Schindlers Lit and Night

Compare/Contrast Essay
In this Essay I will be comparing and contrasting the treatment of the Jews in the book " Night" by author Elie Wiesel and the movie “Shcindlers List.” In our English class we watched the movie " Schindler List" and read about Elie in the book “Night”. Also the horrifying experience he not only lived but witnessed during the time of the Holocaust. In the movie “Shcindler’s List” the Jews were brought and forced to live in fear. In the book "Night” Elie talks about how he survived the horrifying and tribulation of the treatment from the Nazis during the time of the Holocaust.
I believe in “Schindler’s List” are treated differently because, in the middle of the story Schindler has a change of heart towards the Jews. He begins to attempt to keep families together and unharmed, fed, clothed, etc.
His accountant Stern becomes a good influence to Schindler. In the beginning Schindler forced Jews to work in his factory. The factory becomes a safe zone for the Jews in the end when Schindler has a change of heart for his jewish workers. A Nazi soldier by the name Goeth is a cruel and sadistic man a true hater of the Jews someone who Schindler had very much in common with.
Goeth would shoot Jews randomly from the balcony of the labor camp that he was in charge of . But then Schindler has a change of heart and saves 1,100 Jews, even warning his guards if they were to harm any of the workers he would have them imprisoned for life. Schindlers new frame of mind makes him risk his own wealth and life for his jewish workers. Gaining a respect from jews that no one knew would ever come. Years of pain and torture may have took its toll on Schindler to make the change that was needed to save the lives he did.
I believe in the book, “ Night” the Jews were very differently treated because, the Jews were not placed in a factory and protected. Elie was placed in a concentration camp where Jews were separated from their families and the weak were sent to die and the were fed rations instead of whole meals. Also; they were not allowed to practice their religions instead they lost faith because of the horrific experience they were going through at that time. Many men would say, “For God’s sake, where is God?”
In the book "Night" Elie and his family were also taken away from their home town Sighet, Transylvania and forced to live in Auschwit concentration camp and then moved Buchenwald. They would separate the men from women. Children were separated from their families and sometimes killed. The Nazi's would identify jewish prisoners by tattooing numbers on their bodies. Dr. Mengele holds the list and calls them up for a medical examination by the SS doctors. It was the ages between 18 and 44 who they would keep. The young, the old, and the weak would be sent away to crematoria to die. Their conditions were poor they had no say so and their food was more than a ration which some would save for the next day. For Elie the death of his family and the loss of his innocence was a memory that was never forgotten.
The way that I believe the Jews were treated the same in the movie, “Schnidlers List” and the book, “Night” was that in the beginning of the movie though he kept the families together he would separate the weak from the strong. The weak and the old would be exterminated placing bodies in a crematoria. At times there was so many bodies being burned the sky would be gray with ash. Schindler and the Nazi party forced Jews to leave the comfort of their homes and moved them to the ghettos around Germany and moved into concentrations camps. Nazi soldiers would than separate all their valuables meaning closing out their bank accounts, taking jewelry and removing any gold from their teeth (crowns, bridges, etc). After stripping Jews of everything Schindler even chose a house taken from a wealthy Jewish family as his own. Schindler was of German decent who not only bought his way into the Nazi Party, but he also wanted to be part of Hitler's vision of conquering the world.
In the book, “Night” the Jews were also taken forcibly from the comfort of their homes, separated from their families, the weak are separated from the strong and the weak were sent off to be killed and burned. The skies were also filled with black smoke and ash as Elie describes in chapter one, “The train disappeared over the horizon, all that was left was thick, dirty smoke.” Also in the book the Jews were stripped of everything owned as Elie states, “a Jew was henceforth forbidden to on gold, jewelry, or any valuables. Everything had to be handed over to the authorities, under penalty of death.”
In both the movie and the book you see that the Jews were taken from their homes and stripped of all properties and valuables, moved into ghettos, weak separated from the strong and sent off to die. In both stories the Jews lived in turmoil, agony and fear. I think studying the Holocaust today is important because, it shows how history has shaped our lives today. It gives people a better understanding of why the U.S military stepped into the war when they did. Also; it helps people understand why certain laws and regulations, politically and legally are enacted and enforced.