Quote 41
Around eleven o'clock the train began to move again. We pressed against the windows. The convoy was rolling slowly. A quarter of an hour later, it began to slow down even more. Through the windows, we saw barbed wire; we understood that this was the camp.
We had forgotten Mrs. Schächter’s existence. Suddenly, there was a terrible scream:
"Jews, look! Look at the fire! Look at the flames!"
And as the train stopped, this time we saw flames rising from a tall chimney into a black sky.
[…]
In front of us, those flames. In the air, the smell of burning flesh. It must have been about midnight. We had arrived. In Birkenau. (2.55-63)
The Jews of Sighet wanted so dearly to maintain hope that they ignored Mrs. Schächter’s warnings. The illusions they created for themselves were dangerous; they kept themselves ignorant of what was to come until it was far, far too late.
Quote 42
His voice was terribly sad. I understood that he did not wish to see what they would to do to me. He did not wish to see his only son go up in flames.
My forehead was covered with cold sweat. Still, I told him that I could not believe that human beings were being burned in our times; the world would never tolerate such crimes …
"The world? The world is not interested in us. Today everything is possible, even the crematoria …" His voice broke.
"Father," I said. "If that is true, then I don’t want to wait. I’ll run into the electrified barbed wire. That would be easier than a slow death in the flames." (3.57-60)
Eliezer in his youthful innocence continues to think that they are not mortal danger, but his father puts an end to their self-deception—the crematoria have shaken him out his illusions.
Quote 43
From time to time, in the middle of all that talk, a thought crossed my mind: Where is Mother right now … and Tzipora …
"Mother is still a young woman," my father once said. "She must be in a labor camp. And Tzipora, she is a big girl now. She too must be in a camp …"
How we would have liked to believe that. We pretended, for what if one of us still did believe? (3.179-181)
Eliezer and his dad try to deceive themselves and each other about the likelihood that their loved ones are alive. In the end, however, Eliezer knows they’re just pretending in an attempt to keep each other’s hope alive.
Quote 44
We were quite used to this kind of rumor. It wasn’t the first time that false prophets announced to us: peace-in-the-world, the-Red-Cross-negotiating-our-liberation, or other fables … And often we would believe them … It was like an injection of morphine. (5.147)
Rumors of liberation from the Allies ease the prisoners’ pain and build up their hope, even if the rumors are false.
Quote 45
Only this time these prophecies seemed more founded. During the last nights, we had heard cannons in the distance.
My faceless neighbor spoke up:
"Don't be deluded. Hitler has made it clear that he will annihilate all Jews before the clock strikes twelve."
I exploded:
"What do you care what he said? Would you want us to consider him a prophet?"
His cold eyes stared at me. At last, he said wearily:
"I have more faith in Hitler than in anyone else. He alone has kept his promises, all his promises, to the Jewish people." (5.148-154)
Recognizing that illusions are dangerous, Eliezer’s neighbor in the hospital attempts to bring Eliezer back to the reality of their situation as Jews under Hitler’s control.
Quote 46
Abruptly, our doors opened. Strange-looking creatures, dressed in striped jackets and black pants, jumped into the wagon. Holding flashlights and sticks, they began to strike at us left and right […]. (1.60)
During Eliezer’s first encounter with concentration camp prisoners, he describes them as "creatures." These prisoners have lost their human identity, they are mere creatures, all dressed alike in similar, strange clothing. Within one night, Eliezer will become one of these "creatures" as well.
Quote 47
Suddenly, someone threw his arms round me in a hug: Yechiel, the Sigheter rebbe’s brother. He was weeping bitterly. I thought he was crying with joy at still being alive.
"Don't cry, Yechiel," I said. "Don't waste your tears."
"Not cry? We're on the threshold of death. Soon we shall be inside … Do you understand? Inside. How could I not cry?"
I watched the darkness fade through the bluish skylights in the roof. I was no longer afraid. I was overcome by fatigue. (3.86-90)
Because of the suffering Eliezer has endured, he’s so exhausted that he can no longer feel normal human emotion, like fear and sadness.
Quote 48
In a few seconds, we had ceased to be men. Had the situation not been so tragic, we might have laughed. We looked pretty strange! Meir Katz, a colossus, wore a child’s pants, and Stern, a skinny little fellow, was floundering in a huge jacket. We immediately started to switch.
I glanced over at my father. How changed he looked! His eyes were veiled. I wanted to tell him something, but I didn’t know what.
The night had passed completely. The morning star shone in the sky. I too had become a different person. The student of Talmud, the child I was, had been consumed by the flames. All that was left was a shape that resembled me. My soul had been invaded – and devoured – by a black flame. (3.95-97)
Within one night the concentration camp experience has completely altered Eliezer’s identity, as well as the identities of his fellow Jews. Shaven and dressed in the same prison garb, the men have been stripped of the individuality they formerly had. In addition, Eliezer’s identity has further changed because he has lost his innocence, is no longer a child, and has lost his faith in God’s justice. He can no longer define himself as either a "child" or a "student of Talmud;" now he is simply a prisoner.
Quote 49
My father suddenly had a colic attack. He got up and asked politely, in German, "Excuse me … Could you tell me where the toilets are located?"
The Gypsy stared at him for a long time, from head to toe. As if he wished to ascertain that the person addressing him was actually a creature of flesh and bone, a human being with a body and a belly. Then, as if waking from a deep sleep, he slapped my father with such a force that he fell down and then crawled back to his place on all fours.
I stood petrified. What had happened to me? My father had just been struck, in front of me, and I had not even blinked. I had watched and kept silent. Only yesterday, I would have dug my nails into this criminal's flesh. Had I changed that much? So fast? Remorse began to gnaw at me. All I could think was: I shall never forgive them for this. My father must have guessed my thoughts, because he whispered in my ear:
"It doesn’t hurt." His cheek still bore the red mark of the hand. (3.117-120)
The man in charge of Eliezer and his father’s unit, despite Eliezer’s father’s polite address, is unable to view him as a fellow human, and feels justified in beating him. The "gypsy" degrades Eliezer’s father and turns him into the animal he is seen as by the prison guards, beating him until he crawls on all fours. The concentration camp environment is gradually eroding away Eliezer’s humanity as well, his feelings of anger at the "gypsy" are delayed—self-preservation instincts are already beginning to overwhelm more human emotions.
Quote 50
In the afternoon, they made us line up. Three prisoners brought a table and some medical instruments. We were told to roll up our left sleeves and file past the table. The three "veteran" prisoners, needles in hand, tattooed numbers on our left arms. I became A-7713. From then on, I had no other name. (3.143)
Eliezer’s loses the humanness of having a name and becomes a number.
Quote 51
The medical checkup took place outside, early in the morning, before three doctors seated on a bench.
The first hardly examined me. He just asked:
"Are you in good health?"
Who would have dared to admit the opposite?
On the other hand, the dentist seemed more conscientious: he asked me to open my mouth wide. In fact, he was not looking for decay, but for gold teeth. Those who had gold in their mouths were listed by their number. I did have a gold crown.
The first three days went by quickly. On the fourth day, as we stood in front of our tent, the Kapos appeared. Each one began to choose the men he liked:
"You … you … you and you …" They pointed their fingers, the way one might choose cattle, or merchandise. (4.15-21)
Medical examinations are a joke. Although Germans considered Jewish bodies important for labor, it is not important for their bodies to be kept healthy. The identity and value of the Jewish prisoners is reduced to the value that can be extracted from their bodies—whether that value was labor or gold.
Quote 52
I was nothing but a body. Perhaps even less: a famished stomach. The stomach alone was measuring time. (4.61)
Eliezer has been reduced to simply a body, nothing more.
Quote 53
I was putting one foot in front of the other, like a machine. I was dragging this emaciated body that was still such a weight. If only I could have shed it! Though I tried to put it out of my mind, I couldn’t help thinking that there were two of us: my body and I. And I hated that body. (6.5)
As they march from one camp to the next, Eliezer wishes he could get rid of his body—just leave it behind. He separates the true "Eliezer" from his physical body.
Quote 54
I soon forgot him. I began to think of myself again. My foot was aching, I shivered with every step. Just a few more meters and it will be over. I’ll fall. A small red flame … A shot … Death enveloped me, it suffocated me. It stuck to me like glue. I felt I could touch it. The idea of dying, of ceasing to be, began to fascinate me. To no longer exist. To no longer feel the excruciating pain of my foot. To no longer feel anything, neither fatigue, nor cold, nothing. To break rank, to let myself slide to the side of the road … (6.17)
For Eliezer, death, the end of oneself and one’s identity, is seen as the end of his physical pain. His experience of life now is purely physical pain, and nothing more.
Quote 55
We received no food. We lived on snow; it took the place of bread. The days resembled the nights, and the nights left in our souls the dregs of their darkness. The train rolled slowly, often halted for a few hours, and continued. It never stopped snowing. We remained lying on the floor for days and nights, one on top of the other, never uttering a word. We were nothing but frozen bodies. Our eyes closed, we merely waited for the next stop, to unload our dead. (7.23)
Because of their cold and hunger—their basic physical needs—the prisoners are reduced to mere bodies.
Quote 56
One day when we had stopped, a worker took a piece of bread out of his bag and threw it into a wagon. There was a stampede. Dozens of starving men fought desperately over a few crumbs. The worker watched the spectacle with great interest. […] In the wagon where the bread had landed, a battle had ensued. Men were hurling themselves against each other, trampling, tearing at and mauling each other. Beasts of prey unleashed, animal hate in their eyes. An extraordinary vitality possessed them, sharpening their teeth and nails. (7.25-29)
The humanity of the prisoners has been stripped away to such a degree that food takes on greater value than morality, human kindness, and affection for family.
Quote 57
He closed his eyes, as if to escape time.
"You don't understand," he said in despair. "You cannot understand. I was saved miraculously. I succeeded in coming back. Where did I get my strength? I wanted to return to Sighet to describe to you my death so that you might ready yourselves while there is still time. Life? I no longer care to live. I am alone. But I wanted to come back to warn you. Only no one is listening to me …" (1.37-38)
There’s more than one kind of death; though he is still physically alive, Moishe has experienced a death of the spirit and the soul through his torture at the hands of the Nazis. Yet he hopes to save others from this living death.
Quote 58
My father’s view was that it was not all bleak, or perhaps he just did not want to discourage the others, to throw salt on their wounds:
"The yellow star? So what? It’s not lethal …"
(Poor Father! Of what then did you die?) (1.73-75)
People’s racial identity becomes their death (or the marker of death), as symbolized by the yellow star.
Quote 59
Open rooms everywhere. Gaping doors and windows looked out into the void. It all belonged to everyone since it no longer belonged to anyone. It was there for the taking. An open tomb. (1.137)
Wiesel describes the emptying of the Jewish ghetto in language descriptive of death—which is what it was, literally.
Quote 60
In front of us, those flames. In the air, the smell of burning flesh. It must have been about midnight. We had arrived. In Birkenau. (2.63)
Eliezer is welcomed to Birkenau by an overwhelming sense of death; the smell of death is literally in the air and the flames before his eyes. To enter Birkenau is to understand that you will likely die.