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Late December: Elie Wiesel meets Moshe the Beadle.
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Late in the year: Moshe the Beadle escapes Gestapo slaughter to warn the Jews in Sighet.
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Nazis arrest Jewish leaders and close synagogues in Transylvania. Jews are quarantined. Nazis confiscate valuables and force transylvainian Jews to wear the yellow Star of David and ban them from restaurants, cafes, and public transportation.
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All Sighet Jews are forced from their homes and told to line up in the street at 8 A.M. At 1 P.M., the first group departs by train.
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Several days later: Elie's family marches to the "little ghetto."
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A few days later: The Wiesels join the last group of deportees aboard a railway cattle car.
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The convoy reaches Birkenau, and Elie and Chlomo spend their first night in camp. Summer Guards send Elie and Chlomo to Auschwitz. There, they meet Stein of Antwerp. Elie and Chlomo march to Buna. Elie is tattooed A-7713 on his left arm.
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Elie undergoes surgery in the Auschwitz infirmary. Chlomo and Elie run with evacuees to Gleiwitz, where they and others board open cattle cars for a ten-day ride to Buchenwald in central Germany.
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The red army liberates Auschwitz
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Late January: Chlomo Wiesel dies in a bunk at Buchenwald.
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Elie falls ill with food poisoning. Elie is liberated with the arrival of U.S. troops.