Dawn

Dawn (1961) is the second installation in the Night trilogy, a series that reflects author Elie Wiesel’s real-life experiences as a Holocaust survivor. While the first book in the series—Night (1960)—is a memoir, Dawn and the third book, Day (1962), are fictionalized accounts of the lives of Jewish Holocaust survivors.

Set in British Mandatory Palestine directly after World War II, Dawn focuses on a Zionist paramilitary group called “the Movement.” The principal character and narrator—a young Jewish fighter named Elisha—is tasked with executing an English hostage in retribution for the capture and upcoming execution of a Jewish fighter. The book takes place over a single night, during which Elisha agonizes about taking the hostage’s life. He reflects on his past and compares his experiences at a concentration camp to the violence inherent in being a paramilitary fighter in Palestine. Dawn is characterized by its bleak tone, preoccupation with morality and ethics, religious imagery, and intricate symbolism.

Elie Wiesel (1928-2016) was a Romanian-born writer, professor, and activist. He’s best known for his humanitarian activism and frank reflections on the Holocaust and World War II. Wiesel received numerous awards and honors, including the Nobel Peace Prize (1986), the U.S. Congressional Medal of Freedom (1984), the Order of the Star of Romania (2002), and more than 90 honorary degrees from colleges around the world.

While Night is the most famous of Wiesel’s Night trilogy, Dawn is beloved in its own right. It’s the subject of two film adaptations, a 1985 French-Hungarian production and a 2014 Swiss-UK-Israeli-German production.

CONTENT WARNING: The novel (and this guide) contains extended detail about the Holocaust and depicts antisemitism, war, and violence, and mild sexuality.

Plot Summary

In Chapter 1, Elisha obsesses over the order that he must execute a hostage, Captain John Dawson of England. Elisha is a volunteer for “the Movement,” a group of Zionist paramilitary terrorists in British Mandatory Palestine. The Movement’s leader, a remote figure named “the Old Man,” wants to exchange Dawson for David ben Moshe, a captive Jewish fighter slated for execution by English forces. Elisha doesn’t want to kill Dawson but has no choice, as he has been tasked to do so by the leaders of his movement in response to ben Moshe’s death sentence.

In Chapter 2, Elisha recalls meeting Gad, a fellow Jew who recruited him to join the Zionist cause. They met in Paris shortly after World War II ended and left for Palestine together. When they met, Elisha was a wayward orphan who had only recently been freed from the Buchenwald concentration camp. At that time, Elisha regarded Gad as a prophet. Now, Elisha resents Gad for inadvertently consigning him to becoming a murderer.

In Chapter 3, Elisha recalls the first time he killed another person. Gad sent him and five other terrorists to ambush English forces. Elisha was nauseous with self-hatred after carrying out his orders and likened himself to an SS officer. His only comfort was that he killed while part of a group. He’s terrified to execute Dawson because to do so, he must act alone.

In Chapter 4, Elisha, Gad, and three comrades—Ilana, Joab, and Gideon—share stories about their personal near-death experiences. Elisha shares that, as a prisoner at Buchenwald, he was nearly strangled to death by an assistant barracks leader. He survived only because the officer found his asphyxiated face comical; it made the officer laugh so hard that he lost interest in the killing. When Ilana calls Elisha “poor boy,” he’s reminded of his first girlfriend, Catherine, who fetishized his suffering.

In Chapter 5, Elisha encounters the ghosts of the people in his life who helped shape his identity. He focuses on the ghosts of his parents, his child-self, his old family rabbi, and a beggar he met as a child. He feels judged by their presence and attempts to justify himself to them. At the end of the chapter, Elisha goes downstairs to meet John Dawson face to face.

In the sixth and final chapter, Elisha and Dawson meet for the first time. There is no animosity between them, which makes Elisha uncomfortable. They discuss their predicament. The chapter ends with Elisha silently counting down the seconds to daybreak and shooting Dawson when time runs out.