Eliezer's Response To Injustice

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In an attempt to exterminate an entire race, Adolf Hitler expressed one of the largest forms of injustice humanity has ever witnessed. However, it is just as intriguing a question to ask why the Jews did not rebel and respond to this injustice, than it is to ask why the Nazis would think it right to commit the biggest anti-Semitism crime in history. An angry mob of six million rebelling people would no doubt heavily compete with the strength of the Nazis. So why then did the Jewish community fail to appropriately rebel and respond to the injustices they were facing? In order to respond to such cruelty an individual needs to have the self-respect that will allow him/her to have proper regard and esteem for themselves so that they realize that…show more content…
He considers himself as the son of one of the most highly regarded men in his community (Wiesel 4). Moreover, he deems himself worthy enough to dwell into the complex and mysterious teachings of the Kabbalah at a very young age. A young boy who is deeply connected with his religion and who shows strong pride in his community would easily be provoked to rebel against any sort of injustice towards him and his community. Thus Eliezer develops the self-respect which allows him to easily rebel against any injustices he is facing. However, Eliezer and his community members are not facing any injustice during this time of established self-respect and high dignity. Rather, they are blinded of the injustices to come by the ironically kind German officers in their ghettos. In fact, the “first impressions [that the Jews have] of the Germans [are] rather reassuring” by the fact that “their attitude… [is] distant but polite” (9). Therefore, there is no need to respond to injustice because injustice is not present at this…show more content…
From seeing innocent children being burned in a crematorium to seeing people die of exhaustion from running twenty kilometers non-stop in the middle of winter, Eliezer witnesses nearly every method of cruel assassination one could imagine. Although all of these brutal and dehumanizing events cause a great mental effect on Wiesel, none do more so than the events of his first night in a concentration camp. Eliezer describes this night in great detail in the following

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