One of the most startlingly horrific aspects of the holocaust is that many nations did not address the mass genocide that Germany was commandeering. For example, the United States did not enter the war until 1941, although the holocaust had already taken over German-controlled Europe. Furthermore, it astonishes me that as Germany annexed Austria and took over a large part of Czechoslovakia, the world stood by and did nothing, even though in Germany and occupied areas Kristallnacht had taken place, discrimination was rampant, and the genocide had already begun. It pains me to think that as people were subjected to torture, death, and hatred, we watched and said nary a word.
For me, one of the most powerful moments of Elie Wiesel’s Night is when he tells his father that he “could not believe that human beings were being burned in [his] times; the world would never tolerate such crimes” (Wiesel Pg. 33). His father replies by telling Elie that “the world is not interested in [them]. Today, everything is possible, even the crematoria.”
The picture above depicts the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, one of the Nazi party’s biggest propaganda successes during this time period. This event was celebrated by nations worldwide, even though by 1936 antisemitism and discrimination were spread throughout Germany. As Elie’s father says in Night, “the world is not interested in [Germany]... everything is possible even the crematoria…” (Wiesel Pg. 33), and even the celebration of a discriminatory, death-dealing government by countries and people that for too long refused to do anything more than turn a blind eye.
When reading the passage on page 33, I found that Wiesel's use of ellipses helped to characterize the helplessness of their situation by forcing me to think about the attitude that much of the world had towards Germany at the time. I don't often see this device utilized in literature (unless it is to omit words or events), but in Night, and especially in this passage, the ellipses seem to state a question and further my understanding by making me answer those questions.
