Fire

The symbol behind fire is seen throughout Night, often used to show the Nazi’s power and cruelty.  The crematoriums that the Nazis used to burn the Jews are mentioned frequently, especially when Elie enters the concentration camp for the first time.  He states “In front of us, those flames. In the air, the smell of burning flesh.  It must have been around midnight.  We had arrived. In Birkenau”( Wiesel 28). On the way towards Auschwitz-Birkenau, a woman named Madame Schächter receives several crazed premonitions of fire and destruction.  These premonitions symbolize the horror of the crematoriums that they would encounter once at the concentration camps.  Form Elie religion point of view the fire might have also connect to a higher power.  Elie grew up studying the Torah and Talmud so the fire may have represented a higher power to him.  Hitler associated himself with the fire so the Jewish people then saw him as a high power.