Wiesel's memoir starts in Sighet, a Transylvanian town where fifteen-year-old Eliezer studies Jewish mysticism and hopes to find a teacher. In 1944 Hungarian Jews are confined to ghettos and then sent by cattle car to Auschwitz-Birkenau. He and his father are kept together through selections, forced labor at Buna and a death march to Buchenwald in the winter of 1945. The text is stripped of embellishment, recording specific scenes, such as a public hanging, and the day he realizes he is waiting for his father to die.
Meant for readers who want to learn about the Holocaust from a survivor's own words. It is short but dense, and it asks questions about faith, family and conscience that stay open.
Deep, inward-looking and contemplative; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Mindful Reader. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 2008
- Publisher
- Herder
- ISBN
- 9783451060144
- Language
- DE
