Jeff's First Post

Dear Elie,

            Before I started reading your book I was skeptical that I would connect with you or your situation.  I am not Jewish or Hungarian and you grew up seventy years ago.  As I learned more about you and your family I was shocked to learn that we do have things in common.  First of all, we each come from a family with four children.  Just like you, I am the third born with two older sisters and one younger sister.  Even though we grew up in different generations and I cannot relate to what you went through, I feel we think the same way.  I am glad your book allows the reader to know what you were thinking, because whenever you came across a conflict the way you reacted was the way I feel I would have reacted.  One example of this is when you asked your father to move to Palestine.  I have often thought about what I would have done if I was a Jew during this time, and time and time again I say I would have fled.  However, I realize that no one, including yourself, could have realized just how bad the Holocaust would be.  I also know that it would have been extremely hard for you and your family to just pack up and leave.  Another instance when I feel we were thinking the same thing is when you and your father were being marched towards the crematorium.  I know I could not just allow myself to be slowly burned alive.  If I had to die I would want to die on my own accord, just like you when you were about to ran at the electric fence.   How did a boy like you, young and innocent, have the strength to go through so much pain?  In my opinion, I do not think that anyone can really understand the answer to that question unless they were actually there.

            After reading the first thirty pages of your book, my opinion on humanity has been changed multiple times.  You can look at it from one side and say humanity is terrible for what the Germans did to you and your family.  Such atrocities seem to be impossible to commit, but we only feel this way because we do not want to come to grips with the fact that humans are capable of doing something so appalling.  Do you agree?  You were witnessing these atrocities first hand but you were still in disbelief saying, “I pinched myself.  Was I still alive?  Was I awake?  How was it possible that men, women, and children were being burned and the world kept silent?” (Wiesel 32).  However, one seemingly insignificant conversation between you and another inmate gave me hope in humanity.  “’Hey kid, how old are you?’ The man interrogating me was an inmate.  I could not see his face, but his voice was weary and warm” (Wiesel 30).  You didn’t know it at the time, but that man saved both you and your father’s life.  Had the Germans had heard him telling you this advice, he would have almost certainly have been killed.  Despite the danger, he did what he knew was right and he gave the information you needed to survive.  If you could see that man again what would you tell him?  Do you believe humanity is all evil?  I am excited to continue reading your story.

Sincerely,

Jeff Scott