Night: Chapter 4 Summary & Analysis

The camp of Buna looks almost deserted when they arrive. The head of the camp orders that food be brought to the ten and twelve-year-old prisoners. The German in charge of Eliezer's tent also takes a special interest in the welfare of the children, although his interest may not be so wholesome—Eliezer later learns that many boys were sexually abused.

One of his assistants in charge of the tent tries to get Eliezer's shoes in exchange for a good work unit assignment and keeping Eliezer and his father together. Eliezer won't give up his shoes.

The prisoners spend three days in quarantine, with medical and dental inspection. Then the Kapos arrive and select their work units. Eliezer's unit is joined by prisoners from a musicians' unit, including Juliek, a violinist. They are sent to work in an electrical equipment warehouse. One of the musicians tells Eliezer that he has landed in a good unit, but that the Kapo, Idek, occasionally goes berserk and beats people.

In the warehouse there are also Poles and French women. Franek, the foreman, lets Eliezer work next to his father. Eliezer befriends two Czech brothers, Yossi and Tibi, whose parents have been killed at Birkenau, and who talk of going to Palestine. Akiba Drumer discovers a passage in the Bible that he believes predicts their liberation within a few weeks.

Eliezer is ordered to go to the dentist to have his gold crown removed. Eliezer fakes illness and the dentist tells him to come back when he feels better. Eliezer returns a week later and is successful with the same excuse. Then the dentist is thrown into prison to be hanged for selling the crowns on the black market and Eliezer saves his gold crown.

At the warehouse Eliezer works near a French girl. They don't speak to each other, and Eliezer presumes they don't share a language. He suspects she might be Jewish, but she's there as an Aryan deportee from occupied France. One day, Idek, the Kapo, beats Eliezer savagely. The girl comforts him, gives him some bread, and gives him words of encouragement in German.

Years later, after the war, Eliezer sees a beautiful woman on the Metro in Paris. They recognize each other from the warehouse and spend the evening reminiscing. She is, in fact, Jewish, but made it through the war with forged papers stating she was not. Speaking German was a risk, she admits, but she trusted Eliezer.

On another occasion, Eliezer can only watch as Idek beats his father with an iron bar. Eliezer's instinct is to move farther away. He feels anger, in that moment, more towards his father (for not avoiding the Kapo) than towards Idek.

The foreman, Franek, demands the gold crown in Eliezer's mouth. Eliezer refuses. But his father isn't good at marching, so Franek starts to beat him every day for not marching in rhythm. Eliezer tries to give his father lessons. His father still can't march, and still gets beaten, until Eliezer relents. A dentist takes the crown out with a rusty spoon and gives it to Franek.

One day, Idek brings the entire unit to the warehouse even though there is no work that day. Eliezer wanders around and accidentally sees Idek having sex with a Polish girl. Later, Idek gives Eliezer twenty-five lashes with a whip in front of the rest of the prisoners. His father watches helplessly.

During an air raid the SS guards go into bomb shelters. A prisoner tries to get some extra soup but is killed by shrapnel from an exploding bomb. The prisoners are overjoyed at the bombing by American planes, even though it puts them in mortal danger.

A week later the prisoners are assembled in front of a gallows that has been built in the center of the camp. One prisoner, a strong young man, is condemned to death for stealing. He curses Germany and shouts "Long live liberty!" until the chair is pulled away and he dies. The prisoners think about their delayed supper, and Eliezer later enjoys his soup.

Although he is forced to watch other hangings, one in particular stays in Eliezer's mind. The young assistant of a Kapo is arrested along with the Kapo and two other prisoners after a power station in Buna blows up. The Kapo is tortured and sent to Auschwitz. The assistant, still only a boy, is tortured and then brought with the other two men to the gallows before the assembled camp. Prisoners refuse to help in the execution.

A man in the crowd behind Eliezer asks, "Where is God now?" The three are hanged, and the prisoners are forced to march past and look at them. The boy is still alive, dying slowly, as Eliezer passes. Eliezer feels as if his belief in God dies with that boy.