Close Reading: Section One
“There are a thousand and one gates
leading into the orchard of mystical
truth. Every human being has his own
gate. We must never make the mistake
of wanting to enter the gate by any
gate but our own. “ page 3
“Was he going to wipe out a whole
people? Could he exterminate a
population scattered throughout so
many countries? So many millions?
What methods could he use?
And in the middle of the twentieth
century!” page 6
“It was like a page torn from some
story book, from historical novel
about the captivity of Babylon or the
Spanish Inquisition.” page 14
“Everywhere rooms lay open. Doors
and windows gaped into the emptiness.
Everything was free for anyone,
belonging to nobody. It was simply a
matter of helping oneself. An open
tomb.” Page 15
Monday passed like a small summer
cloud, like a dream in the first
daylight hours. Page 16
“It was from that moment I began to
hate them, and my hate is still the only
link between us today. They were our
first oppressors. They were the first
faces of death and hell.” page 17
“The stars were only sparks of the fire
which devoured us. Should the fire
die out one day, there would be
nothing lest in the sky but dead stars,
dead eyes.” page 18
Close Reading: Section Two
“The world was a cattle
wagon hermetically sealed.”
page. 22
The cherished objects we
had brought with us thus far
were left behind in the
train, and with them, at
last, our illusions.” page. 27
“Humanity? Humanity is
not concerned with us.”
page. 30
“For the first time, I felt
revolt rise up in me. Why
should I bless His name?
The Eternal, Lord of the
Universe, the All-Powerful
and Terrible was silent.
What had I to thank Him
for?” page. 31
“Never shall I forget that
night. The first night in
camp, which has turned my
life into one long night.”
page. 32
“The student of the Talmud,
the child that I was, had
been consumed by the
flames. There remained only
a shape that looked like me.
A dark flame had entered
my soul and devoured
it. “ page. 34
Close Reading: Section Three
“You…you…you and you.”
They pointed a finger, as
though choosing cattle or
merchandise.” page 47
“I was angry at him, for not
knowing how to avoid Idek’s
outbreak. This is what
concentration camp life
had made of me.” page 52
“A feast for kings,
abandoned, supreme
temptation! Hundreds of
eyes looked at them,
sparkling with desire. Two
lambs, with a hundred
wolves lying in wait for
them. Two lambs without a
shepherd- a gift. But who
would dare?” page 56
“But we were no longer
afraid of death; at any rate,
not of that death. Every
bomb that exploded filled us
with joy and gave us new
confidence in life.” page 57
“Where is He? Here He is-
He is hanging in this
gallows…” page 62
Close Reading: Section Four and Five
“My eyes were open and I was alone-terribly
alone in a world without God and without man.
Without love or mercy. I had ceased to be
anything but ashes.” page 65
“But you must help your own chances. Before
you go in the next room, move about in some
way so that you give yourselves a little color.
Don’t walk slowly, run! Run as if the devil
were after you!” page 67
“I’ve got more faith in Hitler than anyone else.
He’s the only one who’s kept his promises, all
his promises, to the Jewish people.” page 77
‘That was the last night in Buna. Yet another
last night. The last night at home, the last night
in the ghetto, the last night in the train, and, now,
the last night in Buna. How much longer were
our lives to be dragged out from one “last night”
to another?” page 79
“An endless road. Letting oneself be pushed by the
mob; letting oneself be dragged along by blind
destiny.” page 83
“I could only hear the violin, and it was as though
Juliek’s soul were the bow. He was playing his life.
The whole of his life was gliding down the strings-
his lost hopes, his charred past, his extinguished
future.” page 90
“Wild beasts of prey, with animal hatred in their eyes;
an extraordinary vitality had seized them, sharpening
their teeth and nails.” page 95
“From the depths of the mirror, a corpse gazed back
at me. The look in his eyes, as they stared into mine,
has never left me.” Page 109