The Most Devastating Choice Made In The

Book Night By Elie Wiesel Essay, Research Paper

The most devastating choice made in Night was the decision not to flee Sighet.

They had the chance but Elie s father did not want to take the chance of nothing bad happening and, he was to old and did not want to begin a new life. He thought that nothing would or could happen. They all did not believe Moshe the Beadle, when he told them of what happened. He said Germans were killing inhumanly and indiscriminately, but no one believed him, and if they did, they denied it so they wouldn t need to think of it. If they had fled Sighet many things would have turned out different.

Since, they didn t leave Germans advanced into their town, separating Jews from

all others. The fenced them in, and made their towns into Ghetto s. After the separation, the Jews were soon deported to Concentration camps. Before they were deported, everyone had to give their valuables to the SS officers so they could not bribe the guards to freedom: so they lost their valuables as well as their freedom.

After being deported, the Weisel family was transported to Auschwitz. That s where his mother and sister were separated from his father and him. After they arrived to Auschwitz they were ordered to go into two lines, Women and children in one line and Men in the other. Elie could have gone with his mother but he went his father and so he had to lie about his age. He survived but, he s mother and sister did not. Elie never saw his mother or sister again.

Through the long agonizing trip Elie and his father went through. They almost made it to the end of the line, then would have survived. The trip was too much for the elder Weisel, so close to the end of the line but, he gave up and he died on the final stretch to freedom. All that Elie and his father went through and witnessed together was worth nothing. Elie tried his hardest to keep his father and himself from giving up. It was just too much for Elie s father to make it, from losing his home, wife, daughter, and freedom. He felt there just was no reason for living, and he had no strength and did not want to fight anymore.

Elie and his entire family went through hell during the Holocaust. Elie, himself, survived but unfortunately his family didn t. If they had fled Sighet, if the had believed Moshe the Beadle they would have all survived. Then again, who could have believed that a group of people could eliminate an entire race of people based on hatred. Not leaving Sighet was a crucial decision but could not be avoided and if I were in that position I wouldn t, couldn t believe the horror stories I was hearing. What happened with the Holocaust was inhuman act of hatred and racism.