NIght Ch 8

SS officers waiting for them at the entrance. They were directed to the Appelplatz. A veteran of Buchenwald told them they would be taking showers and would be sent to different blocks. His father would not say anything. His father said he can’t go anymore, but Elie refused to think that. Elie didn’t want his father to die. The sirens went off and they brought them to their blocks. Elie went to sleep and when he woke up, he remembered that he had Elie went to look for him and looked for him for hours. He finally found him and he had a fever. Elie will never forget the gratitude that shone in his eyes when he swallowed his beverage. Everyday, his father was getting weaker and his eyes were watery, his face was the color of dead leaves. On the third day, they took showers and they had to wait a long time, the cleaning of the blocks were not completed. Once his father got out, he just kept on running. He looked at Elie like he was a stranger and then ran away.

Elie and his father keep arguing. His father was worn out from arguing. Elie was able to exchange cots next to his father for a ration of bread. The doctor told Elie’s father to go to him, but Elie yelled he can’t. His father went to his bunk, but another doctor came in and asked if the patients wanted to be finished, but his father refused. The neighbors were now beating up his father and his father told Elie to tell them to stop. The neighbors then stole his bread and they didn’t do anything. The Blockalteste asked Elie if that was his father and Elie said it was. They told Elie that his father is really sick and that they can’t do anything. The doctor is saying that Elie has to look out for himself and not his father. Elie listened to him. Elie brought his father soup and water. The SS was giving orders and told Elie’s father to shut up since he was yelling. His father still wanted water. Elie didn’t move when his father asked for water. When Elie came down from his bunk after roll call,  hs father was murmuring something. Elie went to sleep and the date was January 28, 1945. Elie woke up at dawn on January 29. There was another sick person on his father’s cot, so his father must have been thrown in the crematorium. Elie did not weep and he felt that he was free. I feel bad for Elie that he died and that he feels regret for what he did for ignoring him and looking out for himself when the doctor told him to.