Night ~ Book Review

Published:  Most recent publication, translation by Marion Wiesel, 2006

It's about:  Elie Wiesel tells his own holocaust survivor's story.  At the age of 15, Elie Wiesel, a Hungarian Jew, and his family are gathered up into a cattle car and transported to Birkenau, Germany.  Upon their arrival, his mother and sisters are separated from Elie and his father.  His mother and youngest sister, Tzipora, are never seen again and it's inferred that they perished in the crematoriums.  Elie and his father suffer humiliation, beatings, forced labor and starvation at Birkenau, Buna and Auschwitz.  His father is ultimately killed in the crematorium at Auschwitz, just weeks before it is liberated by Americans.  No mention is made of the fate of his other two sisters, Hilda and Beatrice. (I researched.  They survived). 

The story is particularly poignant because Elie suffers not only at the hands of the SS, but suffers his own internal crisis of faith.  At the beginning of his memoir, Elie is a teenager dedicated to his Jewish faith, to his study of the Talmud and to his desire to grow in spirituality.  His experiences cause him to doubt the existence of God. 

I thought:  There can never be enough reminders about the horrors of the Holocaust.  This is one of the least graphic that I have read, but it nevertheless reminded me that we are capable of unimaginable atrocities in the name of race and religion.  It is a call to action:  we must take a stand against oppression of any kind.    

Verdict: ★★★★★
There is some controversy as to whether this lastest translation is "consistent" with the original text published in 1958.  The current translation makes corrections to dates and ages, leading some to suspect its authenticity.  The author maintains that the changes were made to make it as truthful as possible.  Night is published as a memoir. 

Reading recommendation:  Read it.  You won't forget it.  It's a quick read; a mere 120 pages, including the text of Elie Wiesel's Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech (1986).

Favorite Quotes: “We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant."

“Human suffering anywhere concerns men and women everywhere.”

"Blessed be God's name? Why, but why would I bless Him? Every fiber in me rebelled. Because He caused thousands of children to burn in His mass graves? Because he kept six crematoria working day and night, including Sabbath and the Holy Days? Because in His great might, He had created Auschwitz, Birkenau, Buna, and so many other factories of death? How could I say to Him: Blessed be Thou, Almighty, Master of the Universe, who chose us among all nations to be tortured day and night, to watch as our fathers, our mothers, our brothers, end up in the furnaces? Praised be Thy Holy Name, for having chosen us to be slaughtered on Thine altar?”