The word Holocaust refers to the mass murder of 6 million European Jews by the German Nazi regime during World War II. It began in 1933 and ended in 1945. The ruler of Germany during this time was Adolf Hitler. He and the Nazis put the Jew in concentration camps, where thousands were killed everyday. This was one of the worst if not the worst genocides in history. Many books have been written to document survivors’ testimony of this horrific event. Elie Wiesel shares his story and Art Spiegelman shares his father’s story in the books Night and Maus. Comparisons can be drawn between Maus and Night through the author's purpose for writing , the survivor’s experiences, and the author's perspective.
Elie Wiesel’s reason for writing Night was personal, but it was also to keep the world aware of the damage that was caused. “He is a messenger to mankind”, the nobel peace committee had said as they gave him the prize. Elie doesn’t want history to repeat itself. The best way to do that is for the world to know what happened and learn from their mistakes. The personal half of his reason was that Elie wanted to protect his child. “ My son changed me. Once you bring a life into this world, you must protect it by changing the world.” These were Elie Wiesel's own words. One of Art Spiegelman’s reasons was almost the same. He was eager to share his father’s story with the world. At the beginning of Maus I, Art describes how he asked his father over and over to tell him his story. This
Over 5 million people died between 1933 and 1945. Additionally, around half of these deaths happened in a concentration camp. This point in time is commonly referred to as the Holocaust. In Elie Wiesel’s book "Night” that documents Elie Wiesel’s struggles in a ghetto and then being transported throughout Germany to these awful places that are made for death. However, in the novel “Night,” Elie Wiesel uses dialog, ellipses, and symbolism to show the bond he has with his father. (73)
Imagine, losing the part of you that makes you unique, or being treated like you were worth absolutely nothing. Think about losing all that you hold on to: your family, friends, everything that you had. Imagine, being treated like an animal, or barely receiving enough food to live. All of these situations and more is what the Jews went through during the Holocaust. During the period of 1944 - 1945, a man by the name of Elie Wiesel was one of the millions of Jews that were experiencing the wrath of Hitler’s destruction in the form of intense labor and starvation. The novel Night written by the same man, Elie Wiesel, highlights the constant struggle they faced every single day during the war. From the first acts of throwing the Jews into
The mid 20th century was a time of grief and genocide in Europe, which created a life of anger and despair for those who were affected. Family was so important during the holocaust as it was the only way that someone would be able to handle this time. Elise Wiesel, a survivor of the holocaust, created a work of art with his personal account called Night about his journey during the 1940’s. He uses a plethora of literary devices to convey a theme of strong family bond within his book. During the 1940’s, the Nazi Party in Germany created an era of anti-Semitism and genocide which involved the lives of Jews living in western Europe. During this time in Germany, over 6 million Jews died and only a few lived to tell
Each day,6,000 innocent lives were taken at Auschwitz-Birkenau,one of the many concentration camps in Europe. During the “Final solution” two out of every three European Jews were killed. This genocide lasted from 30 January,1933 to 8 May,1945. Elie Wiesel,a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust,shares his personal traumatic,faith breaking and experiences with inhuman treatment in his memoir, Night.
Traumatic and scarring events occur on a daily basis; from house fires to war, these memories are almost impossible to forget. The Holocaust is only one of the millions of traumas that have occurred, yet it is known worldwide for sourcing millions of deaths. Elie Wiesel was among the many victims of the Holocaust, and one of the few survivors. In the memoir, “Night”, by Elie Wiesel, Elie, the main character, is forever changed because of his traumatic experiences in the Auschwitz concentration camps.
The Holocaust was one of the most horrific and dehumanizing occurrences that the human race has ever endured. It evolved around cruelty, hatred, death, destruction and prejudice. Thousands of innocent lives were lost in Hitler's attempt to exterminate the Jewish population. He killed thousands of Jews by way of gas chamber, crematorium, and starvation. The people who managed to survive in the concentration camps were those who valued not just their own life but others as well. Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor and author of the novel, Night, expressed his experiences very descriptively throughout his book. When Elie was just fifteen years old his family was shipped off
In the book “night” written by Elie Wiesel, the reader is able to catch a glimpse of the holocaust and how it dangerously impacted not only the Jewish, but the whole world. Written for everyone and anyone, “Night” is an emotionally draining book designed to help the reader understand just how devastating the holocaust was.
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum states that "During the Holocaust up to 6 million Jews were rounded up and killed"(Documenting numbers). The Holocaust had many groups of people involved, Adalf Hitler, the Germans, European Jews, Gypsies, and homosexuals. The Holocaust was when the Germans believed they were a master Aryan race and wanted to get rid of everyone who wasn’t. It took place in all of Europe and lasted from 1933-1945.Through a variety of texts, people can learn more about the Holocaust. The book Night is an autobiography of holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, the poem "To The Little Polish Boy" is about a bystander to the Holocaust. These texts made me realize how much the Nazi's changed the views and ways of life of all the people they prosecuted.
The Holocaust was a horrific time period when over six million Jewish people were systematically exterminated by the Nazi government. Throughout this period, the Jews were treated particularly inhumane because the Nazi viewed their ethnicities as a disease to humanity. Dehumanization is a featured theme in Elie Wiesel’s novel about the Holocaust since he demonstrated numerous examples of the severe conditions endured by the Jewish people. The nonfiction story Night by Elie Wiesel focuses on inhumanity and reveals human beings are capable of committing great atrocities and behaving cruelly, when such actions are condoned by society, peer pressure, and ethical beliefs. Elie Wiesel uses literary devices to produce a consistent theme of inhumanity.
We should now understand why Wiesel wrote Night. He does not want this to ever happen again. He does not want anyone to go through the brutality that he and many others had to go through. We
Maus is a graphic novel that features Art Spiegelman as he interviews his father, Vladek, about his experience during the Holocaust. His father, Vladek, is elderly and has a troubled marriage. He is a very frugal person and does not like to spend his money. The book goes into detail about Vladek’s life as he goes from being wealthy to living in poverty. He goes through two marriages and raises his son. The author shows the characters in the book as Jewish mice, the Polish people as pigs, and the Nazis as cats. This is to dehumanize the tragic events of the Holocaust. Vladek’s will to live is strong and this allows him to live through the horrors of concentration camps. He was separated from his wife, nearly starves to death, watches his friends
The books Maus I and Maus II, written by Art Spiegelman over a thirteen-year period from 1978-1991, are books that on the surface are written about the Holocaust. The books specifically relate to the author’s father’s experiences pre and post-war as well as his experiences in Auschwitz. The book also explores the author’s very complex relationship between himself and his father, and how the Holocaust further complicates this relationship. On a deeper level the book also dances around the idea of victims, perpetrators, and bystanders. The two books are presented in a very interesting way; they are shown in comic form, which provides the ability for Spiegelman to incorporate numerous ideas and complexities to his work.
The Holocaust is something that no one wants to hear this tragic occured in the 1930’s and was one of the most devastating events in the world. Lives were lost, so many families ruined and if they were alive they were in hiding and couldn't be seen. The holocaust even affected people in today's society by ripping apart there family. Articles and magazines and books were all made and they all had one thing in common and that was the holocaust. There is one book called Maus by “ Art Spiegelman.” This book is different than all the other ones because he describes the holocaust through the story of his father. He doesn’t use human he uses mouse to describe the characters. The book was first written in 1986 and it was the first prototypical holocaust graphic novel. The holocaust was a time when jews were tortured and used as slaves for the nazis. The nazis blame the germans for their doing but in all reality the nazis were to blame for the crime because they captured the jews and tortured the young and killed the weak and also the ill ones. In the book Maus “ Art spiegelman” tells us his dad's life story of the holocaust through his perspective.
The Holocaust, the most known genocide in the world today resulted in the death of over 6 million Jews and millions of other minorities. Firsthand accounts of this tragedy such as through Elie Wiesel’s book Night, provide horrific insight on the atrocities that were committed toward Jews in the deportation process and concentration camps. The book shows how Jews were not just immediately murdered, but they were transitioned into the dehumanization process gradually. First “The Germans arrested the leaders of the Jewish community. From that
The Holocaust was a massacre. Families were separated, forced to be put in harsh conditions;men were slaughtered, thrown in gas chambers; women and children were abused, verbaly and sexsually .Throughout the book maus a survivor of the holocaust named Vladek talks about the hard and brutally struggles he went through, and his son Art Spiegelman shows the emotions of the characters while portraying the theme. In the book Maus, Art Spiegelman shows how people’s lives were changed because of the Holocaust by using mood, tone, and ethos.