What Is Elie Wiesel's Ability To Work In Night

Arbeit macht frei; these German words, appearing on the entrance gate of the Auschwitz concentration camp, translate to “work sets you free”. In the memoir Night, by Elie Wiesel, the author shares his experience of his journey through the Holocaust. Through this tragic event, Elie is taken from his home in Sighet, Transylvania, to a concentration camp, where Elie and his father are separated from the rest of his family. While they are there, Elie and his father are faced with challenges in order to survive. Similarly, the movie Life is Beautiful, directed by Roberto Benigni, depicts an Italian family which experiences similar events during the Holocaust. Both instances support how work is an important aspect of life in the concentration camps.

During the Holocaust, Jews and other oppressed groups were sent to camps where they were either murdered or forced to work in labor camps. Through selection, the Nazis picked out the strongest to work in the camps and killed the old and young who were more likely to do less work. As a result, women and children were sent to the gas chambers while the men were sent to the work camps. When Elie arrives at Auschwitz, in the novel Night, the Kapos announces, “Here, you must work. If you don’t, you will go straight to the chimney” (Wiesel 39). In other words, if one is unable to work, they will be sent to the chimneys of the crematorium to be killed. Although Life is Beautiful takes a less serious approach in describing work in the camps, the movie still depicts the role of work on survival. When Guido asks other prisoners about the missing workers, Bartolomeo responds that they didn’t make it. In other words, the missing workers died while working in the camp. To summarize, both examples show the effect of work on each prisoner’s survival. Those who could work survived while those who were not able to work died in the concentration

Family members were often initially separated once they arrived at the camps and those who survived past selection were forced to work. If one was lucky enough, they could be grouped with a family member. However, events of the Holocaust strained these existing connections. When Elie continues to help his dying father, a fellow prisoner points out, “you are hurting yourself. In fact, you should be getting his rations” (Wiesel 111). To summarize, Elie should be getting more rations in order to become stronger and do more work which would increase his chances of survival. As a result, food became important resource since it gave workers the energy they need to perform their duties. Through this interaction, the fellow prisoner wants Elie to put his survival over family relationships and to cut ties with his father.Similarly, in the film Life is Beautiful, when Joshua shows up at the foundry, Guido tells to him to go back to the other children. In other words, Joshua should stay away as a result of his father’s work in a dangerous area. Since Guido is forced to work in the concentration camp, he spends most of the day working in the harsh condition of the foundry. Therefore, Guido, the father, has less time and opportunity to be with his son and to build up a connection. Overall, life in the concentration camps divided families apart;