How Hitler Almost Succeeded “I have more faith in Hitler than in anyone else. He alone has kept his promises, all his promises, to the Jewish people.” This is said by a dying patient to Elie in Elie Wiesel’s book, Night. This statement alone shows how while the rest of the world was trying to stop Hitler, the dedication he had to his plan of eradicating the Jewish population was so great that even the Jewish people believed that he would succeed. Despite what every other country had said they would do, none of them fully kept their word. He, however, did. Hitler and the Nazis were able to accomplish mass genocide against Jews through small steps that lead up to the 10th stage of genocide still to this day. The Nazis separated the Jewish people …show more content…
In Elie Wiesel’s speech, “The Perils of Indifference,” he says, in regards to when he believed that the rest of the world hadn’t known what was going on at the time, “If they knew, we thought, surely those leaders would have moved heaven and earth to intervene. They would have spoken out with great outrage and conviction. They would have bombed the railways leading to Birkenau, just the railways, just once.” He then goes on to explain how there were in fact many who did know. The Pentagon, the State Department, and even President Roosevelt were all aware of the suffering on the other side of the world, yet they did nothing. The quote stated at the beginning also reflects this. “I have more faith in Hitler than in anyone else. He alone has kept his promises, all his promises, to the Jewish people” (Wiesel 81). Many Jews had given up on the Allied forces rescuing them at that point in the war. Even then, they had no idea that the other countries knew what was happening to them. Because if they did, then why wouldn’t they have helped them, why wouldn’t they have at least bombed the railroads taking the Jewish to the death camps, just as Elie Wiesel stated in his “The Perils of Indifference”
From the knowledge from what I know about the Holocaust nobody knew it knew the extent of what was going on until it was too late. Eventually the American Army liberated the camps that were left at that time. Nobody was really letting it happen because nobody knew exactly what was happening. The world knew that the Holocaust was happening but for example, nobody knew that they were burning bodies for no reason. Now days we know the extent of how horrible things were happening.
Hitler would go on to try to prove that he could get rid of entire race. Although he did not succeed he did kill a lot of jews. He would start by gathering them into ghettos. Then after that he would transport them to concentration camps. As you arrived at the camp it was time for the selection.
Being human is to be born free and equal and being able to have your own rights. Being human is showing sensitivity to yourself and others and not being indifferent; to be aware and to care about what is happening around you and your environment. The book Night by Elie Wiesel is a horrific story that tells about his experience in the Holocaust. In the book, Elie describes what he was put through and his mental state throughout it all.
It seemed impossible. However, by slowly treating Jews worse and worse, making them feel as if they were subhuman with the help of propaganda, and luring Jews into their trap, Hitler and the Nazis
In his speech, The Perils of Indifference, Elie Wiesel suggests that during the years of what was to become World War II, before America finally became involved in the conflict, that the people in power at that time knew about the plight of the Jewish people. “And now we knew, we learned, we discovered that the Pentagon knew, the State Department knew.” (Wiesel, 1999) Wiesel speaks of the deaths of millions of innocent victims at the hands of Adolf Hitler. They were, as Wiesel says earlier in the speech, “bystanders” (Wiesel, 1999) and were doing nothing to intervene.
In page 7 on the memoir ‘Night’ “German troops had entered Hungarian territory.” which was a huge deal. This quote shows that everything was moving so fast and that there was absolutely no chance of avoiding or stopping the Holocaust. In the memoir ‘Night’ by Elie Wiesel on page 8 they talk about how they were having a feast trying to pretend none of this was going on then the next day the Germans arrested the leader of the Jewish community and so Elie describes this as happening to quickly which brings me to my point that no one saw this coming not even the Jewish population itself.
Into dark depths of the Holocaust “Even in darkness, it is possible to create light.” this quotation by Elie Wiesel ties directly to the book Night showing the dark hardships and devastating things Elie had seen during the Holocaust but he still managed to get and push through to see the light. The book Night by Elie Wiesel talks about his eleven months time during the Holocaust affecting around seventeen million victims overall it was a time of mass murder of Jews, Gypsies and homosexuals in places called concentration camps or labor camps. The time Elie had in the camps threw all the times of savage killing, theft of identity and brutal transportation during the time of raw dehumanization of the men and women in the Nazi lead death camps.
To begin with, it is easy to see that Hitler had no regards for the lives of the Jews. He was blinded by their race and
The Jews knew that the Nazi’s were the authority, and didn’t want to upset them, so they followed the rules by trying to stay on their good side, if there was one at
In Elie Wiesel’s Night, Elie, his family, and his mentality were torn apart by the terrorism of the Germans. The happiness and peace once flourishing in the Wiesel home was taken away, policy by policy; until nothing was left except Elie himself, alone on a cold bunk in a concentration camp. Wiesel grew up a devout Jew in Romania in the 1940s, in a family of six. Elie’s daily activities included studying Jewish scripture with his teacher Moishe the Beadle, and helping his parents with chores. Elie’s peaceful life was devoid of doubts of faith and God.
Many countries of the world like America turned a blind eye to the Jewish people. They could have been on the brink of escaping but in the end they would inevitably be turned back. In the text the author writes, “Sixty years ago, its human cargo-nearly 1,000 Jews was turned back to Nazi Germany….America the great country, the greatest democracy… What happened why the indifference on the highest level to the sufferings of the victims (Wiesel, The Perils 16).
During the Holocaust, death and suffering was everywhere. If one would do something wrong, be too young or too old, their life would be cut short. Anyone that was around to witness such devastation had no choice other than to simply let it happen. If they even tried to interfere, they would suffer the same consequence.
And, therefore, indifference is always the friend of the enemy, for it benefits the aggressor -- never his victim, whose pain is magnified when he or she feels forgotten” (Wiesel 3). The lack of action against the Nazis during this horrible time led to an extended war that included the deaths of millions of innocent Jews. While other countries could not see everything happening in the camps, they knew of the stories and what the Nazis were capable of. It took years for countries to make an attempt to rescue the
Many countries knew what was happening from the beginning and printed newspaper to spread awareness to the cause but did not do anything to stop the mass murder. Some may say other countries were too frightened to get involved and wanted to protect their own citizen’s first, but that still doesn’t deny the fact to other countries simply letting millions of innocent people die. For example, “American diplomats in Germany were well aware of the Nazi persecution of Jews and political opponents… and (were) hesitant to aid those being targeted,”(ushmm #6). Many people with high rank in America and other countries were aware of the extreme rate actions in Germany were taking place but had no plan to stop it. While many common citizens read about the Holocaust in the newspaper, their power wasn’t strong enough to make the most significant impact.
People chose to normalize or forget it happened, continuing life as normal without a second thought, rather than try to stop or speak out against the Nazis. Martin Niemoller describes what it’s like struggling to speak out against the Nazis in “First They Came for the Communists.” He wanted to live, so he “did not speak out,” which led to his eventual capture as there was “no one left to speak out” (Niemöller 184). While it’s evident that many were afraid of their own capture, their lack of confidence to speak against the Nazis led to many people’s death. Had more people spoken out, many lives would have been saved.