Elie Wiesel is a man of the age of 85 and is Jewish. This book
explains his life when he was going through concentration camps only at the age
of 15. Elie Wiesel was transported to Auschwitz-Birkenau-Glewice in 1944. He
also spent time in the Buna which was an industrial production camp where
thousands died. Later he spent time in Buchenwald. He has written a Trilogy of
this book and it also fiction and a biography. This book is about the life of
15 year old Jewish boy in the holocaust that goes through the struggle of being
beaten and starved and he is holding on for dear life throughout this book. He
also has to watch some horrific things like, others being killed, beaten, and
baby’s getting thrown in the crematorium, also when they had roll call every
night (roll call would go on for hours)if someone fell they would be beaten of
hung in front of everyone in the roll call.
This book is about a 15 year old boy that lives in Sighet,
Transylvania with his two parents and his sibling, and the invasion of their
location started out slow but then when they came to get the family’s to take
them to the concentration camps it felt as if they blinked and they were no
longer wanted anywhere anymore. They were pushed into trains with hundreds of
other Jewish people. While on the train there was no room to sit anywhere, and
standing for so long with no food or water made some people go crazy. During
their long trip on the trains somebody kept yelling “FIRE” and no one ever saw
them, until they arrived at the camp of Auschwitz. Auschwitz was just the first
of their “adventures”. When they arrived in the camp the made groups of men and
women/children and Elie was put with his dad and his sister went with his
mother, after the guards lead him to his barrack that would be the last time he
ever saw his sister and his mother. He went with his father throughout his
journey in the holocaust. At one point in the book the guard had left his
barrack because he wanted to do something else so the adults in the
concentration camp told the little ones to go look for food/scrapes in the
kitchen while the adults cover for them. Elie did what he was told but he had
found the guard of his barrack with some lady in the kitchen doing something he
was not supposed to be doing. Elie was 15 and couldn’t help but giggle and the
guard beat him, when roll call came the guards whipped him 25 times on his back
while his hands were tied to a poll. After this had happened him and his father
were sent to another camp and were forced to march and the people that couldn’t
keep up were either shot or trampled over. They had to march in the winter time
so it was very difficult because it was cold and they were given so they had no
energy. After marching for days they had come to the concentration camp of
Gleiwitz. When they arrived not to long after Elie’s father had died and was
replaced out of his bonk with some another ill Jewish man. He remained at
Buchenwald (smaller camp inside Gleiwitz) until April 11 all he could remember
was his dad’s eyes as he gazed at him.
I would recommend this book to people who like historical
and sorrow books. This book is very interesting to read, because it is his
journey throughout his holocaust experience.
Book Review by Daria K.
