Night

Night Summary | Chapter 1 Summary (Pages 1 – 20) Summary

With the backdrop of WW II, this first-person narrative begins in 1941 with the introduction of Moshe the Beadle, a lovable, grandfatherly figure who worked at a Hasidic synagogue in the little Transylvanian town of Sighet. Elie Wiesel, the third child and the only son of a cultured, unsentimental, highly esteemed father quickly bonded with Moshe the Beadle as they shared a passionate interest in Jewish mysticism.

Together they philosophized while pondering questions and answers, reading the Zohar, and seeking divine essence.

Moshe the Beadle was a foreigner and when the Hungarian police came into town, they crammed all the foreign Jews into cattle trains. The people of Sighet wept bitterly as the train left. However, after several months, life returned to normal. Rumors circulated that the deportees arrived in Galician and were working there, satisfied with their imposed move.

Elie was naturally shocked when, one day, he saw Moshe the Beadle sitting on a bench near the door of the synagogue. Moshe shared his stories of what really happened on the train with his young friend, Elie. Moshe explained that the train had crossed the Hungarian frontier and had been taken over by the Gestapo when it entered Polish territory. The Jews were then transferred to trucks and were driven into the forest. They were made to get out of the trucks and had to dig huge graves. Each prisoner then had to go up to a hole and present his neck and was slaughtered. Babies were thrown up i to the air and used as targets by machine gunners. Moshe told Elie he had escaped because he had been wounded in the leg and left for dead.

Moshe the Beadle had changed. He lost interest in the things he once loved such as God, the cabbala, and singing. He became entirely consumed with his stories and told them to anyone who would listen. People became weary of his stories and started to question the authenticity of what he said. Eventually people began believing Moshe the Beadle was losing his mind.

Time passed and in the spring of 1944, the people of Sighet felt that Hitler's defeat was imminent. Elie wanted his father to sell everything and to emigrate to Palestine but his father felt he was too old to start a new life. Soon came the disturbing news that German troops had entered Hungarian territory. At first, the soldiers seemed congenial as they lived peacefully, billeted in private houses. On the seventh day of Passover, however, the Germans arrested the leaders of the Jewish community. Jews were not allowed to leave their houses for three days. Then, a Jew no longer had the right to keep gold, jewels, or valuables in his house. Elie's father buried their family savings in the basement. Finally, every Jew had to wear the yellow star.

Soon, all the Jews were corralled into ghettos. There was a large one in the center of town and another one in the outlying region. Elie and his family lived within the boundaries of the first ghetto so they remained in their house. They gave up some of their rooms to relatives who had been displaced from their homes.

Unexpectedly, the Jews in the ghetto were told they were being deported, street by street. They were allowed only take their personal belongings and nothing else. Elie's street was ordered to evacuate. The Hungarian police herded them together and shouted orders to march, then run. To their surprise, the Jews arrived at the little ghetto.

It was deserted and in disarray. It was obvious that the people who were there previously had already been expelled. Elie went into his uncle's house only to find a half-finished bowl of soup on the table and a pie waiting to be put in the oven. On Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, the expulsion took place.

Elie's convoy went to the main synagogue, which acted as a huge station. There was luggage and tears everywhere. The altar was broken and synagogue was vandalized. The group spent twenty-four hours there, packed in the small space. They weren't allowed to leave so people relieved themselves in the corner of the building.

The next morning they were marched onto waiting cattle wagons. The Hungarian police crammed eighty people into each car. They were given a few loaves of bread and some buckets of water. The windows were barred and the cars were sealed. One person was in charge in each car and if anyone escaped, he would be shot.