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Tuesday, January 31, 2006 Comments (0)

Night

Because I have a love for all things history, and because Oprah is a goddess, I had to pick-up the latest Oprah's Book Club Book, Night. Sure, I've read the Diary of Anne Frank, and watched TV specials on the Jewish holocaust, but I haven't ever read or heard a detailed account of one person's horrific struggle of surviving the holocaust.

The word "history" tends to lend an idea of seperation, as if something written in textbooks could not happen now, as it happened "so long ago." The truth is, the holocaust only began a little over 70 years ago, and many people have memories of the 1930's & 40's. Yet, already, the individual struggles of the holocaust have already been overshadowed by the large scale idea of the holocaust (not the details), devaluing the girls, boys, women, and men that lived their last days starving, scared, beatened, and then burned alive. People forget how the cruel and deplorable conditions that masses of individuals lived in for so long - if they lived at all.

People think of the holocaust and most-often picture crematoriums, starvation, and tattoo-bearing prisoners (and even the prisoners are seen as a number, not at individual human beings). People think of the holocaust on a large scale, the sheer waste of it all, the absolute disgusting nature of almost eradicating an entire race. People also think of the holocaust, and instead of remembering the millions of Jews that died as a result of extreme racism, they think of Hitler, the man responsible for it all. Shouldn't we think of the little girl who was burned after being ripped away from her mother, the babies used for target practice, or the old man mauled to death over a piece of stale bread?

Night forces one to focus on the struggle of one single boy, from losing his faith in God to losing faith in himself. It exposes exactly what it was like to live through the holocaust as an individual, not as people. Elie Wiesel, the author, conveys his emotions and actions, his regrets, and his losses in a way that will make even the most cold-hearted person shed tears. It's a short read, but well worth it.