The Holocaust Essay

Submitted By carolinelosure
Words: 697
Pages: 3
Open Document
Caroline Losure
English 9-L1
Ms. Piel/Period 2
Chapter Presentations: Comparison Maker
Primo Levi vs. Elie Wiesel
The Holocaust was a horrific time in history; and those who survived it, will never forget it. Elie Wiesel and Primo Levi are two survivors of the Holocaust and both have made the decision to educate and write about the Holocaust. Wiesel and Levi are two different people, with different lives before the war. But, while in concentration camps they shared similar horrors. Levi and Wiesel transcribed the horror of the Holocaust into literary form with style and emotion that differed between the authors, resulting in the novel Night and Survival in Auschwitz.
Wiesel begins his memoir as a boy, telling about his life before concentration camps. He speaks of the rise of events eventually leading to the loss of all rights and pride among Jews. Wiesel depicts the denial among his neighbors; how could something so horrible actually happen? First, their possessions were taken. Next, their homes were taken and everyone was put into congested ghettos. Eventually, all Jews were shipped off to camps where reality hit.
On the other hand, Levi jumps right into his account from the arrival at the camp. The reader doesn't have the same chance to cope with the loss of a normal life as in Night, and feel for the narrator. Levi's story lacks the amount of emotion compared to Wiesel's. Levi does seem to analyze and report, rather than pull the reader into the reality of the horror as Wiesel does. Levi does not indulge in self-pity; instead he exercises curiosity and takes in everything around him.
A major difference between the two authors is the age and life they were in when they came to the camp. Wiesel was a young boy when he and his family were taken to the concentration camps. Young minds differ greatly from adult minds. Elie Wiesel, like most young people, doesn't understand how such horrible things can happen. He becomes very hateful. Levi has experienced minor horrors of life. He knows the pains of life, and knows that many times there is nothing that can be done about it. Primo Levi accepts what has happened, observes, and analyzes it. He seems to have a better way of coping with what's happening, due to his maturity. Levi's depiction may even be more accurate than dramatized. It is hard to remember accurately things that happened, no matter how terrible or painful. Sometimes this terror and pain may even contribute to the alteration of fact. Another difference is that Wiesel grew up in a community of Jews. He says that the war made him more tolerant for people. Before the war he didn't know any non-Jews. Levi lived in an Italian community. He was unfamiliar with
Show More

Related Documents: The Holocaust Essay

The Holocaust: Holocaust Survivors Of The Holocaust

I chose survivors of the Holocaust as a topic for my medium. Survivors after the Holocaust have opportunities to share their stories, but they will forever remember what they went through when they were in camps. During World War II millions of Jews and other individuals were put into ghettos and later into camps. Many jews did not survive to tell their stories, but a lot of times the survivors that did life wish they had not survived. After being liberated from camps many people could not wrap their…

Words 594 - Pages 3

The Holocaust: The Tragedy Of The Holocaust

trouble and tragedy he would soon start. “The Holocaust,” targeted a variety of people, primarily the Jewish race, killing them in several different ways. This tragedy brought death to approximately 11 million people, making it enough to be considered a mass killing. Those involved in these killings were Jews, gypsies, African Americans homosexuals, socialist, political enemies, communist, and the physical and mentally disabled. (Friedman 1)The Holocaust was a very devastating and agonizing event but…

Words 234 - Pages 1

The Holocaust: The Denial Of The Holocaust

Holocaust Was the death of six million Jews during World War II a mere coincidence? No, it is not a coincidence because the death of six million Jews was a mass murder or also known as genocide. The culprit of the genocide was the Nazi regime, whose leader Adolf Hitler was obsessed with a superior and perfect race. The Holocaust started as discrimination, and then in 1939 the Nazis began to isolate Jews into ghettos. The mass killings of Jews began in 1941, the Nazis used hard labor, gas chambers…

Words 1591 - Pages 7

The Holocaust: The Denial Of The Holocaust

The denial of the Holocaust is an assault on Jewish memory by claiming it's a hoax, also by being a cover up some of the worst crimes in history. It is the duty of the people to prevent a tragic event like this from happening again. The denial of the holocaust is a type of speech that causes harm towards not just the Jews but the brave men and women who rescued them. And the lessons learned by this can prevent it from happening again. In the article ¨Jackboots and Judgement¨ the article talks…

Words 355 - Pages 2

The Holocaust: The Victims Of The Holocaust

Although the Holocaust was tragic, people don’t fully understand how tragic it was. The Holocaust was a very devastating event in world history. Victims of the Holocaust were very miserable and survivors were scared for life. Over 13 million people died in the Holocaust because they were Jewish or a different race. People have no empathy today as they pretend to support Adolf Hitler, like Nazis. Humanity has learned powerful morals from the Holocaust, but is far from realizing all of the morals the…

Words 332 - Pages 2

The Holocaust: A Survivor Of The Holocaust

getting paid as much as third class would pay to be on the train (Weinthal). Without the train ways most of the killing wouldn’t be possible(“Holocaust train”). If the train ways didn’t exist there would have been a lot less people dead.…

Words 475 - Pages 2

The Holocaust: World Reactions To The Holocaust

Reactions to the Holocaust The Holocaust was well known through-out the world during the time Adolph Hitler took over Germany, but many people didn’t think it was true or many people didn’t want to believe that it was true. America didn’t step into helping defeat Adolph Hitler until it was too late for many of Jews have already died. Germany knew about the killings of Jews but had no way of helping them, for much of Germany was Jews and many of them were in hiding. "The Holocaust affected Americans…

Words 769 - Pages 4

The Holocaust: The Birth Of The Holocaust

The Holocaust was the mass genocide of 11 million people, 6 million of those people being of the Jewish heritage. With over 9 million Jews living in Europe before, these demoralizing events annihilated two-third of the Jewish population (Stahinich 7). The other 5 million people were those of different minorities and sub-categories such as Jehovah's Witnesses, Gypsies, people with handicaps, homosexuals, and Communists (Stahinich 8). The Holocaust took place in many different European countries. Many…

Words 1086 - Pages 5

Holocaust: The Holocaust and People Essay

How Could the Holocaust Happen? When learning about the holocaust you learn about the horror the Jews faced, the atrocities that occurred, and who committed the atrocities. But one aspect of the holocaust is not often explained, not for a lack of care, but because it is a question that cannot be easily answered or summed up. That question is "How could this happen?". We often portray the Nazis as typical movie villains, not just doing evil things for their own profit, but doing evil things for…

Words 1006 - Pages 5

The Holocaust: The Jewish People In The Holocaust

was the Holocaust. Holocaust is one of the world's most famous war in history. It is believed to be one of the world's awful and horrendous event ever. The Holocaust occurred in World War II when Adolf hitler was the leader of German. Approximately more than Six million Jewish people were killed during the war. Hitler not only killed the Jewish people, he also killed Catholics and Polish. It was believed he killed more than seventeen millions of innocent lives. The people in the Holocaust were suffering…

Words 343 - Pages 2