The Last Months of Elie's Story

As the inmates entered the camp's grounds, Germany guards counted them by having them form ranks of five, with one hundred to a group. Next they were sent to the showers. Getting into the showers was very difficult as hundreds of prisoners were packed tightly together around the shower area. The guards struggled to restore orders, but even with their lashed flying left and right, they could not bring the crowd back into an ordered assembly. While waiting and waiting for the shower, suddenly the sirens began blaring. The lights went out and the prisoners were quickly rounded up and hurried back to their blocks. With the commotion of the air raid sirens, Elie was separated from his father without even thinking of his company. All that mattered now was to get out of the cold wind and into a bunk to sleep.


In the morning when he awoke, Elie immediately remember his father and jumped out of his bunk, running off to search for him. His search lasted for hours, ending when he found his father near a block where they were distributing black "coffee." Elie did not spot his father, but his father's cry to his son for a drink of coffee brought Elie to him. Elie fought his way through the crowd, successfully bringing his father back a small cup of coffee. Elie saw in his father's eyes the gratitude like no other, saying "With these few mouthfuls of hot water, I had probably given him more satisfaction that during my entire childhood..."

Every day, Elie's father grew weaker and weaker, his face becoming "the color of dead leaves." Elie tried his best to care for him as best he could, but someone suffering from dysentery in those conditions, there was nothing that Elie could do to help him. In his father's dying hours, he desperately tried to tell Elie all his life secrets and words of advice. He even told Elie of the families buried gold and silver, buried in the cellar of their home. A week went by with Elie trying desperately to meets his father's desires and avoid the ridicule of the other inmates for taking care of a hopeless cause like his father. One of the doctors even told Elie that he must stop giving his bread and soup to his father. Such a thing in a concentration camp would surely bring about his death.

When roll call came, Eliezer decided that he would remain with the sick and he stayed in his bunk to be with his father. As he lay there, he father began to cry out for water, calling his name, "Eliezer... Eliezer!" One of the guards shouted for silence across the barrack, but his father payed not attention. He only continued crying out, "Eliezer... water my son. Water! Eliezer." The officer then came over and struck him brutally on the head. Elie couldn't move, he was too afraid. Afraid that the next blow would be to his head. He climbed down after roll call, finding his father mumbling and shaking. Finally, after staring endlessly at him father's crumbled and broken body, Elie crawled into his bunk to sleep. The date was January 28, 1945.

The next morning, Elie woke upon at dawn. January 29. In his father's place lay a new sick person. His father had been taken from him. But much to his confusion and pain, Elie had no tears. He did not weep. He could not bring himself to cry when there were no tears left.

Three months later, Elie Wiesel's story comes to an end. He does not describe the remain months that he spends in Buchenwald. With the death of his father, nothing more could have mattered to him. He sat in idleness for three months, only thinking of food, the next bread and soup that he would receive.

On April 5, all things changed. They were waiting in the afternoon for a Germany officer to come and count them. But he was late. Late! This did not happen ever, not once in the history of Buchenwald's operation. After two hours of unknowning, the loudspeakers announced that all Jews were to report to the Appelplatz. In the confusion, of the masses heading towards the Appelplatz, many Jews had passed as non-Jews. This could not be tolerated by the camp's command, so they decided that a general roll call would be held the next day with everyone present. After the following day's roll call, thousands upon thousands were marched out of the camp's gates each day. On April 11, with twenty thousand prisoners still remaining, the resistance decided to act. They appeared everywhere, armed men with rifles, machine guns, and grenades. The battle was short and the SS fled the compound, leaving the resistance victorious.

The first action that all the prisoners took after their liberation was to gouge themselves on the provisions. Elie describes their thought process. "[P]rovitions. No thought of revenge, or of parents. Only of bread." Instinct had taken over emotion and ending their hunger was all that mattered.

Elie became sick three days after the liberation. Food poisoning. He clung to life, swing back and forth towards death for weeks in the hospital. As he stayed in the hospital, he decided to find a mirror and look at himself. He had not seen himself in years. Since he was back in the ghetto of Hungary. Staring back at him was "a corpses... contemplating me."

Journey to Buchenwald

When the night was drawing to a close and the light began to appear on the horizon, Elie saw the tangled and mangled mess of human shapes crammed into the train car. He searched amongst the faces, trying to separate the living from the dead. The train suddenly came to a stop in an open field. The order came from the SS to "[t]hrow out all the dead! Outside, all the corpses!" Everyone began to look at his neighbor, searching for someone to throw out and create more space. Two men came to Elie's father, but Elie was not convinced that he was dead yet. He slapped his face and rubbed his hands, crying "Father! Father! Wake up." At last, he half opened his eyes and the two men left him. When the job was done, twenty corpses had been thrown from the train, forever left in a snowy Polish field.

The train resumed its journey and continued on for hours. Here and there, the convoy would pass through a German village or town and the laborers walking to work in the morning would stop and look as the train passed. One worker threw as scrap of bread into one of the cars. A stampede erupted and the fighting between the men was ferocious. Elie described the fighting men as "[b]easts of prey unleashed, animal hate in their eyes." Soon a crowd had formed along the track and pieces of bread were flying into the train cars from all directions. The spectacle was watched with great curiosity by the workers, as they had never seen such cargo before. In the end, a few were killed and all that was gained was the insignificant scraps of a few workers.

At another point in the journey, one of the train's passengers got up and yelled for everyone to start moving. "We must not remain sitting. We shall freeze to death." he said. The others proceeded to get up and took a few steps in each direction, shuffling back and forth, trying to bring warmth back into their limbs. That same night, they reached their destination. As the guards ordered the inmates off the train, the dead were simply left behind. Only those who could stand were let off. What is most upsetting about this situation is the shear number of dead and dieing that were lost during the journey. When the train had set out from the field near Gleiwitz, about one hundred had been on board. Upon arriving at Buchenwald, only twelve got off.

The Days of Gleiwitz

Upon arriving at Gleiwitz in the middle of the night, everyone was in a hurry to get themselves inside the barracks. The Kapos lead their assigned inmates to the respective barracks, but the whole process was anything but orderly. Masses of people were attempting to enter the small doors to the barracks at once and the scene quickly turned ugly when people were pushed to the ground and trampled on. Elie and his father were thrown to the floor by the moving crowd, landing on top of others struggling to enter. Underneath Elie was a boy that he recognized the voice of. Juliek, from Warsaw whom he had been with at Buna. Elie was being pushed down on top of Juliek and crushing, but even with his attempts to remove the weight from his back, Elie was stuck for the time without any way out.

Next, someone was pushed down on top of Elie and he could not breathe, either through his mouth or his nose. The thought of a slow, silent death by suffocation was dreadful. He had to do something, but he could neither yell nor call for help. It seemed as if it were to be the end. He did not know if he was struggling with a dead man or a silent foe holding him down, but with all the energy he could muster, he fought his way to the open air with the passion to live coming forth through his nails. At last he prevailed, creating a whole through which he "could drink a little air." These words that he uses illustrate how desperate he was to survive. This shows that his will to fight on and survive was still strong, that he was not yet ready to give up.

Once he was able to regain his breath, Elie called out to his father, who replied with a distant "Yes!" His father had remained conscious too and was now trying to sleep, something that Elie was surprised by and worried about because of the threat of death being so near.

Then from across the barracks came the sound of a violin being played in the dark. It was Juliek, playing a fragment of a Beethoven concerto. Elie listened as if in a trace, saying, "Never before had I heard such a beautiful sound." Juliek was now playing with his entire being, his full passion passing throw the bow into the strings. This moment when the barrack's darkness enveloped Elie, became one that he would remember forever. The song brings back "the pale and melancholy face of [his] polish comrade" every time that he hears it. That night changed him and he was most affected by the cruel happens of the piles of dead built up on top of the living.

The stay at Gleiwitz was short. They only remained there for three days, but for three days without food or water. No one was to leave the barracks, under the consequence of immediate execution by the SS soldiers who stood guarding outside the doors. At dawn on the third day, the entire camp was emptied and driven out towards a gate. The gate divided the camp in two and work quickly spread: selection! The weak were driven to the left, those who could walk to the right. Elie was separated from his father as he was pushed to the left. Elie ran after him, inching his way through the crowd as several guards ran after him. With the shoving, jostling and confusion that the guards created, many people were able to move back over to the right side, amongst them, Elie and his father.

Those who survived the selection process were lead out of the camp and taken on a half-hour march until they came to a railroad crossing in the middle of a field. The wait for the train was strenuous, magnifying the effects of their hunger and fatigue. After a while, they were each given a ration of bread, the usual small ration of crumbs and stale crust. One prisoner, in his desperation to quench his thirst, decided he would eat spoonfuls of snow to satisfy his need. Soon, all the inmates were eating snow off of their neighbors' backs, taking a bite of bread and a mouthful of snow. This seemed to amuse the SS who were watching the occurrence and they began to laugh amongst themselves. This finding of humor in the situation and the guards' indifference towards the inmates' inhumane treatment is a great sign of the evil nature of the German guards. Their ideals and indoctrinations completely disregarded the worth and dignity of their fellow human beings because of their differences.

Finally, after many hours of endless snow, the infinitely long train arrived. The train constructed of many open-topped cattle cars. As the SS shoved the inmates inside, they were loaded with one hundred to a car. Once everyone was loaded, the shipment of humans began to move.

A March to Remember

The Polish icy wind was blowing fiercely and Elie's clothing quickly lost its warmth. The SS soldiers yelled over the howl of the wind, "Faster, you tramps, you flea-ridden dogs!" The pace of the group was brutal. At first Elie didn't mind, the quick pace kept him warm and the traveling was a sort of "accomplishment." Then it became unbearable. People were running, but everywhere people were falling out. Then came the shots. Orders had been given to shoot all those who lagged behind and the German soldiers did not deprive themselves of the "pleasure."

Elie was having an internal struggle while he continued on. He felt himself to be of two parts: his body and himself (his mind). He was struggling to keep up with the intense pace, so his mind just wanted to shed his heavy body. Finally his mind just screamed at him, saying, "Don't think, don't stop, run!" His foot was aching, but he had no choose but to keep going. Eventually, he describes himself as running like a sleepwalker, closing his eyes and running while asleep. That is until, someone would kick him in the back and yell at him for slowing up. Then he would just run faster and struggle through the oppressive power of sleepiness until it conquered him once more.

When the SS grew tired, they were simply replaced by new soldiers. Elie comments on the pitiful situation where no one was replacing them and more and more tired souls continued to fall out. Elie was surprised when the Kommandant announced that they had already covered twenty kilometers and it wasn't even morning yet. Now, the limits of fatigue had been surpassed, the running was only a mechanical, robotic function. The last hour of seemed like an eternity to Elie, but when the order came to halt, all he could do was collapse onto the ground with the rest of the crowd. His father didn't approve of laying in the snow, so they made their way into a near-by brick factory in ruins. Once they had gotten inside, Elie fell asleep, for an instant or an hour, he didn't know, but when his father woke him, he warned against being overtaken by the dangerous sleep.

Night had fallen and the SS began to gather the remaining inmates and form them into ranks. The dead were simply left where they were, buried in the falling snow. Elie remarked that "sons abandoned the remains of their fathers without a tear." This is a powerful statement and it goes to show how "far gone" some of the inmates were. They were delusional, uninterested in anything other than food or rest. Once marching again, Elie's wounded right foot did not hurt or ache anymore. He realized that it had probably frozen and he told himself that he would have to accept the fact that he have to live without it from now on.

As the treacherous march continued on endlessly, Elie and his fellow surviving inmates were from time to time encouraged by SS officers on motorcycles who drove along the column and shouted words of hope. Even coming from their own assassins, the marching inmates did find great help in the words and they marched on, searching the horizon for the elusive sight of the gates of Gleiwitz.

The march last several more hours and when they finally reached the camp gates, it was only when they stood right in front of them that they saw them. Once inside, the Kapos quickly divided the inmates and lead them into their barracks.

The Exodus from Birkenau

Now the time had come for the evacuation of Buna because of the advances of the Russian army against the Germans, bringing the fighting within hearing distance. Elie and his father had decided to leave the camp along with the other inmates going out. Each Blockälteste distributed double rations of bread and margarine to each inmate for the road. The journey would be long and the skimpy pieces of bread which Elie received certainly wouldn't last until their destination, so he decided to save them for later, thinking the nutrition would be needed for the road.

As Elie lay trying to sleep in his bunk for the last time, he started to bring back memories of all the other "last nights" which he had experienced since the start of his horrid trek. The last night at home, the last night in the ghetto, the last night in the train car, and then the last night in Buna. What an undesirable way to spend your valuable childhood, moving from place to place every few months, never having a true "home" and never knowing where the next stop would bring you. This aspect of Elie's story is one that might be often overlooked, but its significance is great because each place you stayed only represented another inhospitable place to sleep, but not a home, never a place with the love and comfortable atmosphere of a familiar home.

The next morning brought a strange sight, with each inmate who reappeared after entering the storehouse looking like a clown in the ratty, torn, and bulky new garments. Layers upon layers were worn to keep the cold away. As much clothing could be taken as each wanted, but the effectiveness of the inmates' new defenses against the cold quickly showed their flaws. The snow had begun during the night and continued to fall heavily throughout the day. Finally, after hours of waiting, the bell rang sounded the beginning of the march. Hundreds of SS officers appeared with their vicious police dogs from out of the darkness, lining the perimeter of the camp as the inmates processed out. Block by block they were lead out the gate. "Block 53... Block 55... Block 57, forward! March!" Elie and his father were on their way, leaving behind forever the inhumane living conditions which they endured at Buna and Birkenau.

Continuation of Chapter 5

Winter had arrived in Buna and the harshness of the cold winter nights is described as "almost unbearable." The winter clothing that the inmates were given were striped shirts being a hair thicker and heavier than their previous shirts. The veteran inmates only taunted the newcomers even more, saying, "Now you'll really get a taste of camp!" The unfortunate aspect was that the veterans had lived in various concentration camps long enough that they knew what all the unimaginable, horrible, unthinkable things were like, and yet they were only focused on themselves. They certainly were not interested in giving advise on how to best survive to the others.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birkenau_concentration_camp
This link leads to Wikipedia's description of the German concentration camp Birkenau, in which Elie was staying in at this time, in the Buna work camp sector. Some of the living conditions and day to day descriptions are included so it is a good link for outside information on the conditions which Elie Wiesel and his fellow inmates would have been experiencing.

Elie had been moved to a new block, the construction Kommando, where the work was especially grueling and exhausting. The work schedule during the winter months did not even hint at a decrease in pace so the inmates just went on as usual. The worst part about the cold was the feeling that the stones would stick to your hands as you touched them and then not come off, but like all the other hardships suffered in the camp, the construction laborers just got used to it.

When January came, Elie began to have trouble with his right foot. The cold was causing it to swell so he went and checked in to the infirmary. The Jewish doctor there, also a prisoner, told Elie frankly that "[w]e have to operate! If we wait, the toes and perhaps the leg will have to be amputated." This news frightened the young Elie, as it would any young child who is afraid of the knife. I remember before my surgery to have my tonsils removed, all I could think about was the fact that I would be asleep while a sharp knife was inside of me. I think Elie's fear was certainly justifiable and by no means childish or cowardly. While staying in the infirmary, Elie was put in a bed with white sheets, oddly reminding him that people actually slept in sheets. The rations of bread and soup were a little heartier too, making the stay less of a trial. Elie had really begun to enjoy his time in the infirmary, expecting to stay for two weeks, until his neighbor told him about the selections. These selections in the infirmary came more often than outside, leaving fewer and fewer behind. His neighbor's advice: "[L]eave the infirmary before the next selection!"

Elie's expected stay in the infirmary was cut short for another reason though, other than selection. Two days after his operation, rumors sped through the camp about the battlefront suddenly drawing nearer. Hope began to circulate about the eminent Russian liberation. This was of course the story until news came back with the Blockälteste about the German's new plan: Evacuation. The camp would be evacuated the following evening, block by block, with the sick remaining behind in the infirmary. The probable fate of those who stayed behind in the infirmary was a swift execution by the SS, but Elie wasn't worried about death at the time, he only worried about being separated from his father. The good news was that he and his father could decide for themselves. The kind Jewish doctor offered to have it arranged so that Elie's father could also remain in the infirmary, but this could mean death for both of them. Elie's immediate thought was "Let's be evacuated with the others," but his father was not listening to his son. He only stared at Elie's foot, finally agreeing to leave, but only after he had said, "Let's hope we won't regret it, Eliezer."

This next fact of the story that Elie narrates has such irony that I had to read it twice to make sure I had comprehended it correctly. At this point, Elie tells the read the reader that he learned after the war that those who had remained in the infirmary were liberated by Russian soldiers two days later. This alternate fate which Elie could have lived was so drastically different, that had he been liberated with his father two days later, I don't think he would have written this book. The next few months are ones that certainly changed him more than any other amount of time could. And to leave the war's path with his father still alive was something that Elie could have only dreamed of at this point. I struggle to comprehend the magnitude of difference between the road which Elie and his father decided to take and the one which they could have taken. This incident is a perfect example of the lasting, permanent effect of the decisions we make in our lives and how we cannot take them back.