Elie Wiesel's memoir begins in 1941 in Sighet, Hungary. Twelve-year-old Eliezer dedicates most of his time to religion and studies the Torah and Talmud regularly. His father is a highly respected member of their community and his family owns a shop. Eliezer studies the book of mysticism with Moche the Beadle, a Jewish immigrant. Moche and all the other foreign Jews are deported by the Hungarian police, but he comes back with terrible news: the Gestapo, the secret Nazi police, overtook the train he was on and massacred them. Moche warned the Jews of Sighet to flee, but the town believes he's insane.
In 1944, the Jews in Sighet still doubt that Hitler really plans on killing them. Eliezer urges his father to move their family to Palestine, but his father refuses. When the Fascists take power in Hungary, German soldiers enter and it's not long before officers are living in Sighet and arresting Jewish leaders. All of the Jews are taken to two separate ghettoes, and then they are forced into trains like cattle. After several days on the train, they arrive at Birkenau, which was an entrance to Auschwitz. The passengers see smoke coming from chimneys and they smell charred flesh. Women and men are separated as soon as they enter and that is the last time Eliezer sees his mother and sisters. He discovers later that they were sent to the gas chamber immediately. Those who will work are separated from those who can not and they are killed. Eliezer sees a mass of children and infants burned in a ditch and his faith in God is torn apart.
Eliezer and his father do everything that they can to stay together. The Jews recieve numbered tattoos which became their identities. They are given the "choice" to work or be cremated. Three weeks later they are on their way to Buna, another concentration camp. Eliezer and his father work in an electrical equipment warehouse. Their overseer here beats people, including his father and him. Eliezer's father is chosen to burn in the furnace, but convinces the officers that he can still work. He is forced to watch as a child is hanged and he stops believing in God completely.
Due to the war, prisoners at Buna are evacuated on a horrible death march to another camp called Gleiwitz. They are forced to run for hours and are shot if they fall behind. Those left after the march have no food or water and are separated further to be killed. The rest are crammed into cattle cars and onto a train. They have nothing to eat but snow, and many die. While passing through a German town some workers toss them scraps of bread to watch them fight each other. When the train arrives at it's destination, Eliezer's father becomes extremely sick. Doctors refuse to help and the camp will not give food to the sick. Eliezer gives him all of his rations but can offer nothin else. The night that he passes away, an officer beats him on the head but Eliezer cannot cry. He spends another two months at this camp as a husk of himself. The Nazis begin another evacuation of the prisoners, but this time there is a prisoner uprising and the remaining Nazi officers run away. The Americans arrive with tanks and food, which gives Eliezer food poisoning. He spends time in the hospitle on the brink of death. He looks in the mirror for the first time since his childhood in Sighet and sees himself as a corpse.
In 1944, the Jews in Sighet still doubt that Hitler really plans on killing them. Eliezer urges his father to move their family to Palestine, but his father refuses. When the Fascists take power in Hungary, German soldiers enter and it's not long before officers are living in Sighet and arresting Jewish leaders. All of the Jews are taken to two separate ghettoes, and then they are forced into trains like cattle. After several days on the train, they arrive at Birkenau, which was an entrance to Auschwitz. The passengers see smoke coming from chimneys and they smell charred flesh. Women and men are separated as soon as they enter and that is the last time Eliezer sees his mother and sisters. He discovers later that they were sent to the gas chamber immediately. Those who will work are separated from those who can not and they are killed. Eliezer sees a mass of children and infants burned in a ditch and his faith in God is torn apart.
Eliezer and his father do everything that they can to stay together. The Jews recieve numbered tattoos which became their identities. They are given the "choice" to work or be cremated. Three weeks later they are on their way to Buna, another concentration camp. Eliezer and his father work in an electrical equipment warehouse. Their overseer here beats people, including his father and him. Eliezer's father is chosen to burn in the furnace, but convinces the officers that he can still work. He is forced to watch as a child is hanged and he stops believing in God completely.
Due to the war, prisoners at Buna are evacuated on a horrible death march to another camp called Gleiwitz. They are forced to run for hours and are shot if they fall behind. Those left after the march have no food or water and are separated further to be killed. The rest are crammed into cattle cars and onto a train. They have nothing to eat but snow, and many die. While passing through a German town some workers toss them scraps of bread to watch them fight each other. When the train arrives at it's destination, Eliezer's father becomes extremely sick. Doctors refuse to help and the camp will not give food to the sick. Eliezer gives him all of his rations but can offer nothin else. The night that he passes away, an officer beats him on the head but Eliezer cannot cry. He spends another two months at this camp as a husk of himself. The Nazis begin another evacuation of the prisoners, but this time there is a prisoner uprising and the remaining Nazi officers run away. The Americans arrive with tanks and food, which gives Eliezer food poisoning. He spends time in the hospitle on the brink of death. He looks in the mirror for the first time since his childhood in Sighet and sees himself as a corpse.