Bria Harper

May 24, 2011

English Greco

Night and Hotel Rwanda

The horrific stories that were
portrayed in Night and Hotel Rwanda
seem like only an act of fiction. But there
was an unfortunate reality behind both of
these tales. The book Night was a
memoir of the great struggles Eliezer
Wiesel had to endure during the
Holocaust. Hotel Rwanda is also a
retelling of the genocide that went on in
Rwanda. Both of these events had a huge
negative impact on the world. They were
the same in that they both dealt with
discrimination against a certain race of
people, high numbers of people were
murdered in a relatively short period of
time, and little aid was given from other
countries to help those who were a being
targeted.
In the Holocaust, mainly the Jews
were targeted, but many other groups of
people were also singled out such as
gypsies, homosexuals, and the disabled.
Hitler felt the need to create a superior
race, so he decided to try and wipeout
everyone who didn't live up to his
standards. In the novel Night, author Elie
Wiesel tells of how he and his family were
sent to ghettos for no reason other than
being Jewish. While in the ghetto, Wiesel
tells of how he felt by saying, ' " The
barbed wire that encircled us like a wall
did not feel us with real fear (11) ' " .
Eliezer felt comfort in knowing that even
though he and the other minorities were
separated from the rest of society, he
would be safe in the ghettos.
Unfortunately he was gravely mistaken.
The genocide in Rwanda sparked
from years of racial discrimination among
the different tribes, the Hutus and the
Tutsis, who lived in Rwanda. The Hutus,
feeling put down by Tutsis finally decided
to revolt. Hotel Rwanda is told from the
point of view of Paul Rusesabagina, the
owner of a hotel that has protected
thousands of Tutsis from the brutal
murdering of the Hutus. Paul is a Hutu
himself which saves him from being killed
countless numbers of time. As the movie
progresses, Paul's Hotel slowly becomes
a refugee camp. Paul is now burdened
with the job to not only try and save his
own family, but save many others as well.
Paul tells his wife Tatiana Rusesabagina
that he does not believe he can fulfill this
task, but must try anyway (Hotel
Rwanda). In both Night and Hotel
Rwanda the main characters feel the
need to help others who are in need.
Even though the main characters
in both Night and Hotel Rwanda showed
heroic behavior in saving the lives of
others, hundreds of thousands were still
killed in each genocide. In night, Wiesel
describes the horrible ways in which the
people were slaughtered. He tells of when
he first arrived at Buchenwald
Concentration Camp and he witnessed
the burnings of people in huge fire pits. "
Never shall I forget the small faces of the
children whose bodies I saw transformed
into smoke under a silent sky (Wiesel 34)"
illustrates how the images of people being
burned alive will be etched into Wiesel's
memory forever. Millions of other people
were also killed by the gas chambers.
Gas chambers were rooms that they
would fill with poisonous gas that could kill
thousands of Jews in just one session.
Over 6 million Jews and other minorities
were killed in the Holocaust which lasted
from 1941 to 1945. This was one of the
biggest genocides to ever occur in history.
The amount of lives lost in Hotel
Rwanda was about 800,000 (Hotel
Rwanda). Even though the amount dead
in the Rwandan genocide was
significantly less than in the Holocaust it
was still a great number compared to how
long it lasted which was only about 100
days. Both the Holocaust and the
Rwandan genocide were both backed by
the strength of the military. In Rwanda,
the Hutu had a militia group that wiped
out most of the Tutsis population. They
raided peoples homes killing innocent
men women and children. The Hutus
used machetes, guns, and any other
weapons they could to attack the Tutsis.
Even though so many lives were lost in
both genocides, little help was given from
outsiders to help the victims.
Not many countries knew about
what was going on in Germany until after
millions were already dead. The
Russians came at the end of the war
finally rescuing the remaining survivors,
but over half of the Jewish population had
already been killed. Wiesel did not
understand why help was coming so late.
He thinks, " How was it possible that men,
women, and children were being burned
and that the world kept silent. (Wiesel 32)
" This was most likely the reason for
Wiesel losing faith in God, because he felt
that God was suppose to protect him and
send help, but no one came. The world
seemed to have turned their backs on
them when they needed help the most.
The very same thing was
happening in Rwanda. Little help came to
evacuate the Tutsis. The UN was there to
make peace, but were not allowed to use
violence to stop the harassment of the
Hutu militia. As more and more people
were being killed no other countries tried
to get involved in though they knew what
was happening through the widespread
media coverage of the genocide. Even
the Rwandan police chose not to help.
When the Tutsis finally thought help was
coming, they realized that the Europeans
were there only to evacuate the tourists.
Help never arrived for the innocent victims
of the Rwandan genocide. In the end
most of the Tutsis fled to other nearby
countries (Hotel Rwanda). The world
showed no support for the victims.
So in conclusion, both the genocide
in Rwanda and the Holocaust shared and
extreme negative impact on the world.
They were so terrible in the fact that they
were both fueled by discrimination against
a minority group, very high numbers of
lives were lost in short time periods, and
little to no aid was given to help the
victims of both genocides. Eliezer made it
his life mission to spread the word and to
educate people about the Holocaust. The
Holocaust and the Rwandan genocide are
two major events in history that should
never be forgotten.