Elie Wiesel was a Holocaust survivor that endured things in his lifetime that would be unimaginable to the average person today. The Holocaust that took place in Germany was the biggest ethnic cleansing of over 6 million Jews. The violence that the Jews endured was not only physical but mental as well. Elie Wiesel wrote an autobiography about his personal experience of the day-to-day violence experienced by Jews. The horrific events of the Holocaust went from things the Jews heard about, to things the saw, to things they actually experienced.
The theme of violence is first introduced in "Night" within the first few pages by Moishe the Beadle. He tried to warn Elie and the people of his town by begging, "'Jews, listen to me! That's all I ask of you. No money. No pity. Just listen to me!'" The people of the town did not listen because they were oblivious to the events going on around them. Moishe the Beadle however had already experienced the gruesome torture. As he recalls his experience he shares it with Elie," They were forced to dig huge trenches. When they had finished their work, the men from Gespato began theirs. Without passion or haste, they shot their prisoners, who were forced to approach the trench one by one and offer their necks. Infants were tossed into the air and used as targets for the machine guns." The people did not believe Moishe because at
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The first account of seeing these hostile acts they had only heard about was in the cattle cars. "' Jews look! Look at the fire! Look at the flames!'" screamed Mrs. Schacter. Seeing the fire started the process of realization; once Elie saw what had happened it was impossible to forget,"' Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the small faces of children whose bodies I saw transformed into smoke under a silent sky.'" These images were burned into their minds never to be