Theme Of Music In Elie Wiesel's Night

Hitler’s Holocaust slaughtered millions of innocent groups deemed unfavorable by the Nazi state, led by Adolf Hitler. The purging of millions of Jews, homosexuals, Soviets, disabled people and gypsies in concentration camps stands today as one of the greatest atrocities. Upon entering a concentration camp, a prisoner’s main concern becomes survival. Although most prisoners faced death, some were spared due to extenuating circumstances, for instance, musicians. It can be said that during the Holocaust, musicians had a better chance for survival than the rest of the camp’s inhabitants. Musicians auditioned to join Nazi-organized orchestras and perform for the soldiers, hoping that this would provide a light at the end of this very dark tunnel.

For many of the orchestra members, “the violin was a comforter in mankind’s darkest hour”. During their time spent in captivity, musicians were able to work in unison with other prisoners, bonding over their shared predicament through the vibratos of classical music. This redemption through music can be seen in Elie Wiesel’s Night through the character Juliek. Many of the musicians, like Juliek, felt as if their “soul were the bow”, and their “life was gliding on the strings”. Despite the fears of what was occurring around them, the musicians focused on the sheet music to get lost in their senses: envisions of their lost hopes, charred pasts and extinguished future filled their minds, but they expressed these fears instead by playing as if they would never play again. During the Holocaust, music served as a liberator for many Jewish musicians, providing comfort in the darkest of hours for many. The spirit of music can be seen during the Holocaust, as it is through the Nazi-organized orchestras that members could unite together with a shared strength emerging from the unimaginable experience. The musicians of the Holocaust played for not only their survival, but in spirit of those who perished. The musicians time spent in the concentration camps were less calamitous than other prisoners, as they could escape into the music, due to their involvement in the Nazi-organized