Title: Night
Author: Elie Wiesel
Publ.: Grapevine
ISBN: 978-9381841891
MRP: Rs 125
Pages: 173
This book starts with describing the spread of
anti-semitic feelings and the subsequent seize of that small town where Elie
Wiesel, the author lived with his family, by the Nazi troops. The Jews of his
town are taken overnight to a concentration camp, leaving everything behind. He
and his father are separated from rest of the family and endure torture,
beatings, violence and constant fear of being thrown alive in a furnace. The
author describes how the old, sick, infants and little children were thrown
alive by truckloads in a furnace (with a tall chimney) that exuded a stinking
black smoke all the time.
The author and his father are made to shift between various camps in stifling rail carriages and on long foot marching and he watches his father die a very slow and painful death. This book does not describe other macabre conditions (like gas chambers) of the Auschwitz camp but focuses on an emotional relationship between a father and a son in adverse times. Wiesel was rescued by Americans with other inmates of the camp.
The author and his father are made to shift between various camps in stifling rail carriages and on long foot marching and he watches his father die a very slow and painful death. This book does not describe other macabre conditions (like gas chambers) of the Auschwitz camp but focuses on an emotional relationship between a father and a son in adverse times. Wiesel was rescued by Americans with other inmates of the camp.
It is
difficult to believe how cruel man can become. One will surely start hating Nazis for
their atrocities on Jews. Elie Wiesel (1928-2016) won the 1986 Nobel Peace
Prize. This book has been translated from French (originally written in Kiddish) by author's wife, Marion Wiesel.
Rating 4/5
