Camp Widjiwagan

“As my eyes became accustomed to the dark, I saw strewn around the living room in a rough circle the decayed bodies of a man, a woman and two children, stark white bone poking through the desiccated, leather-like covering that had once been skin.” In his book Shake Hands with the Devil, Roméo Dallaire paints a heartrending image of his involvement as a high-ranking general stationed in Rwanda during the Rwandan genocide. Vivid firsthand descriptions evoke emotions of sadness, pity, and anger…

impactful kinds of literature were created or inspired by the war. One of the many novels inspired by World War II was Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi. “Levi, retells what he experienced in a concentration camp in order to educate people of his hardships. During his time at the concentration camp, Levi tells the reader how the Nazis dehumanized him and many other victims forcing them to face severe conditions for the benefit of the Nazis and Germany.”(Esposito). Thought this novel Levi does…

invaded and they were all forced to abandon their homes, all of their belongings were left behind and all they had from then on were the clothes on their backs. But soon after that, once they arrived at the camps, even those were taken from them. The first step during the arrival at the camps was for each person to soak in a liquid at the door for sterilization and satitation. After that took place, the prisoners were forced into hot showers and then finally chased outside and given a set of…

have to make an emergency department visit for assault. There are 16,000 homicides per year on average. Cruelty follows people in life, regardless of where they are or who they are. In the book, Night, Elie Wiesel tells the horrors of concentration camps from his point of view as a survivor. In the novel, In Cold Blood, Truman Capote shines a new light on the 1959 murder of the Herbert Clutter family in the small community of Holcomb, Kansas. In both of these texts inhumanity is shown in…

His father was sent to the crematorium to die either already dead or alive. Wiesel, now alone, hardly informs the reader about his last months in the concentration camp. He writes, "Since my father's death, nothing mattered to me anymore" (Wiesel 113). His father's death affected him very deeply, that he doesn't believe his life after mattered. Furthermore, it shows a change of perspective of what Elie Wiesel was…

The effects set in even before they reach the camp. On the train, Madame Schächter starts to shout, warning others of a fire. Consumed by fear, the other Jews try to control her, and they attempt to tie her up, but soon resort to violence. Wiesel witnesses, “They even struck her. People encouraged…

Abuse, starvation, lice, dehydration, neglect. Cramped in a small room with others for months. The smells, the disease. You may think that a prison or even a slaughterhouse is being described, but no. These examples are common practice among slave ships travelling across the Middle Passage - that I witnessed while aboard - which transports not only goods but live human beings from the west coast of Africa. This deplorable action of overcrowding and harassment must be stopped from all ships…

Losing faith is like a diminishing flame that slowly dies out. Elie Wiesel’s novel Night depicts the use of this principle. Wiesel uses the motif of faith to help develop multiple themes throughout the novel. A prominent theme reveals itself in the hardships that Wiesel and his father face. A tremendous impact upon one’s belief causes turmoil. Ultimately, faith is put to the test and lost during times of suffering. Wiesel begins to support his theme of the departure of faith when he…

their concentration camps, Elie would have been seventeen years old. The events that Elie endured, at the Auschwitz concentration camp, inspired him after the war to start writing. Elie was the Author of 57 books and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work. The Norwegian Noble Committee even went as far as calling him a messenger to mankind. At the Noble Peace Prize awards ceremony, Elie Weisel gave a speech describing his experience at the Auschwitz concentration camp in response to…

saved around a thousand lives, although he wished that he had saved more lives, Oskar had to go into hiding. In Night Elie took care of his sick dad and tried to save him, the text read “listen to me, kid. Don’t forget that you are in a concentration camp. In this place, it is every man for himself, and you can not think of others. Not even your father”(Wiesel 110). Elie is saving his father, protecting him as long as he could but Shlomo, Elie's father, died and Elie didn’t have to try to save…