Eliezar Wiesel is a real-life character. He is a Jewish boy who grew up during Hitler's unbearable reign as dictator. Eliezar, better known as Elie, was a boy of strong faith and an eagerness to learn more about his Jewish belief. His father, Chlomo, was greatly respected in their community in Sighet. Often people in their community would look to him and consult him about many public and private matters. Elie's parents ran a shop where his two older sisters, Hilda and Bea helped their parents with the work. Elie being their only son they believed the only place for him was not helping his parents but at school. They also had a younger daughter named Tzipora. The Wiesel's lived a fairly comfortable life. They had heard about people being taken away from their homes in other parts of the country, but dismissed the allegations. Then one day all the foreign Jews from Sighet were expelled; Moshe the Beadle was one of them.
English: Elie Wiesel Français : Elie Wiesel
Maison natale d'Elie Wiesel à Sighetu Marmaţiei,...
Jewish slave laborers in the Buchenwald concentrat...Moshe the Beadle had been an older friend of Elie, and was among one of the first groups to be exterminated. However, Moshe the Beadle got away and returned to Sighet to warn people of the atrocities that were taking place. People only labeled him a mad man and paid no attention to him and his warnings. In the spring of 1944, just when they thought that the Germany had surely been defeated, German army cars appeared on their streets.
At first the communities didn't believe everything they heard or their own thoughts about the German soldiers. They found them to be quite kind and likeable. Their optimistic ideas where soon to be shattered. During the seventh day of Passover the Germans arrested the leaders of the Jewish community. That marked the beginning of their fight...