This part of the book where Wiesel talks about what he "Shall Never Forget" was one of the parts of the story that had the greatest impact on me. The line that stood out for me the most was " Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my soul and turned my dreams to ashes." That, for me, summarized the Holocaust. Just think about it, 6 million people, not were they just murdered physically, but they were killed INSIDE. Their souls were killed, every hope, every dream, every wish, EVERYTHING was killed. No longer did they even have faith to believe in their God, if he was there, why wasn't he helping them? Even for me now, it is impossible to even come close to imagining just what these millions of people have to go through. How crushed and hopeless they must have felt and Wiesel's words have all the truth in the world.
Wiesel says that he will never forget the smoke, the children burned into ashes, and the fire. The Jews were marching towards the crematorium. They all thought they were going to die, but they were ordered to turn left. Wiesel saw the baby’s face in the crematorium, burning into ashes. This part of the book was the most impactful for me. Not only children were burned, many women and men were also burned in the crematorium. Many were willing to kill themselves running to an electrified barbed wire than dying slowly in flames. 6 millions of people were killed in this crematorium. All of this people were killed because the German soldiers thought there were too many Jews. They never thought the idea that the Jews were also human beings. All the people killed have no longer dreams to follow, or any other things they wanted to experience.
“The world is not interested in us. Today, everything is possible, even the crematoria…” said Elie’s dad. Nobody did anything to stop the crematorium.
As Wiesel takes in his surroundings, he sees everything so realistic. He sees everything that is going on around him. Families separating and never seeing each other again. He sees tons and tons of people, from every age, thrown into the crematorium, burned alive without a second chance at life. It was as if Wiesel finally thought about the real impact of where they were, and what happens there. The entire scene could be what Wiesel was talking about. Everything going on around him had to do with either violence, neglect, horrible emotions, or death. Everything put together made a scene that if one could see right now, they would probably die of the horror, of the raw emotion seen from watching these poor human beings suffer. The scenes Wiesel saw was unforgetable, not made to be seen to people so young. That is what I will never forget. Human beings being treated like wild animals just because they were Jews. Jews are humans, nobody can change that, and for someone to witness all the cruelty happening to another human being, it would just be inhumane.
"It was no longer possible to grasp anything. The instincts of self-preservation, of self defense, of pride, had all deserted us. In one ultimate moment of lucidity it seem to me that we were damned souls wandering in the half-world, souls condemned to wander through space till the generations of man came to an end, seeking their redemption, seeking oblivion-without hope of finding it" (Pg. 34). As I was reading this it occured to me, the sheer fright of it all was not even present within the God forsaken souls held within those camps. It was as if they were somewaht used to it and were still having feelings toward their survival and their eternal damnation yet they were surely not as intense as when they first arrived like everyone else.
The burtality of it all is so shocking, so horrific, that it is just pure wonder how anyone could ever manage through it all. Most Jewish people in the camps, if not all, felt abandoned as if lost souls. Not one had any hope of things returning back to normal. They only had the will to survive and see what happens when they are released.
It gave me such a deeper feeling for all of those people who were sentenced to these camps and were either killed or literally tortured by physical labor and humiliation. The thought of them still having faith through all of this is just so heart warming and so touching that it just gave me a much better understanding towards what these people felt and what these people were hoping for. -Michael L.
I was impacted most by his recollections of the lady in the train. It shot out to me because all I could think about was a crucifixion. She seemed to be as a messenger from God and as usual she wasn’t listened to until it was too late. She looked at them deep into their souls and begged them to listen to the facts that she told but just because they couldn’t see it at the time they called her mad. Doesn’t religion believe without seeing? Why did they prey to their God for help but when he sends them an angel they gag and beat her? It’s sad to see people in such a situation that their sense of religion is also stripped from them. I almost cried when Elie described her stages of madness; how it started small then progresses. As usual, when the actual problem that they were warned about showed it self, running was not in the question. They missed their change once again to run. -Julieth
Two things impacted me the most about what Elie Wiesel vowed never to forget. “Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith forever.” This impacted my life because it showed me how hard it was for him to believe in God, how could his God do that? Allow it to just happen? He couldn’t believe in a god who allowed innocent people be consumed by flames because of their beliefs. He couldn’t believe because his faith in God, in kindness was gone. The other thing that Elie was never to forget was “Never shall I forget the nocturnal silence that deprived me for all eternity of the desire to live.” Elie could not, did not want to live in a world that kept quiet as men killed other men, as people pretended not to watch, as people decided to ignore the events that took places because they were afraid. He could have gone to sleep in that nocturnal silence never to wake up again, but he had his father as a reason to live, even when it appeared as though the world would forever hold its silence.
I profoundly agree with Emma. I like the style he used in writing these few verses titled, "Shall Never Forget" and the impact of the content of the words is stunning. It describes how much a person could learn from the horrible extent of a radical man's power to wipe out an entire race. To truly understand the power of those words is impacting and the title of this section, "Courage to Remember" is portrayed in this work. I have found all these words just breath taking, and they really summed up the Holocaust. Like Emma says, dreams, hopes, futures, lives, childhoods, ideas, loves, all burt to ashes. Nothing else remained. Now, we may close our eyes and shut out these horrific times, but one must understand that they did happen and could happen again. The people there couldn't close their eyes and open them as someone else while their parents were murdered. We owe this to them, to study it and remember these times, and make sure that this will never, ever happen again.
The entire scene could be what Wiesel was talking about. Everything going on around him had to do with either violence, neglect, horrible emotions, or death. Everything put together made a scene that if one could see right now, they would probably die of the horror, of the raw emotion seen from watching these poor human beings suffer. The scenes Wiesel saw was unforgetable, not made to be seen to people so young. That is what I will never forget. Human beings being treated like wild animals just because they were Jews. Jews are humans, nobody can change that, and for someone to witness all the cruelty happening to another human being, it would just be inhumane.
This part of the book where Wiesel talks about what he "Shall Never Forget" was one of the parts of the story that had the greatest impact on me. The line that stood out for me the most was " Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my soul and turned my dreams to ashes." That, for me, summarized the Holocaust. Just think about it, 6 million people, not were they just murdered physically, but they were killed INSIDE. Their souls were killed, every hope, every dream, every wish, EVERYTHING was killed. No longer did they even have faith to believe in their God, if he was there, why wasn't he helping them? Even for me now, it is impossible to even come close to imagining just what these millions of people have to go through. How crushed and hopeless they must have felt and Wiesel's words have all the truth in the world.
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ReplyDeleteWiesel says that he will never forget the smoke, the children burned into ashes, and the fire. The Jews were marching towards the crematorium. They all thought they were going to die, but they were ordered to turn left. Wiesel saw the baby’s face in the crematorium, burning into ashes.
ReplyDeleteThis part of the book was the most impactful for me. Not only children were burned, many women and men were also burned in the crematorium. Many were willing to kill themselves running to an electrified barbed wire than dying slowly in flames. 6 millions of people were killed in this crematorium. All of this people were killed because the German soldiers thought there were too many Jews. They never thought the idea that the Jews were also human beings. All the people killed have no longer dreams to follow, or any other things they wanted to experience.
“The world is not interested in us. Today, everything is possible, even the crematoria…” said Elie’s dad.
Nobody did anything to stop the crematorium.
As Wiesel takes in his surroundings, he sees everything so realistic. He sees everything that is going on around him. Families separating and never seeing each other again. He sees tons and tons of people, from every age, thrown into the crematorium, burned alive without a second chance at life. It was as if Wiesel finally thought about the real impact of where they were, and what happens there. The entire scene could be what Wiesel was talking about. Everything going on around him had to do with either violence, neglect, horrible emotions, or death. Everything put together made a scene that if one could see right now, they would probably die of the horror, of the raw emotion seen from watching these poor human beings suffer. The scenes Wiesel saw was unforgetable, not made to be seen to people so young. That is what I will never forget. Human beings being treated like wild animals just because they were Jews. Jews are humans, nobody can change that, and for someone to witness all the cruelty happening to another human being, it would just be inhumane.
ReplyDelete"It was no longer possible to grasp anything. The instincts of self-preservation, of self defense, of pride, had all deserted us. In one ultimate moment of lucidity it seem to me that we were damned souls wandering in the half-world, souls condemned to wander through space till the generations of man came to an end, seeking their redemption, seeking oblivion-without hope of finding it" (Pg. 34). As I was reading this it occured to me, the sheer fright of it all was not even present within the God forsaken souls held within those camps. It was as if they were somewaht used to it and were still having feelings toward their survival and their eternal damnation yet they were surely not as intense as when they first arrived like everyone else.
ReplyDeleteThe burtality of it all is so shocking, so horrific, that it is just pure wonder how anyone could ever manage through it all. Most Jewish people in the camps, if not all, felt abandoned as if lost souls. Not one had any hope of things returning back to normal. They only had the will to survive and see what happens when they are released.
It gave me such a deeper feeling for all of those people who were sentenced to these camps and were either killed or literally tortured by physical labor and humiliation. The thought of them still having faith through all of this is just so heart warming and so touching that it just gave me a much better understanding towards what these people felt and what these people were hoping for. -Michael L.
I was impacted most by his recollections of the lady in the train. It shot out to me because all I could think about was a crucifixion. She seemed to be as a messenger from God and as usual she wasn’t listened to until it was too late. She looked at them deep into their souls and begged them to listen to the facts that she told but just because they couldn’t see it at the time they called her mad.
ReplyDeleteDoesn’t religion believe without seeing? Why did they prey to their God for help but when he sends them an angel they gag and beat her? It’s sad to see people in such a situation that their sense of religion is also stripped from them. I almost cried when Elie described her stages of madness; how it started small then progresses.
As usual, when the actual problem that they were warned about showed it self, running was not in the question. They missed their change once again to run.
-Julieth
Two things impacted me the most about what Elie Wiesel vowed never to forget. “Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith forever.” This impacted my life because it showed me how hard it was for him to believe in God, how could his God do that? Allow it to just happen? He couldn’t believe in a god who allowed innocent people be consumed by flames because of their beliefs. He couldn’t believe because his faith in God, in kindness was gone. The other thing that Elie was never to forget was “Never shall I forget the nocturnal silence that deprived me for all eternity of the desire to live.” Elie could not, did not want to live in a world that kept quiet as men killed other men, as people pretended not to watch, as people decided to ignore the events that took places because they were afraid. He could have gone to sleep in that nocturnal silence never to wake up again, but he had his father as a reason to live, even when it appeared as though the world would forever hold its silence.
ReplyDeleteI profoundly agree with Emma. I like the style he used in writing these few verses titled, "Shall Never Forget" and the impact of the content of the words is stunning. It describes how much a person could learn from the horrible extent of a radical man's power to wipe out an entire race. To truly understand the power of those words is impacting and the title of this section, "Courage to Remember" is portrayed in this work. I have found all these words just breath taking, and they really summed up the Holocaust. Like Emma says, dreams, hopes, futures, lives, childhoods, ideas, loves, all burt to ashes. Nothing else remained. Now, we may close our eyes and shut out these horrific times, but one must understand that they did happen and could happen again. The people there couldn't close their eyes and open them as someone else while their parents were murdered. We owe this to them, to study it and remember these times, and make sure that this will never, ever happen again.
ReplyDeleteThe entire scene could be what Wiesel was talking about. Everything going on around him had to do with either violence, neglect, horrible emotions, or death. Everything put together made a scene that if one could see right now, they would probably die of the horror, of the raw emotion seen from watching these poor human beings suffer. The scenes Wiesel saw was unforgetable, not made to be seen to people so young. That is what I will never forget. Human beings being treated like wild animals just because they were Jews. Jews are humans, nobody can change that, and for someone to witness all the cruelty happening to another human being, it would just be inhumane.
ReplyDelete