This report reviews two books describing personal experiences in Nazi concentration camps during World War II: Night, by Elie Wiesel, and Survival in Auschwitz, by Primo Levi. Both books convey similar horror stories about the Holocaust. The stories of the two men will be compared, and the styles and treatment of the subject will be contrasted.
Wiesel's account of experiences in Auschwitz and Buchenwald and a few points in between projects a family focus. His youth was undoubtedly a factor in his perspective: he was only twelve when Jews in his Hungarian town of Sighet were initially rounded up for slaughter, and only fourteen when he and his family were shipped to Auschwitz. Wiesel recalls the attitudes of the townspeople when the first stories of mass genocide reached their ears -- overwhelmingly, the stories were met with disbelief and were rejected as impossibilities.
It was not until 1944, after fascists came to power in Hungary and a German defeat on the Russian front appeared imminent, that German troops swept into Hungary and appeared in Sighet. Following the arrival, a series of progressively repressive measures against Jews were implemented: first, curfews; then impoundment of valuable possessions; followed by an order requiring all Jews to wear a yellow star. Then the most dreaded occurrence of all -- news that all Jews would be deported (Wiesel, 1960, p. 23). Thus began the ordeal of Elie Wiesel.
Hungarian police managed the deportation. The Jewish population was forced to march to another town, bringing with them only a minimum of possessions. The first destination was a train station, where cattle cars waited. The night before they were to board the train, few Hungarian police were present and the Jews were allowed to manage themselves. Some were offered refuge, but refused to flee into the countryside even in the absence of police guards, perhaps out of a desire to keep families together. The Jews ...