Experts claim that the title of the most inhumane event in human history goes to the Holocaust. Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night describes the horrors of the Holocaust from the very eyes of a young man who, in the present, has lost everything he once had to this unfathomable tragedy. Wiesel demonstrates how powerful evil can become if it remains undiscovered, by sharing his experiences in the hands of the wretched Nazi Germany. Wiesel’s account conveys this message clearly from the original threat, deportation, and through the eventual deaths of millions of inmates. This hidden threat originated with fanfare and without resistance when the Germans marched into town.
First, Elie introduces us to the strength of evil early on in his memoir. He acutely suggests that the Germans never seemed to be a threat, as “the officers were billeted in private houses, even in Jewish homes. Their attitude toward their hosts was distant but polite…the optimists were jubilant” (9). Wiesel continues by analyzing his own words, as he explains, “The Germans were already in town, the Fascists were already in power, the verdict was already out—and the Jews of Sighet were still smiling…” (10), as if a German occupation was normal. This viewpoint persists even after being captured by the German SS and taken to
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The Jews, still clueless as ever, question why they are being sent away. “Who knows, they may be sending us away for our own good. The front is getting closer; we shall soon hear the guns. And then surely the civilian population will be evacuated…this kind of talk that nobody believed helped pass the time” (21). The Jews continue to underestimate the rising power of evil, producing false hope. False hope is shown to strengthen evil in this particular passage. This endures even into the camps designed to kill them, and even Elie himself chooses to ignore the signs of