Elie Wiesel had to go to the dentist because he had one gold crown on his tooth. The doctor made two attempts to remove it. However, every time Elie said he was sick. Then he was arrested, so Elie didn’t give his tooth.
Detailed answer:
The Nazis could not allow the Jews to die with a gold ring or a gold tooth. Among the “Jewish gold,” there were money and jewelry taken from the arrested Jewish families, wedding rings, and torn gold teeth. The Nazis forced camp dentists to remove crowns from prisoners’ teeth and sell them. The dental work was done without anesthetics. Moreover, the dentist himself had yellow and rotten teeth. This indicates how terrible and inhuman the conditions were in the concentration camp.
Elie managed to postpone the encounter by telling the dentist that he was ill. He later learned that the doctor was arrested and would be killed for profiting from the gold obtained from the prisoners. Although the dentist showed sympathy for him by postponing the procedure twice, Elie said that he did not feel pity for him. He tried to cash in on the Jews in such a difficult situation.
Of course, Elie was speechless from all the vandalism, cruelty, and brutality of the Nazis happening around. However, in this episode, as in other scenes, he tells the story in an obedient and uncomplaining tone. Such inhuman situations were not surprising for him anymore. He got accustomed to appalling living conditions in a concentration camp.
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