'Night' was a hard book for me to read. The language was simple, almost too simple which made it all the more compelling. The writing was intense, stark, terrifying, moving.
"That night the soup tasted of corpses." Eliezer's comment after he has witnessed the agonizing death of the child who was hanged.
In fact, there were times when I questioned the veracity of the statements made, but I knew they were seemingly impossible but true facts. Facts that cannot, should not be questioned.
The Holocaust had happened. Less than a hundred years ago. People had been killed, had suffered unmentionable atrocities. By the end of the Nazi regime, 2 out of every 3 European Jews had been tortured and killed.
"Night" is the story of Elie Wiesel, a man who survived.
"Men to the left! Women to the right!
Eight words spoken quietly, indifferently, without emotion. Eight short, simple words. Yet that was the moment when I parted from my mother."
It is the true story of a 15 year old who lost his parents and sister in the concentration camps, who lost the immense faith he held in God, who turned on his own family following his inherent instinct to survive himself. It is a story of remembering the travesties of that dark time, that demands that the reader never succumb to conveniently forgetting what civilised humans are capable of, how much they can make others suffer, how much pain they can choose not to see.
"Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed.
Never shall I forget that smoke.
Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky.
Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my faith forever.
Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me, for all eternity, of the desire to live.
Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself.
Never."
These are probably the most powerful and cogent words in 20th century literature.
The sheer magnitude of the importance of this slim volume can't be limited to words. But this is what I came away with after reading those words.
That I'm still in a state of disbelief that people could be brainwashed to such a level, in the 20th century. Even more disturbing, the fact that the civilised world calmly looked on as it happened.
That the world didn't learn enough lessons in humanity, because the genocide in Rwanda, bloody conflict in Sudan and global terrorism is still reality.
That I'm amazed at the impossible courage of people who survive the harshest of human crimes.
This book is definitely not a light read. I'm sure no one really enjoys reading about unspeakable violence and inhumanity on a Saturday night, unless of course, you're a sadist of the worst kind.
However, this is a book that must be read.
To keep the memory alive, and to learn that surviving the darkest phases of life requires proactive work and a little more than just candle-lit hope.
No comments:
Post a Comment