Night by Elie Wiesel

This is an autobiographical account of a 14 year old boy in a Nazi concentration camp.  This story is very sad and there were times that I thought I would cry.  The boy's family is put onto a cattle car and taken to Auschwitz.  They were welcomed by the chimney's of the crematorium where he saw children thrown into the fire.  He was separated from his mother and sisters and never saw them again.  He stayed close to his father in the concentration camp and avoided the selections that happened regularly that weeded out the weak who were taken to the crematorium.  At one point the Red Army was on their way and the Camp was being evacuated.  He had just had surgery on his foot and had the option to stay behind with his father.  Because they thought all the sick that were not evacuated would be executed, they decided to march with the rest of the camp.  Turns out, the sick left behind were liberated by the Russians two days later.  Instead of being liberated, the were lead down the road to starvation and death.  Throughout the book, the boy struggles with the burden he feels from his dying and weak father.  Many sons had turned their backs on their fathers in order to survive.  One even beat his father to death for a piece of bread.  He fights and hates these feelings and tries to protect and help his father until the day the last day he saw his father.  His father was very ill and dying and called out to him.  He was beaten by the guards very badly.  His father's last word was his name and he didn't even respond.  He stood and looked at his father for a long time and then turned his back on him and went to bed.  When he woke up the next morning, his father was gone.  Very sad.  I highly recommend this book.