Ignorance and feigned optimism,
Can one day become one’s prison.
The arrival of gun heavy Germans ought to have warned
Those of Sighet who were about to mourn
The abrupt loss of freedom and religion
Little did they know of this upcoming collision.

An enemy that puts up a friendly front does not do so without reason.
If only the Jews had foreseen the shadows that would cloud the oncoming season,
Instead of closing their eyes so that they would not know
Of the obvious fate that began to show.

Mocking yellow stars pinned to their shirts,
Their great religious pride is really all that hurts
From the humiliation that came with this dictation.
Oh you pitifully condemned and unwary nation!

A boy named Eliezer Wiesel lived in Sighet,
A cabbalist and devoted student of the Zohar and yet,
He questions his faith and purpose to live,
For now may he enjoy the pleasures life has to give.

His father, who is the center of social circles and respect,
Is distant from Elie and only protects
His hidden emotions and lack of sentimentality,
How this will change when his silent fears become reality!

Suddenly during the bright daylight
The Germans received orders and deported the first families in sight.
Forceful emigration!- was the cry of the town,
And all Elie’s father did was give a disapproving frown.

Next came the remodeling of Sighet
Into two large ghettos, the stage had been set.
A few mornings after Hungarian police
Arrived with truncheons and did not cease
To beat the Jews like dogs into a galloping run
With all of their possessions placed on their backs under the hot sun.

At night, they reached the desolate location
In which they would spend a few days awaiting a variation.
Saturday bore the sense of doom,
The Wiesels, amongst others, squeezed into train cars with little room.

Birkenau, Auschwitz would be the next stop,
Declared the Gestapo without giving it a second thought.
After reaching the camp the Jews left behind
The last of their valuables and illusions, finally resigned.

Horror struck Wiesel at the realization that the families were to split,
Men to the left and women to the right,
Poor Elie did not know he would never again set sight
On his mother and sister, who held hands tight…

Soon came selection with its oppressive hand,
Elie did not know how he managed to stand
Under the weight of the nerve racking scene
Of men and children, dying in the fateful crematory sheen.

Miraculously they passed SS inspection
And were allowed to live another day in this world of hate and deception.
Quietly they stood along with other Jews
Heads shaved bald and arms tattooed.

Three weeks in Auschwitz with labor and rations
Before the move to Buna and solemn continuation
Of the Jews’ despondent situation,
Which was defined by the resounding clang
Of the iron gate that gave way to Buna’s domain.
Snow began to fall from the rain.

Trial following tribulation,
Elie Wiesel and his father felt not a bit of jubilation,
Although they stayed by each other’s side
And with devotion, managed to survive the relentless ride.

Until one day, it seemed they would escape the camp of concentration
Due to the approach of an army named liberation.
Unfortunately, the Germans would not give up their prize,
And marched the remaining Jews onto Gleiwitz despite their dwindling size.

Over ice and snow and cold,
Elie and his father endured to hold
What was left of their own lives
Could one be so bold?

Elie thought of relinquishing his pathetic breath
If only to have the sweet comfort of death.
Fate had a different plan
Some would subsist from the Wiesel clan.

Finally the Jews entered Gleiwitz, but
To their acute anguish found
The Germans did not plan to keep them on this ground.
Onto Buchenwald in a packed train were the orders that went around.

In this next camp the elder Wiesel fell
Deep into fever and the inability to become well.
Another day passed and an empty bunk was all that remained,
Elie failed to weep, for his body had not any tears left to contain.

Months later without caring about his own fate,
Elie Wiesel was abandoned in his block to await
The rescue of American troops at a following date.
The Germans took all they managed to deport,
But deserted the youth, they being the last to sort.

Weeks later in a hospital room,
Wiesel spotted a mirror and a curiosity began to loom.
He struggled out of bed
And was met instead
By a ghostly corpse with shallow face,
But the gaze of its eyes told of a story and race
Who dwelled in a hell
And resisted annihilation with a silent fight.
No one may ever know how the Jews survived that night.