"Holocaust" is a word all Jews despise and want to abolish from their minds.It was one of the greatest tragedies known to mankind, which occurred during the twentieth century. A horrendous, gruesome, catastrophe, that was made possible by prevalent anti Semitism, fear, and the constant demonization of the Jews. The Germans were deprived of someone to blame for their countless issues, so they sought the Jews to be at fault. They thrived off the power they possessed which led to the killing of six million Jews. There was plenty of racism toward the Jews and as a result, people accepted that Jews were being murdered and removed from civil society. There was not a soul existing that wanted to save the Jews in the early stages of the Holocaust, until years later when the Americans fought to save the remaining Jews.
Maus a book written by Art Spiegelman, and Night told by Elie Wiesel are two stories that were experienced during the Holocaust. Both stories express the terror that each individual endured during the same time period. Elie Wiesel and Vladek Spiegelman analyze the adversities and hardships put forth, in order to survive. Both stories are written in different formats, Maus is a graphic novel and Night is a literary novel. Elie Wiesel, a young 15-year-old boy battles for his fathers and his own survival. He is tortured and manipulated by other Jews and Germans, and often struggles to believe he could survive. Elie contemplates between life and death when he witnesses the bodies being burnt in flames in the crematorium. He believes he is having a nightmare that he can't wake up from. He wants to run for the barbed wire and electrocute himself but then realizes that he can't leave his father alone. Elie at first is a firm believer in God, but that faith slowly subsides as he sees all the mass murders of Jews taken place. Eli forms into a changed person then the young boy he once was during the course of the story.