Dawn (Wiesel novel)
| Author | Elie Wiesel |
|---|---|
| Subject | British Mandate of Palestine paramilitary group |
| Genre | War fiction |
| Publisher | Les Editions de Seuil |
|
Publication date
|
1961 |
| Pages | 81 |
| Followed by | Day |
Dawn is a novel by Elie Wiesel, published in 1961. It is the second in a trilogy— Night, Dawn, and Day—describing Wiesel's experiences or thoughts during and after the Holocaust.
Dawn is an original work of fiction. It tells the story of Elisha, a Holocaust survivor. After the war, Elisha moves to the British Mandate of Palestine and joins the Irgun (in the book known as the Movement) determined to oust the British from the area. One night, he is told he must execute a British officer at dawn. The novel covers his internal struggle leading up to the execution, looking back on his life and those that have affected it.
The book starts out in Paris with Elisha, the main character, trying to start over from his childhood at Buchenwald Concentration Camp. A man named Gad stops over at Elisha’s house to ask if he will give him his future. Gad wants him to join the movement. Elisha agrees and moves to Palestine to help fight the movement.
The movement is a group of terrorists made up of Jews who are fighting the British for control over palestine. Elisha is sent to a training camp for six weeks to learn how to be a freedom fighter. After Elisha is trained, he is sent out on missions to kill the British in large quantities. Everyone within the movement goes on separate assignments. While on one mission a “brother” was injured and captured. His name was David Ben Moshe.
The British took David Ben Moshe as a prisoner of war and he was to be executed at dawn. In retaliation, the Movement took hostage a British Captain named John Dawson. The Movement threatened that if David Ben Moshe is executed then they will kill John Dawson. However, if the British were to let Moshe go, then the people of the movement would let Dawson go as well. The old man, the leader of the Movement, sentenced Elisha to execute John Dawson at dawn if David Ben Moshe was put to death.
John Dawson is kept in a house with a jail in the basement. Elisha and a group of “brothers” from the Movement, sat and waited for the conformation that Moshe was to be hanged. The radio confirmed that night the execution of David Ben Moshe is to happen at dawn. When the announcement was finished “The Voice of Freedom” came on. This underground station is used by the movement to get information out to the people. The “Voice of Freedom” is a women named Ilana that is in love with Gad. Later in the night when the broadcast is finished, Ilana came to the house where John Dawson is being kept. The Group of people at the house were sitting and talking about how they have escaped death and about Dawson’s execution.
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