Michael+and+Spencer


 * "The deportees were quickly forgotten. A few days after they left, it was rumored that they were in Galicia, __working__, and even that they were content with their fates. Days went by. Then weeks and months. Life was normal again"(6).
 * I thought that this was powerful for almost the same reasons as the third quote. It made me come to the realization that the Jews refused to believe that this could actually happen, maybe not because they couldn't believe it, but more that they didn't want to. And after a while they totally forgot about the deportees and went back to life completely normal, which was interesting
 * "My father was a cultured man, rather unsentimental. He rarely displayed his feelings, not even with his family, and was more involved in the __welfare__ of others than with that of his own “(4).
 * This quote leads into where he really talks about his family. This makes his father seem like a quite good man, but I find it interesting that he didn't display his own feelings ever. I think, and it says at the end of the quote that this probably means he was a very good person, in that he takes care of others often and doesn't worry about his own needs. I think this is further shown a little later when he talks about how his dad was often asked to make decisions for different boards and things that affected many people. I think the rest of this paragraph is good too because it tells you about his family so you can get a mental image and begin to understand them.
 * “But people not only refused to believe his tales, they refused to listen. Some even insinuated that he only wanted their pity, that he was imagining things” (7 )
 * This quote made me realize that even the Jews themselves thought that such a thing was impossible, yet there were people who they knew who were going through this. And even when they did believe that this was happening, they did not think of it as a very bad thing; they thought that they were just going to be in worse houses and conditions, not being sent to camps to die from starvation, disease, or forced labor.


 * Because Moishe the Beadle was a sort of outsider, all the people were fine with him, but once he came back from being deported they wouldnt listen to him they thought he was merely searching for pity by telling these stories, It relates to the third quote very similarly, and he might have also thought this was happening to him and he didn't want it
 * a section of a city, especially a thickly populated slum area,inhabited predominantly by members of an ethnic or otherminority group, often as a result of social or economicrestrictions, pressures, or hardships.
 * Race Towards Death
 * Jews were not allowed to leave residence for three days
 * Jews were not allowed to own __gold__
 * Jews had to wear a yellow star of David
 * Jews were not allowed to go to restaurants or cafes a lot
 * They weren't allowed to travel by railways
 * They were not allowed to go to the synagogue
 * They were not allowed to be in the streets after 6:00
 * They had to live in Ghettos


 * "Lying down was not an option, nor could we all sit down. We decided to take turns sitting. There was little air. The lucky ones found themselves near a __window__." (23)
 * "Dozens of inmates were there to receive us, sticks in hand, striking anywhere, anyone, without reason." (35)
 * "We were coming closer and closer to the pit, from which infernal heat was rising. Twenty more __steps__. If I was going to kill myself, this was the time." (33)
 * I think this is the part that effected me most so far in the book because it really shows how awful these camps are, this is a small boy that is deciding whether hes going to kill himself or not as he feels the heat of blood from the dead bodies in the pit float through the air and to him and that is just a horrifying picture to me and it really effected me most in the book
 * Kashua (23)
 * Tzipora (29)
 * Kaddish (33)
 * "Yisagadal, veyiskadash, shmey raba." (33)
 * Raus (35)
 * Kapos (36)
 * Arbeit Macht Frel (40)
 * Antwerp (44)

1. Everyone is different so everyone has different things that surprise them, so they were all very different, not very similar. 2. Originally they were all terrified and scared, then they felt sorry for her because they thought she was just a poor old crazy woman, but after it happened over and over they realized she wasn't, and they tied her up and beat her and started yelling about how she was being "selfish" like she was the only one there. 3. 4. I believe that Night symbolizes the darkness at the end of the light where all life dies down and the evil and dark comes out. This is just like how the Jews lived happily and normally until the Nazi's evil and darkness came upn them like night falling.

=Quote 2: this shows that even the inmates had lost their humanity after being in the camps. instead of welcoming them and trying to comfort them, they beat them. I suppose this was sort of a way to say "life is hard here, and we will just beat you so it doesn't hurt as much when they do, so get used to it" or something along those lines, but it could just be the inmates taking out their anger on the new arrivals. =

= I think that the section that surprised me the most was the walk to the death camp. it was ironic when the sign said "work makes you free"- it did not make them free, and even when they did work they still died. It was sort of like telling an innocent person, "if you can prove you are not guilty, you will live." its almost impossible for them to prove their innocence, so they try and die anyways. =

> []- about the Kapos in the concentration camps
 * []- jewish community in antwerp during WWII and today


 * It has been said that a person's eyes are windows into the soul. Find the passage where Elie describes the eyes of Akiba Drumer – quote it with a citation here.
 * " Akiba Drumer has left us, a victim of the selection. Lately, he had been wandering among us, his eyes glazed, telling everyone how weak he was... He just kept repeating that it was all over for him, that he could no longer fight, he had no more strength, no more faith"(76).
 * "All he asked of us was: 'In three days I will be gone... say Kaddish for me.' We promised: in three days, when we would see the smoke rising from the chimney, we would think of him. We would gather ten men and hold a special service. All his friends would say Kaddish... There followed terrible days. We recieved more blows than food. The work was crushing. And three days after he left, we forgot to say Kaddish"(77).


 * Drumer lost his will to live because he was so worn thin by the surroundings he lived in, he was constantly surrounded by pain, suffering, death, torture, and mass extermination. It seems as though he wasn't mentally stable enough to handle it all and he no longer had the will to live. Yes Elie thought about suicide and death and of course the camps that he lived in strongly effected him, but there is a huge difference between the two; Elie had the will to live and still is today, while Drumer did not and is dead.


 * **<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 12px;">"My father's presence was the only thing that stopped me. He was running next to me, out of strength, out of breath, desperate. I had no right to let myself die. What would he do without me? I was his sole support" (87). **
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;"> "He had lost his son in the commotion. He had searched for him among the dying, to no avail. Then he had dug through the snow to find his body. In vain. For three years, they had stayed close to one another. Side by side, they had endured the suffering, the blows; they had waited for their ration of bread and they had prayed. Three years, from camp to camp, from selection to selection. And now- when the end seemed near- fate had separated them"(91). **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">**It seems as though originally the fathers were always there for their sons when they needed them, that the sons needed them. But in the end it seems that the fathers cant live without their sons; so really its almost as though all this time the sons have been there for their fathers, not the other way around. I think these quotes also show just how much people suffered from loss in this horrible event, and how it really affected people's lives, and whether they would continue to live.**


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; line-height: 18px;">**Many things in this novel have effected me because of all of the horrible struggles that happen, but I've said before and I'll say it again:** "We were coming closer and closer to the pit, from which infernal heat was rising. Twenty more steps. If I was going to kill myself, this was the time." (33) has always creeped me out. I just always remember childhood as a happy, carefree time, and the fact that the Nazis could transform this child's mind to be so depressed frightens me and really shows that not only did they do these things physically but mentally hurt the victims as well.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">At the end of this novel I really have been effected by this book because not only did it show me the facts and statistics of the Holocaust but it showed me what really happened and it was way more powerful in the end because i was seeing it through the eyes of a kid makes it all that much scary. Before i thought it was just straight up physical brutality but this really revealed to me the mental pain that they inflicted on the victims, which made this horrible event seem oh so much worse


 * Michael: I agree partially with Elie Wiesel in his quote here. I do agree that indifference can cause many problems and can be a source of evil, but i also think that hate can be a big source of problems and therefore be a bringer of evil as well. Indifference means that people dont care either way, they don't even acknowledge that its there which can means that if it's a problem and you don't care about it your basically supporting it by letting it happen, so yes indifference can be a big source of evil. But I believe that in this quote Wiesel is not acknowledging the true evil and problems that hatred can bring the hatred is what often causes problems a prime example for this topic is the Holocaust; the Germans hated the Jews and they therefore killed them and that was all fueled by hatred. So yes indifference can be a source of evil but also hate can be.
 * Spencer: I feel that what elie wiesel was trying to say was that if you are indifferent you essentialy have no emotions, and if you have no emotions you are not human. Even if you hate something, there is a reason for your hate, and so you care about it.