Group Leader Response LC #3

Humanity
The prisoners that were involved in the Holocaust, majority of the Jewish race, had to bear the experience of starving for more than a weak with no food or water that it made them lose faith in living, just how Elies' father felt; he wrote, "I can't go on, my son...Give me some water...".


Character
Elie and other prisoners would always depend on God in the beginning of the story, then when bad things start to happen, they would slowly lose their faith and hope in him in their chance of survival which he stated in his book, “"Where is God? Where is He?” someone behind me asked."

Group Leader Response LC #1

1.       Critical Stance

Not knowing that the Jews were being relocated to concentration camps set all over the country, they remained calm and came to terms with it because they were misguided of the fact that they were told they were going to be safe. Slowly, after noticing their hope dying down, they had to learn how to adjust with their ties and privileges being cut off quickly with no notice at all.

2.       Dialectical Journal Entries

Page 32

“Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night.”

“Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky.”

These two quotes from the book has a repetition of the first four words which emphasizes the fact of what he’s seen and experienced throughout the first few days of the concentration camp is etched into his mind and will never be erased and forgotten. No matter how hard he tries. We don’t take into consideration of the fact that he’s our age and he goes through all that while we just read and try to imagine it ourselves. The difference being that we’re stuck with the thought of it while he’s in stuck with the experience.

Page 37

“Had I changed so much then? So quickly? Now remorse began to gnaw at me.”

While being at the concentration camp, he slowly realizes that he himself changes as well. Both physically and mentally. He would’ve jumped at the moment his father got hit, but he never did. In other words, what’s important about this quote is the fact that he’s changing at the camp before he realizes it.

“A caption: “Warning. Danger of death.” Mockery: was there a single place here where you were not in danger of death?”

The importance of this quote is the indeed mockery of it. The situation he’s in shows that even though he’s in the worst case scenario thought possible, he could add in a tiny, small ounce of humor. Being that fact that it’s a life/death situation, he goes on and sees what god and fate has for him.

Page 39

“I became A-7713. After that I had no other name.”

They were not only stripped of their important valuables in the beginning, they were now known as letters and/or numbers. The lost their identity seeing that they were not human beings in the eyes of the Germans anymore.

Final Graphic Allusion

Elie Wiesel feat. Tiffany

Elie Wiesel

         World War II is known for being one of the most devastating, costly events in history. With an unstable Germany on the rise lead by Adolf Hitler, many lost their lives to what most today see as one of the most catastrophic incidents to ever happen. Elie Wiesel, current day writer and Nobel Prize winner, is most known for his works on his survival of the Holocaust in World War II. Wiesel, at a young age, was taken from his Jewish home in Transylvania (later to be named Romania) and moved to concentration camps with his family. Being one of the active survivors of the Holocaust, he has given speeches, written books, and taught about his experiences and hardships. His most known work, La Nuit, was published in 1958 and was the first to include his memories during the war. After having such success with the first book, he continued on to write forty more books with the same basic information and experiences included in the previous, educating people around the world of the encounters commonly found during the Holocaust.

            Wiesel’s purpose for sharing his knowledge with the world is to inform and educate everyone of the struggles and hardships that people experienced during the war, specifically in the perspective of the Jews. Thanks to his survival and writing skills, Wiesel has published over forty books, delivered speeches, and taught classes about the Holocaust, as well as events that lead up and followed. He also does classes and seminars on Jewish practices and studies for those who want to learn more. Thanks to his activism in today’s society, people can learn more about the Holocaust and World War II, as well as the impact it could have on an individual if something like this were to reoccur.

Bibliography:

• “Elie Wiesel – Biographical”. Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2013. Web. 4 Feb 2014. http://ww.nobelprize.org/nobel_prized/peace/laureates/1986/wiesel-bio.html   

• "Elie Wiesel Biography." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 02 Feb. 2014. http://www.biography.com/people/elie-wiesel-9530714?page=1

• "The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity." The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Feb. 2014. http://www.eliewieselfoundation.org/eliewiesel.aspx