Elie Wiesel was a young boy when he was taken to the concentration camps, and he had led a very sheltered life. He had not realized how cruel people could be, and what drastic measures people will take when faced with power and death. He lost his innocence, as did all the prisoners, during the Holocaust. He saw the torture, and the death of his family. This loss of innocence brought him great pain but also made him grow up and face reality. It is impossible to be innocent after surviving the Holocaust. They saw and experienced too much hate, danger, and torture.
I believe that there is nothing more pure than the view of the world through the eyes of an innocent child, but during the Holocaust I think that innocence was a dangerous thing to posses. Most Jews were too innocent to believe that anything as horrible as the Holocaust could actually happen so, when they did hear about what was happening they didn't believe it and lost there only chance to escape the concentration camps and torture. .
Moshe the Beadle tried to warn the Jews of Sighet of what Hitler and the Germans had in mind and what they were doing to children, but they refused not only to believe him but even to listen to him. All they could say is, " He's just trying to make us pity him. What an imagination he has!" or "Poor Fellow. He's gone mad"(pg.4). Even when they did believe that terrible things were happening they didn't think that it would ever happen to them. When they heard about what was happening to the Jews in Budapest, there reaction was, " The Germans won't get as far as this. They"ll stay in Budapest. There are strategic and political reasons. . . ." (pg.7).
When Elie first arrive in the concentration camp he and the rest of the Jews didn't believe that the camp was going to get as bad as it did. If they had believed what Moshe had said they may have been more careful in the steps and decisions they made. They may have savored every ration of bread they had instead of eating it as quickly as possible.
