Military Review English Edition November-December 2014 | Page 130

NIGHT
Elie Wiesel, Bantam Books, New York, 1982, 109
pages, $12.99

I

n his memoir Night, Elie Wiesel, a Romanianborn, Jewish-American, Holocaust survivor,
professor, political activist, and Nobel Peace Prize
recipient, details his eight-month struggle for survival
while a prisoner at the infamous Auschwitz-Birkenau
death camp and the work camp at Buna. In just 109
pages, Wiesel describes both the horrific conditions
associated with the Jewish ghettos of Hungary and
concentration camps of Poland, as well as the dynamic
psychosocial environments within which he and his
father had to daily contend.
Catalyzed by memories of omnipresent and seemingly infinite physical and mental stress, Wiesel effectively narrates his own story. It is one that reflects resilience to unspeakable cruelty and suffering, and also the
resolve of the human spirit and its ability to transcend
even the most deplorable of circumstances.
The author describes through powerful prose how
Jewish victims were socialized to the the horrors about
to be inflicted upon them by Nazi Germany. As prophet to their impending destruction, the character Moshe
the Beadle (himself having miraculously survived a
mass killing at the hands of the Gestapo in the forests
of Galicia) is introduced, crying out against his friends’
and neighbors’ refusal to face Hitler’s true intention
for the Jewish people and doing something to defend
themselves. Throughout his memoir, Wiesel describes
the continued denial associated with the Jewish ghetto
residents and their inability (whether consciously or
unconsciously) to foresee and accept ideas associated
with their eventual demise at the hands of their captors. This is the common theme throughout Night—
instances of cognitive dissonance as expressed particularly by confirmation bias (i.e. tendency of people to
accept information only when it confirms pre-established beliefs) that God would intervene to preclude …
the destruction of European Jewry …. ”1
As a result, inaction was easier than actively opposing for an unfortunate many, as characterized by the
futile wishing away of fear even when confronted by
the reality of real and present tangible danger. Though
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faced with the stark reality of planned segregations,
forced removals, mass confinement, and systematic
murder, these were for many too much to logically confront or accept. To face them meant accepting the stories heard around the ghettos that described the horror
of cattle trains full of people … and bodies “ turned
…
into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky.”2
Those that lived through such wide spread community denial only to survive the horrors of the camps are
forever haunted by their loss of faith in humanity and
the knowledge that perhaps even God was dead, having
“ been hanged here, on these gallows.”3
…
The psychosocial condition of the Jews, evolving
against the backdrop of events masterfully detailed by
Wiesel, speaks to the larger human condition involving
our ability to transcend madness and chaos in efforts
of self-preservation amidst unspeakable horror and
tragedy.
Elsewhere, writer David Foster Wallace talked
about the existence of man and the multitudinous
platitudes associated with everyday life in human
existence. Within this concept, Wallace states that “
…
the most obvious, ubiquitous, important realities are
often the ones that are hardest to see and talk about.”4
It is within this context that the same paradigm held
true for the millions who lived out their realities under
the oppressive yoke labeled “Arbeit macht fri