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Without determination, life would be hopeless
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Elie Wiesel was born in Sighet from a Yiddish couple named Sarah Feig and Chlomo Wiesel. He had two older sisters while he lived in Sighet. The photo shown above is a photograph and Sighet before the Nazis invaded it.
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Germans were already in the city of Sighet, but it was not until the 7th day of the passover in 1944 when they actually took over the city. They arrested all of the Jews that had power in the city and took all of the Jew's possessions to help them in the war with U.S.A. They made all the Jews that were left to wear the Star of David and transported them to Jewish ghettos. This was the first time Elie Wiesel experienced such traumas in his life.
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It has been a month since the Nazis invaded Sighet and took over economy of the city. Jews were already being sent to camps all over the country, but Elie did not know a single thing about it. All the Jews in Sighet were transported on freight trains to the city of Auschwitz.
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While Elie Wiesel and all the other Jews were being transported to Auschwitz concentration camps, a lady in the train was screaming that there was a fire, although there were none. She kept on screaming and men had to hit her so she would become quiet, but it never worked. The only way to quiet her down a little was for her little boy to talk to her. Everyone on the train thought that she was mad, but she was actually predicting the future. It turns out that there is a crematory in the camp.
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The freight train stopped at a subcamp of Auschwitz, Birkenau. This was the place where he last saw his mother and his two older sisters. He vowed that he would never leave his father's side for as long as he lives. Then Elie and his father are sent to Auschwitz, the worst concentration camp of them all. This is where most of the Jews were killed. Almost 3 million Jews were killed here and this was where the biggest crematory was. This was the symbol of the Holocaust.
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The one thing that Elie had was his identity, and now he doesn't even have that. His number was A-7713. He lost the one things that the Nazis did not at first take away from him, and now it seems like he is a nobody. He is sent to Buna and becomes "friends" with one of the prisoners. He tells Elie that the station he was in, electrical equipment, was the best one in the whole camp. His masters were Idek and Franek.
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Elie Wiesel was forced by the Nazis to walk for 3 months straight to his next camp. They have to go at the exact same speed as the Nazis want them to go. If they are too fast or to slow, they are shot and killed on the spot. Elie saw people get killed and murdered right in front him and he still had to walk if he didn't want to get killed. This showed how cruel and terrible the Nazis were to the Jews.
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While Elie is sleeping, his father must have been taken away by the Nazis. When Elie wakes up he notices that his father is missing. He mourns his father's death and is depressed that he broke his vow. Now he is the only one left from his family. His father's death took away a part of himself.
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Elie, along with the rest of the camp, is liberated by the US 89th infantry division.
