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Eliezer
Eliezer is both the author ("Elie" is short for Eliezer) and narrator of the memoir. When the story begins, Eliezer is a deeply religious teenager from the Romanian town of Sighet (part of Hungary from…
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Moché the Beadle
A poor Jew, an immigrant to Hungary, who helps out at the synagogue in Sighet. He becomes Eliezer's teacher, but is deported by the authorities because he is a foreigner. He returns to warn…
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Minor Characters
Chlomo
Eliezer's father, he runs a shop and is highly respected in the town of Sighet. Once Eliezer and Chlomo are separated from the rest of the family, they go to great pains not to be separated from each other and to keep each other alive as long as possible.
Madame Schachter
After being separated from her husband and two of her sons during the deportation from Sighet, Madame Schachter loses her mind during the train ride to Auschwitz. She claims to see furnaces and fires burning and screams out in the night.
Akiba Drumer
A religious man who comforts the other prisoners with his singing. He studies the Caballa and the Bible, but eventually loses his faith while in the camps.
Dr. Mengele
An SS doctor at Auschwitz. He decides who is fit to keep working and who will be killed.
Juliek
A musician whom Eliezer meets at Buna. He plays his violin for the weary and dying after the march to Gleiwitz, and then dies.
Idek
Eliezer's Kapo (a prisoner put in charge of other prisoners) at Buna. He's given to fits of rage, during which he beats the people under his command, including Eliezer, and Eliezer's father
Franek
Eliezer's foreman at Buna. He beats Eliezer's father until Eliezer agrees to give Franek his gold crown, which a dentist removes with a rusty spoon.
Tibi and Yossi
Brothers who befriend Eliezer at Buna. They decide to move to Palestine should they survive.
The French Girl
She works near Eliezer when he is at Buna. She comforts him after a beating and gives him words of encouragement. Years later he runs into her in Paris.
Rabbi Eliahou
A well loved and respected figure, he is abandoned by his son during the march to Gleiwitz.
Meir Katz
A friend of Eliezer's father and one of the heartiest of the prisoners. He saves Eliezer from an unknown attacker, and later dies on the train to Buchenwald
Hilda
One of Eliezer's elder sisters. She survives the Holocaust.
Bea
One of Eliezer's elder sisters. She survives the Holocaust.
Tzipora
Eliezer's younger sister. He never sees her again after the family is separated at Birkenau. He later learns that she was sent immediately to the gas chamber.
Eliezer's Mother
Eliezer never sees her again after the family is separated at Birkenau. He later learns that she was sent immediately to the gas chamber.
