In “Night,” Elie Wiesel describes the suffering of the Jewish people during the Holocaust. After reading this book, I realized how strikingly different the perception of the horrors of this period was between Jews and people of other nationalities. The fact is that in ordinary life, we do not think about how inhuman people can be and what tortures they can condemn their fellow human beings to for personal purposes. Aside from the horrific stories of both the main characters and those they encountered in this hell, I was hooked by the very beginning of the story. Then the characters did not believe the man who told them what could happen, someone who had experienced similar things before ’44 when the events described in the story occurred. The belief that bad things happen to everyone, but not to us, still won out, and the Jews missed the opportunity to avoid at least some of the horror precisely because of their carelessness. Moreover, had they heard the older man, had they believed him, had they been more vigilant, perhaps they could have been saved.
The lesson to be learned from this is that one should always listen to intuition and look out for the signs. All in all, the events described in the book are horrific and leave an indelible imprint on the reader’s soul. Based on my experience, many people do not want to read such books precisely because of the moral gravity of the events described. However, the book’s horror is that it is not fiction but a true story that took the lives of thousands of people. There is a lesson to be learned from this book about the need to maintain morality and humanity to pursue one’s goal. In addition, an important lesson is that all people suffer equally. Whether Jews, Arabs, or Hindus, all people feel the same pain from losing loved ones, the destruction of lives, and finally from hunger and exhaustion. Modern society has come a long way in tolerance and acceptance, but we still need to remember where we began. The treasure of life and liberty is the most important thing a person has, and it must not be taken away.
The book “Night” is a warning to future generations and an admonition about the suffering hatred and non-acceptance can bring. It is also impossible not to mention the poignant accuracy with which the events in the book are described. The category of memory and the motif of testimony connects the two directions that can be distinguished in Wiesel’s work by external, thematic features. The first direction is the theme of the Shoah. The second is the history of the Jewish people, read and retold by a man who grew up in a Hasidic environment, who went through attempts at genocide. For Elie Wiesel, the writer is first and foremost a witness, and his work is a witness and a moral act.
It is also worth paying attention to the writer’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech. He recalled his memories of the horrors of that time and called on the assembled diplomats to learn from the mistakes of the past. He called the main mistake the indifference of the whole world to the efforts of the Jews of that time. The ethical implications of this speech are that people are finally reflecting on their ignorance. In today’s world, one cannot turn a blind eye to the suffering of one’s neighbor, for trouble is always shared equally. To maintain the democratic order and avoid repeating the terrible events of the Holocaust, the world needs to defend and celebrate tolerance and mutual assistance.