Indi Difference In The Holocaust By Elie Wiesel

The Price of Indifference Elie Weisel once said, “The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, its indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, its indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference.” The harsh reality of indifference was encircling the Nazi concentration camps. The lack of concern or sympathy for the Jews was very evident and greatly perplexed Elie and his comrades. Indifference played a role in the holocaust in many different ways. Some of the most recognizable ways include the indifference of God, the indifference of people towards death, and the Germans indifference to the suffering of the Jews.

One way indifference plays a role in the holocaust is

Before the Jews were put into designated ghettos, many tried to spread their stories. They would knock doors or share their story in different group settings to get their message out. Moishe the Beadle, a wise man who greatly influenced Elie growing up, did just this. Elie’s first hand account of the holocaust states, “Day after day, night after night, he went from one Jewish house to the next telling his story and that Malka, the young girl who lay dying for three days and that of Tobie, the tailor who begged to die before his sons were killed” (Weisel, Night 7). Moishe was feeling a great amount of indifference at this time in his life. By knocking doors, he hoped that his stories would resonate with the Jews and non-Jews and help change the way the Jews were being treated. The people around Moishe were taking this situation too jokingly. Along with Moishe’s experience, many others felt the indifference of people towards death at this time. A speech given by a teen at this time made a great point about this. She states, “The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who stand by and do nothing as those acts of evil are committed” (“The Dangers of Indifference”). This example highlights one of the main problems of the indifference towards death from others. Those who watch and wait with no intentions of helping are the true problem. It is our duty as

When Elie first started his Journey to the concentration camp, hundreds were crammed into tiny cattle cars with little room and almost no necessary products for life. Elie’s account states, “Crammed into cattle cars by the Hungarian police, they cried silently. The train disappeared over the horizon; all that was left was thick, dirty smoke” (Weisel, Night 6). This memory Elie shared with his audience shows how vulnerable Jews are at this time. The Germans didn’t care about the conditions and the heartache the Jews endured. When Elie finally arrives at Auschwitz, the sights he sees are horrendous. Immediately he sees “Infants tossed into the air and used as targets for the medicine guns” (Wiesel, Night 6). Elie’s first impression of Buchenwald is infants being brutally murdered. I can’t imagine how terrified he is to continue further into camp. The Germans were extremely insensitive towards the Jews and their feelings. From the start of the holocaust, The Germans indifference to the suffering of Jews was very