Stein continued to visit the Wiesels, but suddenly they no longer saw him again. What happens to Stein? (chapter 3)

Stein disappeared, we might conclude he took his own life, or that he was killed in the furnace. The novel does not give us this information because Elie and his father never knew the facts.... only that Stein never returned.

"A transport just arrived from Antwerp. I shall go to see them tomorrow. Surely they will have n e w s … " He left. We never saw him again. He had been given the news. The real news.