The Night is told by Eliezer, a Jewish teenager who, at the beginning of the memoir, was living in his hometown of Sighet, in Hungarian Transylvania. Eliezer studies the Torah (the first five books of the Old Testament) and the Kabbalah (a doctrine of Jewish mysticism). His education, however, is cut short when his instructor, Moshe the Beadle, is deported. After a few months, Moshe returns, telling a scary story: the Gestapo (the German secret police) took command of his train, led everyone into the woods and methodically massacred them. No one trusts Moshe, who is thought to be crazy. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay In the spring of 1944, the Nazis occupy Hungary. Not long after, a series of increasingly repressive measures are passed and the Jews of the village of Eliezer are relegated to small ghettos within Sighet. Soon they are driven into cattle cars and a nightmarish expedition ensues. After days and nights crammed in the car, tired and close to starvation, the passengers arrive at Birkenau, the gate to Auschwitz. Upon his arrival in Birkenau, Eliezer and his father are separated from his mother and sisters, whom they never see again. In the first of several “selections” that Eliezer portrays in the memoirs, Jews are evaluated to decide whether they should be killed immediately or put to work. Eliezer and his father appear to pass the assessment, but before they are taken to the prisoner barracks, they come across the open-air furnaces where the Nazis burn busloads of newborns. The arriving Jews are stripped, shaved, disinfected and treated with almost unimaginable harshness. Eventually, their captors take them from Birkenau to the main camp, Auschwitz. They finally arrive at Buna, a labor camp, where Eliezer is put to work in an electrical equipment workshop. In conditions of slave labor, severely malnourished and decimated by the usual "selections", Jews find comfort in taking care of each other, in religion and in Zionism, a movement in favor of the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine, considered the sacred land. . In the camp the Jews are exposed to beatings and repeated humiliations. A corrupt foreman forces Eliezer to give him his gold tooth, which is knocked out of his mouth with a rusty spoon. The prisoners are forced to watch the hanging of their fellow prisoners in the camp courtyard. On one occasion, the Gestapo even hanged a weak boy who had been associated with some Buna rebels. Due to the frightening circumstances in the camps and the ever-present risk of death, many prisoners themselves begin to slip into harshness, concerned only with personal survival. Children begin to abandon and abuse their fathers. Eliezer himself begins to destroy his humanity and his faith, both in God and in the community around him. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay After months in the camp, Eliezer undergoes surgery for a foot injury. While he is in hospital, however, the Nazis decide to evacuate the camp because the Russians are advancing and are on the verge of liberating Buna. In the middle of a blizzard, the prisoners begin a death march: they are forced to run more than fifty miles to the Gleiwitz concentration camp. Many die due to exposure to the elements and fatigue. At Gleiwitz the prisoners are once again herded into cattle cars. They begin another fateful journey: one hundred Jews board the carriage, but only twelve remain alive when the train reaches the camp.