Holocaust Essay Introduction Example For Students

Holocaust Essay Introduction The delineation of human life is perceiving existence through resolute contrasts. The difference between day and night is defined by an absolute line of division. For the Jewish culture in the twentieth century, the dissimilarity between life and death is bisected by a definitive line the Holocaust. Accounts of life during the genocide of the Jewish culture emerged from within the considerable array of Holocaust survivors, among of which are Elie Wiesels Night and Simon Wiesenthals The Sunflower. Both accounts of the Holocaust diverge in the main concepts in each work; Wiesel and Wiesenthal focus on different aspects of their survivals. Aside from the themes, various aspects, including perception, structure, organization, and flow of arguments in each work, also contrast from one another. Although both Night and The Sunflower are recollections of the persistence of life during the Holocaust, Elie Wiesel and Simon Wiesenthal focus on different aspects of their existence during the at rocity in their corresponding works. Elie Wiesel, winner of the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize, wrote Night with the notion for society to advance its understanding of the Holocaust. The underlying theme of Night is faith. Elie Wiesel, for the majority of this work, concerns the faith and survival of his father, Chlomo Wiesel. The concept of survival intertwines with faith, as survival is brought upon Elies faith in his father. Both Elie and Chlomo are affected in the same manner as their Jewish society. The self-proclaimed superman race of the German Nazis suppress and ultimately decimate the Jewish society of its time. Elie and Chlomo, alongside their Jewish community, were regarded as subhumans in a world supposedly fit for the Nazi conception. The oppression of Elie and Chlomo begins in 1944, when the Germans constrain the Jews of Sighet into two ghettos. During the time of Nazi supremacy, Elie and Chlomo are forced to travel to various concentration camps, including Birkenau, Auschwitz, and Buchenwald. The determining conc ern of survival confronts both Elie and Chlomo throughout Night. The concept of survival is illustrated by the complications brought upon Elie and Chlomo. Elie and Chlomo believe they could only survive the concentration camps with one another; the father-and-son link was held together for the survival of each other. One complication in particular, was the instance when the SS officers separate Chlomo from Elie during a selection at Gleiwitz, as it was the weak, to the left; those who could walk well, to the right. My father was sent to the left (Wiesel 91). Elie, fearing separation from his father, tries to overcome this problem by running after him. However, with several SS officers running toward Elie in order to constrain him, many people from the left were able to come back to the right and among them, my father and myself (Wiesel 91). Elies act of improvisation allowed him to remain alongside his father. The raw act of survival itself confronted both Elie and Chlomo several times in Night. At one point during the march to Gleiwitz, the mass was allowed to rest. However, if the victims were not ready to form their ranks, the SS officers would shoot the resting bodies to death. To overcome this complication for survival, Chlomo decides that Elie should sleep, while Chlomo would awaken him when ranks were to be formed. Elie refused, while his father was gently dozing. He could not see his eyes (Wiesel 85). Elie, attentive during this time, was able to awaken his father in order to form ranks. The tactic to watch his father sleep allowed both victims to form ranks upon the SS officers commands; thus, Elie and Chlomo overcame their difficulty of sleep and death. The concept of survival advances Elie Wiesels theme of Night faith. The process of surviving alongside his father allows Elie to bury faith in his very fathers existence. The most significant event in Night is when Elie injects faith into his father, even though he renounces his faith in God. During his first night at Birkenau, Elie states, Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky. Never shall I forgot those moments which murdered my God (32). However, while resting during the march to Gleiwitz, Elie remembers Rabbi Eliahou and his son. During the run towards Gleiwitz, the son advances quicker in order to rid himself of his father, who was considered to be a burden. After contemplation on this subject, Elie says to himself, My God, Lord of the Universe, give me strength never to do what Rabbi Eliahous son has done (87). Elies statement is extremely crucial to the theme of faith in that Elie dive rts to reclaim a sense of faith in order to survive alongside his very father. Elie Wiesel centers Night around faith, with the notion reaching a climax at this very statement. Elie talks of his faith in God to Moshe the Beadle before the evacuation into the ghettos. Elies faith is then renounced when he sees firsthand the atrocities of the Nazi party. With Elie literally forcing himself to remain alongside his father in the name of survival, Elie redresses his faith by accounting his existence with that of his fathers; this event in itself is the pivot in which other thoughts and notions in Night arise. The theme of faith is epitomized in this very event where Elie reclaims his faith to exist with his father, for his father. Although the aspect of faith is touched upon in The Sunflower, the author Simon Wiesenthal projects the theme of his work towards that of forgiveness. The Sunflower is presented as a work centered around the author, Simon Wiesenthal, and Karl, the dying SS man who asks for Simons forgiveness. For merely being a Jew, Simon is placed in a concentration camp located in Poland. Like Elie Wiesel, Simon is also looked upon as a subhuman outside the Jewish community. As Simon marches to and from the Technical High School, the public Poles have a look of remorse and ill pity for Simon and the Jews alike. Karl, the dying SS man, enrolled in the Hitler Youth at age sixteen. During Karls adolescent years, the Hitler Youth was the popular movement for which one would gain national merit; as a result, Karl enlisted in the program. When the war broke out and the Nazi party needed officers, Karl volunteered into the SS program. It was of considerable value of Nazi Germany for men, such as Karl, to aid the movement. The Nazi society in which Karl was constrained to, ultimately turned him into a murderer; he was forced to completely annihilate a mass of Jews within a confined building in Dnyepropetrovsk. Reconstruction EssayOther differences arise between Elie Wiesels Night and Simon Wiesenthals The Sunflower from the aspects of structure, organization, and flow of arguments. The key difference between Night and The Sunflower, structurally, is that The Sunflower is comprised of two dividing segments; Book One is the actual account of Holocaust survival, while Book Two is a collection of opinions concerning the rightfulness of Simon Wiesenthal not forgiving Karl. Both sections within The Sunflower are fixated upon the notion of forgiveness; however, Book Two is the opinions expressed by several dignified persons, including Edward H. Flannery, Martin E. Marty, and Cynthia Ozick. Elie Wiesels Night is comprised of strictly a recollection of his life during the various concentration camps of the Holocaust. The organization in both Night and The Sunflower is similar; however, a subtle difference does indeed persist. This difference in organization affects the two works flow of arguments ; thus the flow of arguments in each work also differs. Both Elie Wiesel and Simon Wiesenthal organize their respective works according to the chronology of events their had to endure during the Holocaust. The difference arises in the fact that Simon Wiesenthal incorporates several uses of flashbacks in his organization of The Sunflower. A flashback emanates when the author stops the immediate action in order to retell an event which occurred at a point in time before the current state. Although Elie Wiesel incorporates a few flashbacks during his memory of surviving the atrocity, Simon Wiesenthal utilizes the flashbacks to an extent where each flashback further contributes to the motif-like state of the sunflower. For the majority of his flashbacks, Simon speaks of the sunflowers, which are planted above the graves of dead German soldiers. As he states, Suddenly I envied the dead soldiers. Each had a sunflower to connect him with the living world, and butterflies to visit his grave . For me, there will be no sunflower. I would be buried in a mass-grave, where corpses would be piled on top of me (Wiesenthal 20). Each time Simon recalls the notion of a sunflower during a flashback, he covets the dead German soldiers because it seems they will have peace after their groundless acts of murder. Simons consistent use of flashbacks allows his flow of arguments to have a faint, lost sense of progression. Simons flow of arguments is a bit coarse because of the constant flashbacks. It seems Simon jumps from his current points back to the significance of the sunflower throughout his work. As a result, The Sunflowers flow of arguments differ from that of Nights because they tend to be erratic. Elie Wiesels Night differs from The Sunflower in the aspects of organization and flow of arguments because Night is straight to the point; Elie Wiesels work, although incorporating a few flashbacks, is more straightforward in organization than The Sunflower because it does not backtrack as often as the work of Simon Wiesenthal. With the lack of extensive flashbacks, Elie Wiesel organizes Night in an unequivocal manner. This characteristic is apparent from Nights flow of arguments, as the flow of arguments is directly affected by the works organization. In Night, the flow of arguments advances from one point to the next; current points in the work are not extensively interrupted by certain events of the past. Night differs from The Sunflower in that Elie Wiesels work is comprised of straightforward organization and thus, a smooth and consistent flow of arguments. In Night, the descriptions of the atrocities committed are portrayed in such a raw, yet emotional, manner. A pertinent sect ion in Night stands out, as it is especially well-written. This section concerns Elie describing his first witness of abominations in the Holocaust. As Elie Wiesel describes, Flames were leaping from a ditch, gigantic flames. They were burning something. A lorry drew up at the pit and delivered its load little children. Babies! Yes, I saw it saw it with my own eyes (30). This group of quotations is the most dominant and moving section in Night because of its simplistic description. Elie Wiesel does not utilize any form of literary devices within these quotations; this raw account of genocide is a testament to the purpose of Night. Elie Wiesel writes the epitome of true recollection in its most primitive form; that fact in itself proves this section of Night is the epitome of genuine, artistic excellence. The apex of The Sunflower, where Simon Wiesenthal does not forgive Karl, is also described in the same manner expressed by Elie Wiesel. Consequently, the description of the apex is particularly well-written. As Simon describes, I stood up and looked in his direction, at his folded hands. Between them there seemed to rest a sunflower. At last I made up my mind and without a word I left the room (58). Simon writes these quotations in its rawest form. This simple form parallels his physical, passive-like response of quietly leaving the room without relying a single word. However, this simple form greatly contrasts the meaning behind the action; Simon does not forgive Karl for murdering innocent victims by merely walking out of the room in silence. This ample contrast is a result of Simons graceful use of description; as a result, this account of The Sunflowers apex is the distinguished section in that it is principally well-written. Both Night and The Sunflower are works which must be spread to society as a whole. Night and The Sunflower must be read and comprehended because they provide lessons for the current society to utilize. Night and The Sunflower provide for society, a moving, descriptive, first-hand account of the inhumanity and atrocities committed during the Holocaust. The guiltlessness of the Jews allowed the German Nazis to decimate any trace of the culture. A better understanding of the causes, events, and results of the Holocaust allows society as a whole to discourage such genocides. Comprehending these two works will allow the current society to prevent such atrocities. Another Holocaust must never emanate again; spreading the works of Elie Wiesels Night and Simon Wiesenthals The Sunflower will aid in the cause.