Violence In Elie Wiesel's Night

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Pages: 3

If people stay silent, then violence will continue to occur, as shown by the book Night by Elie Wiesel, the murder of Kitty Genovese, and the fact that nobody stood up to the Holocaust or the Japanese-American internment. The first example of silence allowing violence to occur is found in the book Night, written by Elie Wiesel. An example is found when the text says, “The officer wielded his club and dealt him a violent blow to the head. I didn’t move. I was afraid, my body was afraid of another blow, this time to my head”. At this point in the story, Elie’s father is being beaten by a guard. Instead of helping his father or defending him, Elie sits there in his bed because he is afraid of being hit himself. His silence and unwillingness to …show more content…
When interviewed for this article, he explains that many of the German people knew the holocaust was happening but chose not to say anything. While there were many reasons they did this, the most prevalent ones were that they were scared of Hitler and his regime or loved their freedom too much to become an enemy of the state. This silence of every German citizen allowed millions of other people in their country be killed in an attempt to “purify” it. If German people would have spoken up and tried to protest against Hitler, they could have at least tried to end the killing of millions of European people. In conclusion, the silence of the German people during the holocaust, the silence of the 38 witnesses to Kitty Genovese’s murder, and the silence of Elie Wiesel when his father was beaten all show that staying silent can allow violence to