Think of this, you and your family are being transported to a different country. You do not know where you are, you're scared, then all of a sudden you are being separated. How would you have felt? Probably terrified would describe the feeling. Well, that's how most of the Jews felt. Think about you playing with your siblings, you guys are having so much fun but then a stranger comes in and talks to your parents and all of a sudden the stranger tells you that you are a Jew. That stranger also tells you that your family that you grew up with and loved was not your real family. How would you react to that? In my opinion, tearing apart the families was just another way to destroy the Jews but I believe it made them stronger hoping to see a loved …show more content…
In the book Night, Elie was separated from his mother and little sister.(Night 29) This was hard to cope with not a having your family around. Some families tried to maintain contact like in the movie Life is Beautiful when Guido was talking on the speakers to his wife Dora.(Life is) If that could not happen then they created their own families.People would make “alternative families” with their fellow inmates. (Ofter) It gave them a sense of strength and a support group. Many times Elie has given support to his father like when Elie taught his father to march correctly so he would not be beaten anymore (Wiesel 55). There were also many times Elie’s Father has given support to like when he tried to give Elie a spoon and knife because he thought he was getting picked. He tried to give him something to protect himself and something to bargain with just in case Elie need to (Wiesel 75). Sometimes if they did not have a family, they would become close with their inmates and look out for each other.(Ofter) According to Mrs.Ofter “... women in the camps, for whom memories of family life were a source of strength even while they also aroused fear of a loss of hope” (Ofter). Some women would talk about recipes and family life to cope with the violence that surrounded them.(Ofter) Memories were a source of comfort. Hoping to see a relative was basically all they had to hold on to. The concentration camps were probably the hardest place for families to stay