In his 1958 autobiographical account, Night, Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel shows how humankind can struggle to fully recognize a crisis in real time. Wiesel begins his memoir with a description of his childhood in the town of Sighet, at the time an annexation of Hungary. He describes a peaceful life with his parents and three sisters among other Jewish families. However, when Elie is still a boy in his parents’ home, the Nazis come to power in Germany, and begin to invade other countries in Europe. Anti-semitic rhetoric and acts spread across Europe. Elie and his family learn about the Nazi persecution of Jewish people through news reports, from the accounts of people they know, and finally, through their own experiences. Amidst the growing evidence of terrible injustice, the general feeling in Sighet remains hopeful. Elie Wiesel illustrates how the human tendencies to deny the undesirable, to carry on normally, and to be optimistic, can lead to a false sense that the worst cannot happen.

Denial

Many people cannot believe that mass murder is possible in Europe in the 1940s. Elie Wiesel remembers one Jewish man in Sighet he calls Moishe the Beadle. When local authorities expell the Jewish people who are not citizens from Sighet, Moishe the Beadle is among them. Months later, Moishe the Beadle returns to Sighet to tell the townspeople about his experience. He tells people about the executions of deported people at the hands of the Gestapo, just past the Hungarian border, in Kolomay, Poland. In response to Moishe the Beadle’s account: “…people not only refused to believe his tales, they refused to listen. Some even insinuated that he only wanted their pity, that he was imagining things. Others flatly said that he had gone mad…Even I did not believe him. I often sat with him…But all I felt was pity” (p. 7). People in Sighet completely disregard Moishe the Beadle’s firsthand account of mass murder. The townspeople do not want to believe that his account is true, so they do not even want to listen. The specific reactions vary, but they all result in the same denial. Some people convince themselves that Moishe the Beadle simply wants attention and sympathy for his deportation. Others question his mental state and suggest that the experiences he talks about must be nonsense. Even young Elie, who considers Moishe the Beadle a friend and mentor, does not believe him. Elie listens and feels compassion for Moishe the Beadle’s clear anguish, but he still thinks the man must be mistaken. Just as the people of Sighet do not believe the account of a local individual, they do not believe the widespread news they receive. Wiesel relates the sentiments of the townspeople in the spring of 1944: “Annihilate an entire people? Wipe out a population dispersed throughout so many nations? So many millions of people! By what means? In the middle of the twentieth century!” (p. 8). The people in Sighet are aware of the Nazis and their persecution of Jewish people across Europe, but they think the reports must be exaggerated. Wiesel repeats the use of questions and exclamations to emphasize the people’s feeling of incredulity. People do not believe that the Nazis are capable of the level of destruction the warnings suggest, especially with so many Jewish people in various countries throughout Europe, as opposed to centralized in one location and easy to access. People doubt the capabilities of the Nazis and deny that a mass genocide is possible in modern, 1940s Europe. Finally, Elie Wiesel remembers how people try to minimize the injustices. When the Nazis do arrive in Sighet, they demand the Jewish people in town to wear yellow stars that identify them as Jewish. Wiesel explains, “My father’s view was that it was not all bleak, or perhaps he just did not want to discourage the others, to throw salt on their wounds: ‘the yellow star? So what? It’s not lethal…’” (p. 11). Elie’s father, a respected adult in their local Jewish community, tries not to cause worry regarding the new mandate for Jewish people to wear the yellow star. Elie believes his father downplays the significance of the star because he does not want to frighten people or make a difficult time even worse. Elie’s father does not focus on the injustice of the special directive for Jewish people only, instead he reasons that a identifying badge is relatively benign and not worth great alarm. The people of Sighet deny either the truth or the significance of accounts from their neighbors and international news, and even the mandate for Jewish people to wear the yellow star of David. The people do not believe that these warnings are sufficient evidence of an ongoing disaster.

Normalcy

As the people of Sighet minimize the worst news and possibilities, they try to live their lives as normally as possible. When the authorities deport all of the nonnational Jewish people in Sighet, Hungarian police push them into cattle cars and they leave Hungary. Elie Wiesel recalls that the townspeople who remain in Sighet briefly mourn the forced removal of these people, but move on with their lives. Wiesel claims: “The deportees were quickly forgotten…Days went by. Then weeks and months. Life was normal again. A calm, reassuring wind blew through our homes. The shopkeepers were doing good business, the students lived among their books, and the children played in the streets” (p. 6). As time passes with no word of them or from them, local memories of the expelled people and the injustice of their removal seems to fade. The expulsion of the nonnational Jewish people effectively silences their experiences and fates. The disturbing event, followed by a period of calm, lulls people of all age groups back into their normal routines. Work, school, and play continues as normal. In the spring of 1944, Elie Wiesel remembers, “The trees were in bloom. It was a year like so many others, with its spring, its engagements, its weddings, and its births” (p. 8). Wiesel includes these lines to illustrate how the natural environment, passage of time, and cycle of life - while beautiful - can actually distract people from an unfolding catastrophe. Like every year before, the spring of 1944 is as expected: full of growth and flowers. Young people continue to grow and eventually celebrate common social milestones such as engagements and weddings and the births of their own children. Changing seasons and growing families surround people with a joyful familiarity that can make it harder for people to believe in an impending doom. Because much of life seems the same as each year before, people take these signs that not all is bad in the world. Soon, however, German soldiers arrive in Sighet, and force the Jewish people in the town into one of two ghettos they create. After the initial shock, within the ghettos, “Little by little life returned to ‘normal.’ The barbed wire that encircled us like a wall did not fill us with real fear…A small Jewish republic…A Jewish Council was appointed, as well as a Jewish police force, a welfare agency, a labor committee, a health agency - a whole government apparatus” (pp. 11-12). The move to the ghettos shows people’s ability to adapt to even the most drastic realities. Although they are confined, the physical barrier of the barbed wire does not make them panic. Instead, the people try to adjust to their new lives and create order. The people in the new forced community establish political, economic, and social initiatives to maintain society as much as possible. The people of Sighet absorb each successive act of discrimination against Jewish people, including the deportation of foreign Jewish people and the forced relocation of Jewish people into ghettos. They also let the familiar occurrences convince them that life is not completely out of the ordinary. Wiesel shows that people have a prefer and tend to live life as usual, despite the presence of injustice.

Positivity

While the people in Sighet try to maintain normalcy throughout World War II, they stay thankful for even the smallest good news or possibility. Elie Wiesel explains, “London radio, which we listened to every evening, announced encouraging news: the daily bombings of Germany and Stalingrad, the preparation of the Second Front. And so we, the Jews of Sighet, waited for better days that surely were soon to come” (pp. 7-8). The members of the Wiesel family follow the English broadcasts and try to reassure themselves with good news. Specific efforts that they know the Allies make and plan against the Nazi regime allow them to believe that the situation in Europe can only improve in time. They remain patient because they trust that relief is sure to come in the near future. The reality in Sighet does not improve, however. Soon, Nazi soldiers enter the town. Elie Wiesel maintains: “Still, our first impressions of the Germans were rather reassuring. The officers were billeted in private homes, even in Jewish homes. Their attitude towards their hosts was distant but polite. They never demanded the impossible, made no offensive remarks, and sometimes even smiled at the lady of the house” (pp. 9-10). Even with enemy Nazi soldiers in their town, and in their very homes, the townspeople initially are unintimidated. The Jewish people of Sighet finally see the German soldiers for themselves and feel less fear of the real people than of the stories about them. Elie Weisel describes the German soldiers as generally reasonable and calm, and the townspeople even witness some small acts of civility from them. With the arrival of the German soldiers, another brief period of relative calm proceeds before the next actions against the Jewish townspeople. A succession of edicts ban the Jewish people in Sighet from various activities, force them into ghettos, and eventually force them onto trains to leave town. When the Wiesel family and other Jewish families reach the concentration camp, Auschwitz, German officers permit two men to get water for the rest of people on the cattle car. When the men return they tell the others that they are at a labor camp, and “The conditions were good. Families would not be separated. Only the young would work in the factories. The old and the sick would find work in the fields. Confidence soared. Suddenly we felt free of the previous nights’ terror. We gave thanks to God” (p. 27). The Jewish families on the cattle car receive outright lies to keep them calm before they enter the camp. Upon their arrival at the camp, they cannot know that in reality, the conditions are terrible, families must separate, and that old people and sick people do not receive better circumstances. However, the lies relieve their anxieties for the time. They are able to relax and feel thankful. For much of the war, people in Sighet believe in the effectiveness of the Allies, the humanity of the German soldiers, and, briefly, even trust that they can expect some decency at Auschwitz.

Ultimately, Elie Wiesel and his family, like so many other Jewish families, experience the horrors of the Nazi camps. While Elie Wiesel survives the Holocaust, other members of his family do not. In Night, Elie Wiesel looks back at the time before the worst happens to his family. He recounts the many injustices that the Nazis and their collaborators inflict on the Jewish population throughout Europe, and in his hometown. In the few years prior to the Wiesel family’s own removal from their home, they hear of antisemitic violence against Jewish people, hear of the Nazi rhetoric and efforts throughout Europe, and witness the coming of the Nazis and their discrimination against Jewish people in their own town. Despite this evidence, however, they deny either its credibility or severity. In Sighet, people appreciate the progression of life as usual, and revert to normalcy even as they witness the expulsion of nonnational Jewish people, and the relocation of the remaining Jewish families into ghettos. Over the years, as the Wiesel family and other Jewish people in Sighet watch Nazi plans unfold, they try to remain optimistic. In the face of typical struggles, their strategies to remain hopeful and persevere make sense. In the face of a fascist regime that persecutes groups of people, the strategies prove to be ineffective. In Night, Elie Wiesel outlines how their responses keep them unaware of the true danger for too long. Wiesel’s words serve as a warning to the world not to ignore antisemitism and other forms of injustice when they happen.

References

Wiesel, E. (2006). Night. (Wiesel, M., Trans.). Hill and Wang. (Original work published 1958).