Question

Night Reading Checkpoint 1

Answer 1

Answer:

enotes!

Explanation:

The Jews in Elie’s village (Sighet) had ignored the warnings of Moishe the Beadle, who was taken from the village when the decree came that all foreign Jews would be evacuated. Moishe was taken but managed to escape captivity because he was mistaken for dead. He returns to the village and shouts in the synagogues, begging and pleading with the Jews to listen to his warnings. He tries to tell them what is coming, but they refuse to listen.

The Jews in Elie’s village are also aware of Hitler’s plan to annihilate the Jews, but they doubt the veracity of it. They don’t think it will be possible for him to wipe out an entire race of people. Then, in the spring of 1944, they receive the news that Germany is about to be defeated on the Russian front, so they breathe a collective sigh of relief and believe their worries are over.

Even as they are loaded on the train en route to Birkenau, they believe they are just going to a resettlement camp. They don’t see the reality of what they are about to endure. Madame Schachter seems to have premonitions of the horrors that await them, but they dismiss her as well. It’s only when they are escorted off the train at Birkenau and forced to leave their belongings that they face the reality of their dire situation. It is at this time that Elie’s faith begins to fracture, as well.