Approximately six million Jews died during the Holocaust and about three million survived. Jewish prisoners during the Holocaust went through many horrific circumstances. They had to bear starvation, overexertion, beatings, torture, and much more. Millions of innocent people died in the concentration camps. Night, by Elie Wiesel, and Life is Beautiful, directed by Roberto Benigni and Vincenzo Cerami, portray the hardships and tortures of the concentration camps by showing how the Jews held onto their beliefs and faith in order to survive. Therefore, prisoners in the concentration camps had a better chance of surviving the Holocaust if they had faith in themselves and their families survival even if they went through many hardships.
During
…show more content…
If prisoners did not give up and pushed through the terrifying experiences, they had a much higher chance of getting through the Holocaust alive. Elie never gave up on himself in the concentration camps. Even though it was harder for him when his father had died, he was able to push through and make it to the end. He no longer cared about anything else except surviving. “[He] spent [his] days in total idleness. With only one desire; to eat. [He] no longer thought of [his] father, or [his] mother” (Wiesel 113). Furthermore, once Elie’s father died, Elie cared about nothing except living another day. He pushed through the final moments of being a prisoner in a concentration camp and survived because he persevered through the torment. The last few weeks were the worst Elie had faced, but he was able to survive because he kept his faith and his hope that liberation was near. Similarly, in Life is Beautiful, Joshua begins to give up on the game that his father has created for him. Guido, knowing that losing faith could kill people, did everything he could to assure his son that it was almost over. He convinced Joshua that he needed to push just a little harder in order to win and get his tank. He made everything a game and assured Joshua that they were in the lead just so his son wouldn’t lose hope. He knew that losing hope meant an almost certain death. Both examples show us that