Night Topic #1
In the first section of Night, there are many instances in which the Jews of Sighet have glimpses of what awaits them, and despite everything, they are unable or unwilling to believe in the horrors of the death camps. Name the clues they ignored and say why you think the Jews refuse to believe evil is on the way. Have you ever experienced a situtuation where you ignored clues of things to come only to recognize them later – after something happened? Discuss this experience.
eric said,
October 10, 2007 at 5:45 pm
Some of the clues that they ignored was the officers coming into their town, the wire fence being put up around them holding them in, and the getto coming into their town. I think that they didn’t want to believe anything was going wrong because they thought that god would not let anything bad happen to them. They also thought that the war would never reach all the way to sighet, so they had nothing to worry about.
Tim said,
October 10, 2007 at 5:46 pm
The clue was when Moche the Beadle telling everyone that the Germans were coming. People didn’t want to believe him because life was good. They didn’t want to think about something as terrible as that. I remember one time when someone told me that if you skip detention then you get Saturday school. I didn’t think they knew what they were talking about, so I skipped. I also got Saturday school the next Saturday.
nathaniel said,
October 10, 2007 at 5:47 pm
In the book moche the beatle tries to tell them what he has been threw and what is going to happen and they dont believe them. I think they didnt believe him because he looked like a begger and thought he was crazy. And some of the jews probably didnt wont to belive him because they didnt wont him to be right. I have not experianced this, but one of my friends had this happen to him. We had a test yesterday in biology and he didnt believe that i had taken it already. So he didnt study what i told him to, and the next day he got a bad grade on the test.
Sarah said,
October 10, 2007 at 5:48 pm
Some clues were when the old man escaped from the tragedy and warned the jews of what was going on, when the jews were gathered into the ghettos and barred away from the rest of the world. I think the jews refused to belive the facts that were infront of them because they knew what would happen. They knew the dispair and misery they would be put into if they reconized the truth. The jews wanted to stay happy and peaceful so they did whatever they were told, hoping the war would end soon.
And yes I have had moments when I see clues to things I begin to regret later. Such as if I’m about to get in trouble my mom will start to sigh really loud and not look at me, and then I walk past a pile of junk laying in the middle of my room.
Dylan said,
October 10, 2007 at 5:54 pm
One of the clues that they ignored is when Moche the Beadle was taken with the other foreigners and escaped from a place which he said is where people were killed and were forced to dig their own graves. Also, another clue is when father was called to a meeting and was told that all of the Jews were going to be deported. They also ignored the fact that when they were being moved to another area, the Hungarian police struck Jews with truncheons and rifle butts without reason. Also, Martha begged them to come to her village where she could give them safe refuge. There was a time when I could not pay attention and was getting bad grades in school. I was also getting angry and did not know why I was getting angry. I did not link any of these things together until I found out I had ADHD.
Josh said,
October 10, 2007 at 5:59 pm
In the first section Moche the Beatle tries to warn them the trouble that lies ahead. He has alreardy been through it and knew that they were after them. He saw them kill people and throw babies in the air and shoot them. They just ignore him and didn’t listen and they all thought he was crazy. Yes, my mom told me to pick up the trash because it was going to rain, but I told her that I would pick up later. Then it started to rain and the trash was every. At that point I thought I should have listened to my mom.
Emily said,
October 10, 2007 at 6:02 pm
One of the major clues was when Madame Schacter was yelling and screaming about the fire. I think that she was foreshadowing what was to come for the people on the train. When the ghettos were developed people tried to make the best of it. Even though they had to follow very strict rules they really had no idea of what was really going on outside of their walls. I feel like if things like this were happening then you would start to get a feeling that something wasn’t exactly right. I think that they were like this because they really didn’t know what was going on outside but also I think that they just chose not to believe that things were going on. They really just didn’t want to think about anything like that happening. At the same time I can understand why they were unwilling to believe everything because when I was younger I remember my parents telling me that my grandpa was sick. I didn’t really understand what kind of sick at first. I was young and thought that he was just “sick”. Come to find out that sick was a heart attack, then cancer. I was in denial. I couldn’t believe that this was happening. One day everything was fine and the next my world was turned upside down. Even though I chose not to believe this at first I finally had to accept the fact even though it was an extremely hard thing to do.
Rosie said,
October 10, 2007 at 6:03 pm
Wow, where to start. When Moche first returned, and told his story of how he almost died, but they all rejected him and said he was mental. Then, the fascist party came to power, still they said “no worries!”Next, a man told them that in the city, there was fear and terror everywhere, but still they thought that they would never reach their small town. The last thing that happened was that the German soldiers came to town and then on the seventh day of Passover, the Germans arrested the Jewish leaders.
In 2005 my grandmother got very, very sick. I pretended that everything was ok and that she would live to be 90 and such. As the year progressed, it went from very bad to ok, but she had bad days and was taking lots of medicine to feel better. On April 3rd she went to the doctor to get an appointment to get something to help her sleep at night. She went to see my mom at work and had a normal day. then at 1 am April 4th 2007, she died in her sleep, from heart failure. If my parents had made do get that machine sooner then she might have been here for Christmas and my sweet 16 and my wedding. if only we had clued in on how serious it was, she might be here right now.
Danielle T said,
October 10, 2007 at 6:03 pm
The Jews ignored many clues that were right in front of their faces. They didn’t believe that there were places that were filled with evil. The Jews were always optimistic to what all was happening. First of all I don’t think they knew how bad the camps were going to be. The Jews tried to be optimistic about the situations that they were in but they knew toward the end right before the deportations that there would be trouble ahead. When Moche the beadle came back telling them the horrors that he had seen and experienced no one believed him, but right when deportations started I think the Jews had his words ringing in their ears. I think America did the same thing when they ignored the clues that led up to September 11, 2001. Many clues still show up on the news even today that shows the evidence of the events that led up to the horror that America faced. I think America ignored many things because we are such a powerful country. We never thought anything that catastrophic would happen to us. Just like Jews believed that nothing that horrible could happen to their people. It just shows me that the impossible could always happen.
Chandler said,
October 10, 2007 at 6:13 pm
The guy in the story went and he got away. Then he came back to tell storys about wat he had went through when he was there. He came back and went to tell some storys to some people. He told them that they threw theirs babies in the air and shot them out of the sky. They made u strip everything and the only thing you got to keep was your belt and tennis shoes and took poision gas showers. But on the other hand I have done that to people I know before because they told me that I was not getting something for Christmas but I got it any way. The only reason they said that was cause they said it was way to expensive. And they did not want me to know what I had gotten for christmas.
Alexis said,
October 11, 2007 at 12:40 am
A clue that the Jews had was when Moche The Beadle returned he was telling everybody that when he was kidnapped that the other people would throw babies up into the air and shot them, they made everyone dig their own graves, then shoot them. But, none of the other Jews belived him because they all thought that he was crazy. Something that happened to me that had clues was when my dad told me not to go outside and rollerblade, because it is raining and I’ll get hurt. Well, I went outside not listening to him. Then, a few minutes later my sister went running inside to my parents and told them that I had fallen and got hurt on my rollerblades. So, my parents took me to the emergency room and come to fins out I had completely shattered my leg. So, if I would have recognized the clues like it was raining and my dad telling my not to go outside I would’t have got hurt.
Andrew said,
October 22, 2007 at 5:43 pm
I have never had a personal experience like that but i have heard some stories from family that has had some warrnings that they didnt take and then ended up in a bad situation. But, what is awaiting these people is not a very pretty sight to see they got warrnings but they did not belive any of them.
Cayla D said,
October 25, 2007 at 2:04 am
The pastor find out what going on but doesn’t tell anyone. That is definally something that would have given them a clue or when they werent allowed to take any of their belongings. Also when they were stripped of the gold and silver should have given them a hint, they werent going to a good place. Jews have a religion where they don’t believe in evil, so they didn’t think it would be right of them to believe that such horrible things would happen to them.
Personally I have some what experienced this. Right before we moved that first time my parents started taking a lot of walks and talking a lot more alone, and the same thing started happening again when we were about to move to Georgia. So in a way my sister and I started putting things together before they ever told us what was going on.