Night

From the book:

Born in the town of Sighet, Transylvania, Elie Wiesel was a teenager when he and his family were taken from their home in 1944 to the Auschwitz concentration camp, and then to Buchenwald. Night is the terrifying record of Elie Wiesel’s memories of the death of his family, the death of his own innocence, and his despair as a deeply observant Jew confronting the absolute evil of man. This new translation by his wife and the most frequent translator, Marion Wiesel, corrects important details and presents the most accurate rendering in English of Elie Wiesel’s testimony to what had happened in the camps and of his unforgettable message that this horror must never be allowed to happen again.

My two cents worth:

“NEVER SHALL I FORGET that night, the first night in camp, that turned my life into one long night seven times sealed.

Never shall I forget that smoke.
Never shall I forget the small faces of the children whose bodies I saw transformed into smoke under a silent sky.
Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith forever.
Never shall I forget the nocturnal silence that deprived me for all eternity of the desire to live.
Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams into ashes.
Never shall I forget those things, even were I condemned to live as long as God Himself.
Never”

Simple yet moving words from Elie Wiesel on how the brutality at the concentration camps changed his life. The New York Times describes Night as ‘a slim volume of terrifying power’ and I absolutely agree. The harrowing account of Wiesel’s experience serves to educate us and the future generation on the importance of humanity and I strongly recommend this book to everyone.

Night is 120 pages of human history that is truly moving. Translated well with the simplest use of language yet carrying the strongest message on humanity that you read the pages with a sense of sorrow. Reading Night you can't help but question how such brutality could happen to the innocent and how humans could inflict such atrocities to another being.

An eye-opening must read.