Night (Elie Wiesel)

Elie Wiesel was 15 when he and his family arrived at Auschwitz.  Night is his account of his time both there and at other concentration camps before the allies liberated him.

Night is a fast read (120 pages), and, as you'd expect, is horrifying, poignant, and unforgettable.  Wiesel manages to describe things well and yet moves the story along at a fast pace.  Growing up in Hungary, he and his family are soon sent to the camps.  Separated from his mother and sisters at Birkenau (the women would be killed there), he remains with his father through so many trials until the father, too, passes, just months before liberation.  Elie describes those tribulations, as well as daily life (the food, clothing, sleeping, working, etc).  He paints a horrible, yet invaluable, picture of life in a concentration camp.

Like many, Wiesel lost his entire family, and his faith along with them.  What was impressed upon me most wasn't the brutality towards the Jews from others- with which I was already familiar- but the brutality of the Jews against themselves, as they descended into an animal-like frenzy in the scramble for survival.  Son against father, brother against brother- dignity was lost in the horror.  Wiesel confesses his own selfish thoughts of survival as his loved ones lay dying, and the regret he subsequently feels for those thoughts.  He feels his humanity slipping away as he abandons all hope and is reduced to nothing.  It's a very vulnerable admission of his own failings as well as the failings of the monsters who held him. He's brutally honest about everything- for which I commend him.  It's easy to overlook our own failings in the face of much greater faults.

This is a fantastic read on many levels.  If you haven't yet read this, do it.  But brace yourself.

Changing the topic somewhat: Wiesel won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986.  During his acceptance speech, he said this:

 . . . I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation.  We must take sides.  Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim.  Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.  Sometimes we must interfere.  

Wise words, and ones that force us into a dilemma: do we, as nations or individuals, have a right to interfere in the affairs of others for the sake of ending suffering?  It sounds like an easy question, but digging deeper, we see the difficulties inherent in such policies.  When should we interfere?  How?  I don't have the answers- but there are those suffering today, while the world watches silently (or turns a blind eye).  Is that okay?

Rating: A+