I am no longer, a
name but just a number. I had been stripped of my identity and the only thing I
have left to remind me of it is my father.
I long for the day to wake up from this nightmare, when that will be is
undetectable. “Surely it was a dream.” (37). I can only hope that my mother and
sister are in a better place now, “…we would have liked to believe that” (46).
I do not know who or what to believe in anymore.
A lot of the people
turn to God for help. But, I can only feel as though God is the one responsible
for this. If it were not for Him we would not be here. The reason we are here
is for the beliefs we have in Him and His teachings and the stories. As the
holidays pass by they act as a reminder. While there are those who pray I
wonder where God’s presence on earth is. That was until I saw that child being
hanged, he was the representation he suffered slowly due to his small weight
but his pain was even difficult for the SS Officers to bare and watch. At that
time even, “the Lagerkapo refused to
act as executioner” (64). An image as harsh as that can only come from
significant power. Many say that faith helps them along in tough times. But,
they must ask themselves how did we get here in the first place? I can only
play the blame game as Hitler did to us. It is only human to escape the blame but
there is no other reason, because we are innocent. Even the SS officers felt
guilt as that little boy hung there waiting. Of course I recognize the fact
that maybe some people are part monster, but since it was even difficult for
the officers to observe truly shows that they are human as well. As they tipped
that chair and looked the boy in the eyes, did they think of their children?
After all, they were men with families, lives and dreams, just like the
prisoners who occupied the camp.
-Elie Wiesel
Dear Elie,
ReplyDeleteI do not consider myself an extremely religious person, but I do believe religion plays a large role in my life. If I was in your shoes, imprisoned because of my faith, I am not sure how I would react. My religion is what is supposed to protect me, and give me strength. If I had to witness death and destruction on the scale you did because of my religion, I feel my soul would be pulled in two different directions. Would I remain loyal to my religion, or blame it for what was happening? After the war, were you ever the same devote Jew you were before the Holocaust?
Like you, I also picked up on the SS officers’ guilt during the little boys hanging. They knew that killing such an innocent child was wrong, but they also knew that if they spoke out, they would be killed. I feel these guards were victims like you, because they knew what they were doing was wrong, and they would ha to live with the guilt for the rest of their lives. In my opinion, guilt is the worst punishment anyone could endure. Wouldn’t you agree?
Sincerely,
Jeff Scott
Dear Elie,
ReplyDeleteAs I read in your response, I can relate to it beyond belief. It seems that as you reflected upon your book and expressed your thoughts and emotions, I too felt the same way. I my self do not consider my self a religious person, however I do devote my self to church almost every week, however when it comes too my knowledge of the catholic faith, I seem to be inadequate. The main reasons that I'm trying to devote my self to god is so that i can develop good morals and stay on the path of light. Its clear that if I were you, i would not have a path to follow and couldn't remain faithful in God. I would most likely loose all hope and give up like I'm sure many of the people in the camps resorted to. The fact that not only did God seem to be absent in the so called "Hell on Earth" but also that I was being prosecuted because I devoted myself to him would destroy any faith I had in him towards the end. It would demolish my belief that Jesus spread the Red Sea to let Jews escape religious persecution long ago and then it would launch me to disbelieve any of the religious stories i was told. It seemed as if God at this point was almost all you had and as you continue to survive, I think that I would start my downfall.
When you ask if the men we conscious when they killed the boy, I believe that they were and I do think that they thought about their children, which was why there was a slight pause when the "hammer" was called to come down. Thank you so much for your reflections of your book and I hope to hear from you soon in the next and final section of the reading.
Sincerely,
Nate Brown