Night Chapter 2

in chapter two Elie and the other Jews were traveling for two days without any water. They would still have some food left, but they would usually leave it for the next day. The train then stopped in Kaschau, it was a small town on the Czechoslovakian border. The Jews knew that they were not staying in Hungary. The door then slid open, a German officer stepped in the box car, and told the Jews that they were under the authority of the German army. If anyone had silver or gold, they had to give it over, or if they don't, they they would be killed . If anyone was sick, they would have to report to a hospital car. The German officer says that there are eighty people in the box car, and if someone go missing, then they would be all killed like dogs. There was a woman in her fifties with her ten year old son, and her husband and two other children were deported with the first transport by mistake. Her husband would study a lot, so that meant that she had to provide for her family. The woman had lost her mind on the first day of their journey, she began to moan, she had kept asking why she was separated from her family, she would sob and scream.

On the third night as the Jews were sleeping, some were sitting against each other, some were standing, then the sound of silence broke. The woman said that she had seen a fire, there was a moment of panic someone screamed. The person who had screamed was the women, her name was Mrs. Schachter. Standing in the middle of the car, she pointed through the window, and she said that there was a fire. Others went to look at the fire, but there was nothing it was just the darkness of night. They said that she was a mad poor woman, they put a rag on her forehead, to try to calm her down. Her son would cry and told her that there was no flames, the other Jews said that she was seeing flames, because she is a thirsty poor woman, and was hallucinating. An hour or so later, the woman broke from her bond, and began to shout louder than before, she kept saying to look at the flames, and that the flames were everywhere. Then the Jews began to beat her because she would not stay quiet. The man in charge of the wagon called out for the German officer to take the old woman to the Hospital car, because she could see the flame, and would not be quiet. The German officer said that she would be taken to the hospital car soon. At eleven o'clock the train began to move again, the convoy was moving slowly, out of the windows, the Jews saw barbed wire, and knew that they were at a camp. The Jews had forgotten that the woman was in the box car, then she screamed, " Jews look, Look at the fire." The Jews then saw the flames and the fire rising from a tall chimney and into the sky. Someone said to leave everything inside, and everyone to get out of the box car, Elie then glanced at Mrs. Schachter, and in front of them there were flames, and the smell of burning flesh in the air. They arrived at the camp around midnight, Elie and the other Jews had arrived in Birkenau.