After days and nights crammed into the car the passengers arrive at Birkenau, the gateway to Auschwitz. In the first of many “selections” the Jews are evaluated to determine whether they should be killed immediately or put to work. Eliezer and his father seem to pass the evaluation. The prisoners are forced to watch the hanging of fellow prisoners in the camp courtyard. the Gestapo even hang a small child who had been associated with some rebels within Buna