While reading Night by Elie Wiesel, I was stopped by a quote on page 81: "I have more faith in Hitler than in anyone. He alone has kept his promises, all his promises, to the Jewish people"- Elie's neighbor. I was a bit shocked, but then realized that what he was saying made complete sense.
Hitler said that he would persecute Jews. He did. He said that he would exterminate them, and he did until he was stopped by the other army. He did horrible things to them, but he had not lied to them about it. He had warned them, and told them the complete, absolute truth. The people that said that they would soon be freed, that everything would be okay, that they would all survive- they were all lying. Most of them knew that those rumors were not true; the armies were still far away. But they lied to the Jews- gave them false hope. This may have helped them and given them strength, but they were still being lied to. They couldn't trust the rumors anymore, but they knew that Hitler would keep his word, no matter what it meant for them.
His neighbor was the first Jew Elie had heard agree with Hitler. Before saying that he had faith in Hitler, the neighbor said to the rumors, "Don't be deluded. Hitler has made it clear that he will annihilate all Jews before the clock strikes twelve." To this Elie replies, shocked, "What would you care what he said? Would you want us to consider him a prophet?" Elie was surprised, like I was, but, again like me, realized that this was true. The only person they could actually trust was Hitler, no matter how horrible it sounded.
Nice post. This line definitely caught my attention as well, and I think in the end I came to the same realization as you. Listening to Hitler hurts less. He doesn't give false hope and promises; he is the only person's words the jews can truly believe in this time of crisis. It makes for a strange relationship: Hitler, the man that got them into this mess, is also the person that they are depending upon to tell them what is going to happen.
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