Reader Response 1

I cannot believe that I am only 46 pages into this book and already I am sickened by the events that have transpired thus far. The preface, I felt, provided valuable insight on Wiesel's views of the world then and now, as well as the conflict within himself on whether or not to even write the book. Many of his beliefs I agree with. Wiesel says, "[t]here are those who tell me that I survived in order to write this text...I am not convinced...However, having survived, I needed to give meaning to my survival" (vii-viii). Situations like this have always baffled me in literature and real life. Do we really have a purpose in life? Or is this just some cliche drilled into our existence in hopes that younger generations will live up to their potential? While I may be still on the fence regarding this preplexing matter, I am leaning towards the side of purpose rather than chance. I feel as though the circumstances that surround us cannot possibly be put into motion unless some "greater being" is observing it all. Some of these so-called "chances" we do not even take into account in our daily lives. Even meeting a friend in a supermarket has an effect on both lives. One of my new favorite television shows Touch reveals an ancient Chinese saying that I truly believe. It states that the gods of the universe have attached a red string to all of us, and wherever we go, the string follows us. As we meet people in our lives, our strings may becomed crossed, tangled, or intertwined, but the it will never break. We affect eveyone we encounter in our lives, whether we know it or not, and as humans, we never know if we will become a part of someone's future.

While reading the actual text, I found it quite ironic how the Germans who invaded Sighet were initially kind to its Jewish inhabitants. I thought this was absolutely sick (on a psychological level). To me, befriending the people one is going to murder first would further destroy them. That is, all the trust the Jewish people of Sighet had for the Germans at the time (remembering they did not believe the stories of other towns and the horrors of the concenctration camps) is suddenly shattered, leaving them confused and broken as they march to their death at Auschwitz. Imagine what it would feel like if a German soldier brought your wife "a box of chocolates" (10) and then beat you with a club three days later and forced you out of your home. An interesting fact: statistics show that you are more likely to be murdered by someone in your own family than just a random stranger. The emotional and psychological after effects on the family are astounding. Although the Germans are not family, the fact that they befriended the Jews created a method of further breaking their spirits. Yet, by far the most sickening part of this section was when Elie, his father, and the remaining Jews from Sighet were marching past the massive outdoor firepit by their barracks. Elie recalls that "[a] truck drew close and unloaded its hold: small children. Babies!...children thrown into the flames" (32). At this point, I actually put the book down and walked around for a bit because I simply could not fathom the evil and abuse that the Germans were inflicting on these poor people. This showed myself how naive and ignorant I was to the actual events of the Holocaust. I knew they burned people alive and suffocated them and committed other dreadful crimes, but I never knew that they were dumping truckloads of children and infants into a fire...alive! It would be an awful thing if they were already dead and were being disposed of (not that this would make burning children understandable), but there are no words to describe such an event as burning children alive. I was thoroughly sickened and yet awakened to the true evil this country had sent upon the world. I am a bit apprehensive about reading onward into the horrors that await me in this book...