Night Ch. 4

   One Sunday, half their group at work, while the others were taking the opportunity to rest. Elie was with the ones who were resting, his father was working. At around 10, the sirens for a bombing go off, and the SS go and take cover. The camp was empty, and the inmates saw two cauldrons of soup that were left unattended. For a bit, no one dared to go to them out of fear, but then one man started crawling to the cauldrons, so everyone else did too. When he reached the first cauldron, everyone knew he was a dead man. He had to muster his strength to bring himself up to the rim, and for a second he looked at his reflection in the soup. He then randomly screamed, and was shot. Elie and the others heard the planes bombing the Buna factory. Elie was anxious for his father, who was in the factory, but was more preoccupied with happiness of the factory going up in flames. No one was scared; sure the bomb would probably kill hundreds of inmates lives, but the bomb gave them joy, confidence, and hope. The raid lasted an hour, and then it was silent again, with the air filled with fire and smoke. one of the bombs had landed in the middle of camp and hadn't exploded, so they had to dispose of it outside the camp. The Lageralteste, his aid, and the chief Kapo inspected the camp with traces of fear on their faces. In the very center of camp was the man's body who tried to eat the soup from the cauldron. The cauldrons were carried back, the SS were back at their posts, their little break was over. An hour later, Elie was happy to see his father, who told him that several buildings were flattened, but the depot was not touched. In the afternoon, they were cheerful when they went to clear the ruins.
 It's a little sad that the Americans were right there over Buna, dropped some bombs, and then flew away, when a few hundred inmates were there and could've been liberated. The Jews in the Buna factory and in Elie's camp could have been saved from another year of suffering and death. The bombs gave the Jews hope and happiness, but being freed would have been better. I feel bad for the inmate who made it to the cauldron of soup and was shot and for the rest of the ones at camp during the air raid. They were so hungry and probably would've gone for it if they weren't so fearful of what might happen to them. After the man was shot, the other inmates didn't seem to give him a second thought, even though he was dead. Elie didn't even know his name. I felt really bad for the inmates, especially for the one who was shot.