Elie Wiesel's "Night"


I remember reading this book in high school for my holocaust class and then passing it on to my mother to read. Its incredibly dark but it is a story that needs to be told. I also remember during our "Night" unit that they brought in a holocaust survivor to our school. The survivor's story was drastically different from that of Wiesel's. Our guest lost his parents to the Holocaust and was placed in a high-ranking Nazi officer's house as a servant. He was very fortunate to have not had to face the cruelties of this terrible time in history, but was a part of it none the less. It was also crazy because it was like working for the enemy, but he was so very lucky to be put in the situation he was.

This story makes me fear for the future due to the old mantra "history will repeat itself". I don't think that we will ever allow another Holocaust to happen, but with what is happening around the world currently another World War doesn't seem that ridiculous. This is such an important piece of literature that I believe everyone should read. There should be some warning for the dark and gruesome aspects of the piece but other than that it is an easy and very educational read. Im excited to see how the teacher's of this mini lesson will take such a sensitive subject and turn it into an activity.

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