Holocaust :: essays research papers

This is a story of how a young boy and his family lived through the holocaust. It begins in a town called Transylvania. The young boy was Elizer Weisel, one of four children and the only son. Elie was very spiritual, in which he wanted to find a master in Sighet to instruct him in the Zohar (the cabbalistic books, the secrets of Jewish mysticism). Moshe the Beadle was a poor man of the town that lived humbly. He was the one that would begin teaching Elie the Zohar.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  But one day, Moshe the Beadle, was expelled from Signet by the Hungarian police. He and others were crammed into box cars on a train. Several months had passed when Moshe the Beadle was spotted sitting in a bench in town. He began to tell his story of the terror he encountered. They were taken to a Polish territory where the Gestapo was in charge. They climbed into trucks and were driven into a forest where they dug their own graves. Then the Gestapo began firing at the Jews and throwing babies in the air as flying targets. Moshe was shot in the leg and pretended to be dead. Moshe began to make the journey home telling the horror that he experienced. No one could believe such an unimaginable story. The people just simply thought that he had gone mad. He begged people to believe his story but no one would.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Elie’s family listened to the London radio every evening. It was at the end of 1942 life had returned to normal. Bu the spring of 1944 all the Jews of Sighet were convinced that Germany’s defeat was near and they were all safe from harm. They even doubted Hitler wanted to exterminate them. But one day, they heard that German troops had entered Hungarian territory which brought on some anxiety. Then they moved on to Budapest where the Jews there were living in fear and terror. The Jews of Signet convinced themselves that the Germans would not move any further. But three days later German army cars had appeared in the streets. The officers were put up in private homes even some Jewish homes. Their first impressions of the Germans were mostly reassuring. They were calm, likeable, polite and sympathetic. The synagogues were closed.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The week of Passover they gathered at private houses to celebrate, but their hearts were not into it because of what was happening to their town.