Shelbee - Reflection #1

Elie Wiesel's description of his own accounts in Night make it clear to the reader that the events he endured were unfathomable, but could still happen to people who live today. At the beginning of Night, Elie Wiesel is a normal person and refuses to believe any rumors that he hears about Jews being tortured in other parts of Europe. In one specific situation early on in the story, both Elie Wiesel and the reader get a taste of what is going to happen later on in the Auschwitz concentration camps. Moishe the Beadle explains to Elie has experience in Auschwitz, "Without passion or haste, they shot their prisoners, who were forced to approach the trench one by one and offer their necks. Infants were tossed into the air and used as targets for the machine guns." (Wiesel. 6) Although it was clearly a very graphic description of real events, it was hard for Wiesel to grasp, just like it would be for any other human. It wasn't until 1944 when Elie Wiesel and his family were uprooted to the Auschwitz concentration camps that Wiesel started to realize that the horrors were true. The oppressors treated the victims like animals and everyone knew it. The guards frequently acknowledged the victims with a superior attitude, mostly treating them like dirt. One guard made a harsh yet unnecessary threat, "Shut up, you moron, or I'll tear you to pieces! You should have hanged yourselves rather than come here." (Wiesel. 30) The only reason that millions and millions of people were treated so inhumanely was because they inherited such a minuscule difference from people who had power at the time. Although it seems as if the holocaust is far-fetched and could never happen again, an event just like it could easily re-occur because people are still ridiculed for their  irrelevant differences to this day.