Austchwitz, never to be seen again. But he wasn’t the only one penalized, “his young pipel remained behind, in solitary confinement. He too was tortured, but he too remained silent. The SS condemned him to death, him and two other inmates who had been found to possess arms.”(64) If the young boy had gave into all the torture and torment and told the SS officers the information they desired, he would’ve been killed on the spot– once the information was received, the SS officers no longer had a use for him. But his persistence postponed his sealed fate, even if it were only a couple of days. After his execution, the other inmate’s doubts and questions towards their God began to grow. His death also solidified Wiesel’s loss of faith and religion. In order to delay his eventual death, the young persisted with silence even when faced with inhumane