Eliezer Wiesel

Through Eliezer’s perspective, a young Jewish boy struggling to survive in a concentration camp during World War II. Once a devout teenager, Eliezer gradually loses faith and family, witnessing unbearable horrors, including the hanging of a young child. Despite the brutality around him, he remains committed to his father, even as survival becomes his sole focus after his father's death shortly before liberation. Full Elie Analysis

Shlomo Wiesel

Eliezer’s father, a respected man in Sighet, is devoted to the welfare of his community but rarely shows his emotions. Throughout their imprisonment, he and Eliezer struggle to stay together, with Shlomo even entrusting Eliezer with his last possessions—a knife and a spoon—when he fears he may not survive. Despite severe hardships, Eliezer remains devoted, ultimately losing his father to illness. Full Shlomo Analysis

Moishe the Beadle

Moishe the Beadle, who is “the poorest of the poor of Sighet,” serves as a religious mentor for young Eliezer, and he encourages Eliezer to consider matters of faith. As a foreign Jew, he is among the first to be deported but escapes and returns to Sighet to warn others of the horrors he has witnessed. After his return, Moishe no longer speaks of God, and his demeanor is completely changed. Unfortunately, people dismiss him, claiming that he only seeks pity or that he imagined the experience. People of Sighet resume their typical lives, and Moishe eventually falls silent, knowing what awaits. Full Moishe Analysis

Juliek

At Buna, Eliezer meets Juliek, a musician. Later, after they are marched to Gleiwitz, the two are both nearly crushed. Somehow, Juliek disentangles himself from the pile of bodies and also manages to save his beloved violin. Eliezer hears Juliek playing a Beethoven concerto with his “whole being,” cradling the damaged instrument as if it houses his “extinguished future.” The next morning, Eliezer finds Juliek dead, his trampled violin laying beside him. Full Juliek Analysis

Mrs. Schächter

Mrs. Schächter is trapped inside the cattle car that carries Eliezer and his family away from their home and toward the concentration camps. She is in her fifties and travels with her ten-year-old son; she is typically a quiet woman and has frequently visited Eliezer’s home. Inside the car, Mrs. Schächter desperately misses her family and eventually becomes hysterical. She begins screaming about a fire that no one else can see, crying out that they are all fated to meet it. Her words understandably agitate the already-tense passengers, and as her visions of fire continue, they eventually beat the delusional woman into submission, finally quieting her. However, when they reach Birkenau, the ominous presence of the crematorium and the pervasive smell of burning flesh proves that Mrs. Schächter’s visions were prophetic.

Akiba Drumer

Early in their imprisonment, Akiba Drumer is a source of encouragement to others, reminding them that God is “testing” them and His “punishment” is actually a sign of love, as through their suffering, he is killing the evil that resides within each of them. After enduring long hardships, Akiba loses his faith and tells the others that he can no longer endure the cruelty of the SS. With hollow eyes, he gives up the constant battle and does not survive the next selection.

The Young French Woman

When Eliezer is imprisoned at Buna, he is assigned to work in a warehouse beside a young French woman whom Eliezer believes could be Jewish. Because she speaks only French, Eliezer is unable to communicate with her. However, after he is severely beaten at work one day, the woman brings him a bit of bread and wipes blood from his forehead, whispering encouragement to him in near-perfect German. Years later, Eliezer runs into this woman in Paris, and she explains that she risked exposing her true identity to him because she knew he was trustworthy.

Dr. Mengele

Dr. Josef Mengele was a notorious physician known for his cruel experiments on those imprisoned in concentration camps. His awful experiments were based on the unscientific maxims of Nazi racial theory; many people died as a result of these experiments. Eliezer meets Dr. Mengele when he first arrives at Auschwitz; he lies about his age and claims that he is a farmer in order to improve his odds of survival. His answers fool the doctor, and Eliezer thus passes his first inspection.

Hilda and Bea

Hilda and Bea are Eliezer’s two older sisters. They are mentioned in the opening chapters, then never mentioned again following their separation upon arrival at the concentration camps; their absence in the narrative is a somber homage to the tragic reality of their deaths in the camp. 

Tzipora

Tzipora is Eliezer’s younger sister. As he is separated from his mother and sisters, Eliezer watches his mother stroking Tzipora’s blond hair “as if to protect her.” During this touching moment that has imprinted itself into his memory, Eliezer doesn’t realize that this is the final time he will ever see them.