Keith Frey
Rector
Composition
27 November 2011
A!er dozens of anti-Semitic laws, deportations, and annexations, the Holocaust oï¬cially begins in
the year 1944. It is not until the extermination of over one million Jews and three years a!er the onset of
this genocide that the Nazis invade Elie Wiesel's hometown in Sighet, Transylvania, which was annexed by
Hungary in 1940 (Fine 13). #e Nazis invade Sighet at night and strip its inhabitants of their property and
force them into two ghe$os. In short order, Nazis command Elie and his father to be deported to Auschwitz
and send his mother and sisters to a female concentration camp (Wiesel 1). "Eight words spoken quietly,
indiï¬erently, without emotion. Eight short, simple words. Yet that was the moment when I parted from my
mother" (qtd. in Wiesel 3). #is split from his mother severely disillusions him at the tender age of 15. Elie
witnesses hundreds of thousands of women, children, babies, and men be burned in the crematorium or be
gassed in the gas chambers. Machine gunners use babies as targets and it takes three days for a young girl to
die (Wiesel). His morbid experiences in the concentration camps sha$er his dreams and make him lose faith
in humanity, God, and in the importance of life, "Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my
God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned
to live as long as God Himself. Never" (qtd. in Wiesel 3).
It is important to realize that genocides are just one example of many human rights violations that
have occurred and are occurring in history. Some other forms of violations include human traï¬cking,
forced child labor, and oppressive governments. #ese violations are inherently unjust and...