It is 1944 before the lives of the Jews living in Sighet, Transylvania feel the effect of Hitler's plan. Until then, they'd lived their lives as though nothing was different; as though nothing ever would be. They believed the war would end before they were impacted.
But they were wrong.
What begins as a sort of lock-down in their own community eventually becomes the horror of evacuation, separation, starvation, desperation, and for some, cremation. Fifteen year-old Eliezer and his family are among them. He loses touch with his mother and three sisters shortly after they arrive at Auschwitz, a concentration camp where he Elie witnesses horrors beyond imagination. His one goal is to not lose his father. So together they are herded from one camp to another. They are beaten, abused, forced to watch others murdered, starved, worked to the brink of death and delusion. Some lose their faith, others hold to it for dear life. And in the end, none is spared the atrocities of knowing horrors no human should ever need to face.
** Though incredibly hard to read, considering the subject matter, this is a good book. I felt horrified by some of what is shared. Though I have long known of some of the torture and abuse which occurred at the concentration camps, there were some things in this book that shocked me; for I had never even considered the possibility of some of the atrocities that actually happened. Call me naive, I guess. I just cannot understand what kind of a mind could think to perform some of the hideous acts described. It was eye-opening on so many levels. And though there are images I will probably never be able to forget (conjured by my own mind as I read), I am glad I had the opportunity to see things from the perspective Mr. Wiesel.
