NIGHT
by Elie Wiesel
Synopsis
Night is the shocking true story of Elie Wiesel, who lived through the German concentration camps of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. Elie Wiesel lived in Transylvania with his mother, father, and three sisters. They lived in relative peace until German forces entered Transylvania. First they were robbed, then they were forced into the ghettos, and finally, taken to concentration camps. Tzipora was small and was quickly killed, but Elie and his father were forced on, assigned to working manual labor in prison camps. As he tells of how he fought desperately to keep his father (and his own soul) alive, Wiesel weaves a heart-wrenching tale of the destruction of the world that he thought he knew.
Buchenwald bunks
Wiesel is in the second row from the bottom, seventh from the left, next to the bunk post.
Auschwitz
Auschwitz-the first big concentration camp that Wiesel went to.
Cattle Cars-perfect for transporting Jewish prisoners
More than fifty men would be on one of these cattle cars per ride. Usually only a dozen would walk out after a trip.
Coming of Age
The novel fits with the coming-of-age genre well. It tells of how his innocence was destroyed utterly over the course of a year in concentration camps. He was powerless as the Germans tore his family apart, and he had to learn to survive in some of the most horrible civilian prison conditions of the last 300 years. He clung to his father, as he said for the beginning of the book, for a good time. But pretty soon he realized that it was more of his father clinging to him. Thus, Wiesel fought on, trying to protect his father when his instincts, and some of the other prisoners, told him to care for himself. The story of the death of Wiesel's innocence is one that sends a powerful message about humanity, and is certainly not for the faint of heart.
Elie Wiesel
1989 - Nobel Peace Prize Recipient Elie Wiesel at DePauw University
Awards
Night sold over 6 million copies in the USA alone since 2007. The book has been read by almost 10 million people with the 11 million copies sold, and Wiesel received a Nobel Prize for his writing about the incidents of his lifetime, as well as a knighthood in England and the Man of the Year award from Tel Aviv. So waste no time and acquire a copy of one of the most famous Holocaust true story novels ever written.