It's ironic indeed that Elie's fellow Jewish prisoner in the hospital should have the most faith in Hitler, of all people. This is the man, after all, who murdered over six million Jews during the Holocaust and would've murdered even more if he'd had the chance.

But therein lies the faith of the hospital patient. Throughout his whole experience of the war, he's discovered that Hitler is the only man who's kept his promises. He said that he would annihilate the Jews and that's exactly what he's in the process of doing. It's come to something when a Jew can say this.

What it illustrates is the way in which so many people have deluded themselves as to the true nature of Nazi rule and what it involves. Elie himself was particularly scathing of the Jews of Sighet for downplaying the horrors of German occupation. It seemed that many people preferred comforting lies to the harsh, unvarnished truth. But what they should've done was to take Hitler at his word. When he said he would destroy the Jews, he meant it. That only a few people like the hospital patient have understood this point is tragic indeed.

In Night, by Elie Wiesel, Elie was put into the hospital because he had swelling in his right foot that was so bad he could not walk on it. The camp doctor, who was a Jewish prisoner like Elie, told him that he had to have an operation and that if he waited too long, his foot and possibly his entire leg would have to be amputated. While in the hospital, a Hungarian Jew sick with dysentery was in a bed near him. Elie described him as "faceless" because he could hear the man talk, but he could not see him well. After Elie's surgery, Elie heard a rumor that the Red Army was nearby and liberty was at hand. His neighbor, though, told him it was all an illusion and that Hitler had promised to annihilate the Jewish people.

At that point, Elie yelled at him, "What does it matter to you? Do we have to regard Hitler as a prophet?" (Wiesel 77)

And the Hungarian Jew answered him, "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." (Wiesel 77)