I cannot fathom how any sane human being could do such a heinous act against his fellow human beings. What type of mentality existed in the Nazi soldiers?! Surely they must have felt regret, or they became completely inebriated to try to evict the pain of the murderous acts.
Can any human really become desensitized to this degree of savagery?

This happened to my grandfather and great grandfather. They won medals in fencing, and the Nazis took them to melt them into war machinery.

People bond together in times of oppression. They release any prejudice they may have had about each other because now it is survival of human beings. It would be nice if we could put away our differences and prejudices all the time for the sake of loving one another instead of hating, bickering, or thinking more highly of oneself due to status, race, creed, etc

I have smelled human hair burning, and it is most foul odor I have smelled. I can't imagine the smell of thousands of bodies burning. Also, the fear that must have gripped people, is unbelievable.

I wonder what was going on in the minds of the mothers with children who thought they were being led to a shower??? I would never be able to depart from my child, so I would have been in the line with the mothers holding their children.

The finite human mind cannot comprehend this level of inhumane treatment. I wonder how those soldiers lived with their consciences???

What a psychologically traumatic experience - A truck load of dead little children and babies! What was going through the minds of the soldiers in charge of that duty?

If I were Elie Wiesel, I think I would have nightmares for life. That is a picture that does not soon escape memory. It must be hard for him to endure all these memories still living in his head, yet he is a very successful man. I am beginning to understand the depth of compassion and understanding he as for humanity. If all people could just get a glimpse of his heart, and apply the golden rule to their lives, then the world would be wonderful!

This quote takes suffering to a spiritual level because you are dealing with the "soul" of a man, not just his physical body, but his mind, will, and emotions. They had been stripped of their humanity and they were treated worse than animals. They were stripped of clothing, which revealed their nakedness, which is shameful and produces mental anguish/ breakdown. I believe the SS did this so that they would not have the cognitive ability to resist. If the prisoners wouldn't resist, then they would be easier to manage and less of threat to escape or revolt.

Although this is a tattoo, it is a sign of dehumanization. Humans have a personal identity that has been given to them by family. Usually, people are named after a loved one. To see that changed to a number reduces man to an animal - an object of labor. A person becomes the "insignificant other." I believe it was another form of psychological torture. The purpose was to destroy the Jews, and if they couldn't be broken by physical labor, then they might be broken down mentally and possibly commit suicide.

Humans are social beings and need human companionship to survive, and the closest bonds are with family. Elie needed his dad to survive. He didn't feel strong enough to survive on his own. He was young and scared. If he had his dad by his side, then he could overcome fear and all insecurities. I wonder what would have happened if he was separated from his father. We all have a family member who is our strength and helps us through all our trials, troubles, and mistakes. We need to thank them for their influence in our life.

Idek was very inhumane in whipping a 15 year old boy. It was almost enough to kill him, and I am surprised it did not kill him because he was so thin and weak from the conditions in the camp. This little boy meant nothing to this savage man, and I wonder how Idek could sleep at night or live with himself after this. Can the human mind reach such a point of being desensitized to enforce such brutality without psychological trama? I wonder how many nightmares he had after the war was over? Did he ever seek to find those people he harmed to apologize to them? How frail is human psyche. . .

Just when I think that man can't be any crueler than already revealed in this text, a young boy is hanged. I was so glad the executioners still had enough humanity in them to refuse this hanging, but I am still in shock that the SS had the audacity to go through with it. Were the SS in such fear of their own lives that they would engage this activity? I think I would have refused the job no matter what the cost.
I think of Emily Dickinson at a time like this:

If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.


That is what I would try to do to my fellow prisoners with whom I was still trying to survive.

Elie has come to a crisis of faith. After living through what seemed like hell, he wondered how God could allow this. No person really knows the depth of his/ her faith until that faith is tried in the fire of trials and testings. Why do people only want to believe in God during the "good" times, but as soon as something goes wrong/ bad, people lose heart in God? They treat God like He is some sort of genie bowing to the whims of man. A foundation in God must not be established in signs/ wonders. It must be established in prayer and, for me, reading and understanding the Bible.

When it's freezing cold and you don't have gloves, then you can get frostbitten very quickly. I wonder if any of the prisoners' fingers had fallen off because of frostbite. It amazes me how the human spirit can survive such extremes of temperature. Elie stated, "But you get used to anything." I can't imagine getting used to the cold and not having feeling in my body. I, honestly think that I would not make it. I am a wimp when it comes to the cold. I need three layers minimum- they only had one thick shirt. Unbelievable!

Here is the ultimate display of love, kindness, and selflessness to humanity. A man was willing to give his gift of music back to the world to give the other prisoners hope. What an inspirational way to die. I wonder how many men regained the strength to live through the music that penetrated their souls? When you can still give, even during your last breaths of life, you are an over comer of adversity - it has not beaten you; you have conquered it

This latest technique to exterminate the Jews, worked rapidly. It is a shame that humans were willing to cause other humans to freeze and starve. If freezing to death wasn't enough humiliation, then to throw human bodies out of a train wagon "like a sack of flour" is utterly intolerable, inhumane, unacceptable. What kept Elie alive? How did this young man still have the will to live in midst of the death that surrounded him. I believe God kept him alive for the sole purpose of telling this story to the world so that he could be the internationally acclaimed humanitarian that he is. There are many forms of torture that people of the world inflict upon each other. When will it end? Why such a need to dominate and persecute? What driving greed propels these heinous acts?

After all this time together, Eliezer's dad dies. But, Eliezer has been through multiple forms of torture that he cannot weep. I feel as though he has hit a low point in his humanity. Tragedy has encased his feelings leaving him numb. This could have affected him for the rest of his life, but he recovered and has become a humanitarian spokes person. He is still a very quiet, peaceful man who doe not believe in much talking.

"The look in his eyes, as they stared into mine, has never left me." This torture has left a permanent image in his mind of the atrocities that man is capable of projecting on to his fellow human being.
This image haunts him for his entire life, but I believe it is also the catalyst that propels him to his international humanitarian work. He has witnessed and lived through evil, and he does not want revenge, but he wants to redeem people to act humanely towards each other. Once a person has experienced this type of affliction, he will do everything in his power to
stop it from ever happening again.