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The Jews of Sighet and Elie's childhood there
Elie Weisel is a teenage Orthodox Jew living in the town of Sighet Trasylvania. His father and mother are well-respected shop owners and he has three sisters. He is an extremely religious boy who studys his faith with gusto. -
Moshie the Beadle and the first signs of terrible anti-semetism
Moshe the Beadle (a foreign Jewish teacher) and Elie begin to talk and form a kind of friendship before the Hungarians deport all foreign Jews, including Moshe. He then returns with news of horrible genocide but no one believes him. -
Elie and his family are forced into the ghettos
After the Hungarian government falls into the hands of the Germans, Elie and his family along with the entire Jewish population of Sighet are forced out of their homes and into ghettos where they are deported, load by load, to the concentration camp Auschwitz. -
The cattle cars to Auschwitz
Elie and his family are forced into cramped cattle cars and endure brutal and tight conditions as they are taken to the camp. They realize that they are not being relocated and some begin to lose their sense of reality as they flirt with others and one women continually scream about the fires that she sees but no one else does. She screams about the horrors that await them and she is eventually beaten into silence by some of the boys in the car. -
The arrival at Birkenau
The Jews of Sighet arrive at a processing camp called Birkenau where they see much smoke and chimneys. They are surrrounded by the smell of burning human flesh while they realize what their future lies. -
Birkenau
As the first round of selection occurs, Elie and his father are separarted from the rest of their family, whom they never see again. The lie agout their ages and occupation to the doctor inspecting them as they watch children and adults burned in huge pits. Elie is horrifies and he talks about how he never will forget those moments. -
Birkenau continued
Elie and his father are doused in gasoline and showered and dressed in prison garb. They are then informed that they will be taken to Buna, a work camp where they will be prisoners. -
Buno and the Work there and The Dentist
Elie is inspected by a dentist who looks for gold in the prisoners' mouths. He is forced to have his gold crown removed, but is able to get out of it by pleading illness. Elie and his father are then forced to work in a electrical warehouse where they are treated like prisoners. -
The housing and Juliek
Elie and his father are housed in barracks headed by a kindly warden. They meet a Zioinist named Juliek who plays the violin very well. -
Idek and the French girl
Elie and his father are constantly harassed by the chief prisoner of their group, Idek. When Elie recieves some kindness from a Frnch girl, he is beaten by Idek. When his father is beaten and mocked by Idek because he works too slowly, Elie begins to feel angry with his father for not avoiding Idek's wrath. Elie then witnesses Idek's pysical affection with a girl and is beaten until he loses conciousness by Idek. -
The gallows and the air raid.
When an air raid occurs, each prisoner is to be brought back to their blocks. During one of these raids, Elie and his father witness a man dying as he tries to get some extra, unattended soup. The next day, gallwos are built and multiple prisoners are hung for stealing during an air raid. They all witness a child being hung and his struggling with death. Elie is convinced that God is no longer there; that he died along with the child. -
Yom Kippur
As Yom Kippur comes upon the prisoners, Elie has completely lost his faith and determines that he is alone in his beliefs now that God does not exist. He does not fast on Yom Kippur and has a special moment with his father, where they understand each other. -
A miracle
There is another round of selections and Elie's father is set to be executed. He gives Elie a spoon and knife, his only inheritance. After Elie leaves his father, convinced that he will never see him again, he hears that there has been another round of selections and that his father has passed. -
Winter and a Rumor
As winter approaches, Elie's foot undergoes a serious operation because it has grown abnormally. The hospital is comfortable and life is much better there and even Elie's father can benefit from the extra care. While recovering, Elie is spurred by rumors that the Russian front will soon liberate them. -
Another exodus
Choosing to go with the evacuation of the camp believing that all the remaining Jews will be killed, Elie and his father leave with the crowd further into Germany as the Russian front approaches. -
The evacuation and the abandon town
Elie and the other evacuees are forced to run atwn miles before they are allowed to stop. if one person falls behind or falls, they are killed automatically. When they reach the snowy town, Elie and his father make sure that they stay awake because sleep on the snowy ground means certain death. An old rabbi asks Elie if he has seen his son, which he has. He has saw him stop becuase he had believed it would be easier on his father. Elie does not tell him this, and spares the old man some pain. -
The barracks at Gleiwitz
As they arrive at the new camp, Elie and his father are bombarded and separated by the rushing prisoners to get to a bed. Many men crush Elie to the point of death and Elie finds that he is lying on top of Juliek, the violinist. Elie thankfully finds that he is nearby his father. That night, Juliek plays his violin in the deathly silence, while men perish around Elie. Elie wakes up to find that Juliek has too died, and his violin had been crushed. -
ANother selection and Evacuation.
After a brief stint in the barraks at Gleiwitz, there is another selection and Elie's father, extremely sick, is set to die. When Elie rushes to retrieve his father from the line, he is able to extract his father from the condemned prisoners. When they return to the cattle cars, for another evacuation, Elie's father isbelieved to be dead and is to be thrown from the car but Elie stops the men and wakes his father just in time. -
The horrible journey
AS they are taken away from Gleiwitz, they pass through cities where German workers throw food into the car but instead of providing relief to the starving prisoners, the Germans witness the occupants of the car killing eachother over the food. Elie sees a child beat his own father to death after he recieves a piece of bread and then is beaten to death by others. Later, they are stopped and asked to remove their dead, almost 100 men. -
Arrival at Buchenwald and the Death of Elie's father.
Elie's father soon begins to give in to death when they reach the new camp. He is feeble and is diagnosed with dysentry and Elie struggles to support his father. When Elie finds doctors and asks them to help his father they say they do not want to waste their time and resourses on a dead man. When Elie's father asks an SS man for water, he is beaten by the man. On January 29, 1945, Elie's father is taken to the crematorium. Instead of sorrow, Elie feels relieved. -
Liberation
With Elie only thinking of food now, with the American army drawing ever near, the SS men decide to kill and evacuate all the remaining Jews. On April 11th and air raid occurs and all are rushed inside. after the raid it seems like nothing has happened and the SS men go on with the plan. Then suddenly the American army attacks and the camp is liberated. -
Aftershocks and the Ending
Elie is taken to a hospital and suffers food poisoning after the liberation. When looking in a mirror there, he claims that he saw a corpse looking back at him, for he had not seen a mirror since Sighet. Eliezer ends the book at this moment.