night essay- Madeleine

this is mine

Death

Night a book by Elie Wiesel about the Holocaust is about many different things. Death is everywhere in this book and event, but I have chosen to write about three occurrences, the hanging of 4 people, the death of children and babies, and the death march. While some seem so obvious and not too horrible, the impact of all of this on Elie is important, and these occurrences make the Holocaust sound a little worse than just 6 million Jews dead.

“‘In the name of Himmler… prisoner Number… stole during the alert… According to the law… paragraph… prisoner Number… is condemned to death. May this be a warning and an example to all prisoners.’” Many people died from being hanged, some fairly old and few really young. They were hanged for commiting a “crime”, and would be hanged in front of them all as an example.This example was to be a warning, a little reminder that they are “lucky” to be alive, to be served that food. “I remember that I found the soup excellent that evening.…” But sometimes, the hangings made them feel sick, all of them because it just didn’t seem justified. “I witnessed their hangings. I never saw a single one of them weep… Except once. The Oberkapo of the fifty-second cable… He had a young boy under him, a pipel as they were called- a child with a refined and beautiful face, unheard of in this camp…. The Dutchman’s little servant was loved by all. He had the face of a sad angel.”