Night: Chapter 1 Summary & Analysis

Eliezer is twelve in 1941. He lives in a town called Sighet, in territory then controlled by Hungary. His father is respected in the Jewish community. As a boy, Weisel studies the Torah (the Jewish Bible) and the Talmud (rabbinical teachings), while his sisters Hilda, Béa, and Tzipora help his parents run a shop. Eliezer is very religious and wants to study cabbala, Jewish mysticism, but his father says that he's too young.

Moché the Beadle works at a Hasidic synagogue in the town. Poor and physically awkward, he has a dreamlike and spiritual quality about him. Eliezer and he discuss religion and begin to study cabbala together. Soon, though, all of the foreign Jews are expelled by the Hungarian police. Moché, a foreigner, is forced onto a cattle train and sent away.

A few months later, Moché appears in town again, telling a horror story. Once the train arrived in Poland, the Gestapo took the Jewish passengers off the train, drove them to a forest, made them dig graves, and slaughtered them with machine guns, using babies for target practice. Moché miraculously survived with a leg wound and returned to warn the people of Sighet.

The people of Sighet do not believe Moché's story. Even Eliezer does not believe him, although he notices that Moché has changed, and no longer speaks about God or the cabbala. Moché despairs that no one pays attention to his warning.

Life seems normal enough in the village in 1943. People are encouraged by radio reports of the bombardment of Germany and the progress of the war. Eliezer continues his religious studies and the family thinks about Hilda's marriage prospects.

Things begin to change in 1944, although the Jews in Sighet still doubt that Hitler wants to exterminate them. Eliezer wants his father to sell the business and move to Palestine but his father says he's too old to start a new life. The Fascists come to power in Hungary. They allow German soldiers to enter the country, but in Sighet the Jews remain optimistic.

The German soldiers come to Sighet, staying at the houses of local citizens—sometimes Jews. One officer stays in a house across the street from Eliezer's. The soldiers are polite, and the Jews hope things will be fine. They keep a low profile, worship at home instead of at the synagogue. Then, during Passover, the Germans arrest the leaders of the Jewish community.

The authorities issue a series of orders. First, the Jews are commanded to remain in their houses for three days. Then they're ordered to hand over all of their valuables to the Hungarian police. The Jews are next forced to wear a yellow star on their clothing, and are banned from restaurants, trains, and the synagogue. A six o'clock curfew for Jews goes into effect.

Jews are forced to move into one of two ghettoes in Sighet. Eliezer's house is already in one of the designated areas, so his family doesn't have to move, but relatives kicked out of their homes move in. Germans use some Jews for labor, but the population remains hopeful that it will remain in the ghetto until the Russians arrive and the war is over.

One night, Eliezer's father is hurriedly summoned to a meeting of the Jewish council. Neighbors gather at the house to wait. Eliezer's mother has a feeling something bad is going to happen. His father comes back late at night with the news that they are all being deported.

All night the Jews in the ghetto prepare themselves for a journey to an unknown destination. In the morning, Hungarian police enter the ghetto and order the Jews out of their houses into the streets, striking them with rifle butts. The Hungarians keep the Jews standing in the street for hours under the sun, for roll call after roll call, while the Jewish police discreetly try to bring water to the people.

Eliezer watches the people of his town—friends, teachers, the rabbi—pass by with a small bundle of possessions. The scene is surreal, like something out of a book about ancient Jewish history—Biblical stories of the Jews fleeing cruel rulers.

Eliezer's family isn't part of the first deportation. Instead they are going to be sent to the smaller ghetto. When it's their time to leave their house, they are ordered to march. Eliezer sees his father cry for the first time. The Hungarian police order them to run and Eliezer begins to hate them.

In the little ghetto everything is in disarray—the people who lived here had been ordered to leave more quickly. The family's old servant comes to see them and begs them to come to her village and hide. Eliezer's father says that Eliezer and his two older sisters can go if they want to, but the family does not want to be separated.

That night, according to Eliezer, no one prays. The next day, people try to feel hopeful. They suggest that they are being deported because the front is coming too close, or because the Germans just want to steal their valuables. For a few days, the differences among the remaining villagers vanish and everyone gets along well.

On Saturday, the Sabbath, the Jews leave their homes and head to the synagogue. The streets are deserted, as if the non-Jews are waiting for the Jews to leave so they can pillage their houses. The synagogue is crowded with people, the altar is broken, the decorations are gone. The Jews spend twenty-four hours there. The next day they're marched to the station and herded onto cattle cars, eighty people per car. One person is responsible for each car; if anyone escapes, this one person will be shot. The Gestapo watches, pleased. The trains begin to move.