Night by Elie Wiesel
• In your notebook, a new entry: Focus
Questions for Night
– Make a list of two or three event’s that
can happen suddenly and unexpectedly
change a person’s life. Discuss the
possible effects and emotional reactions
you and others might have to each of
these events.
Night
Write and Talk
Genocide
Holocaust
Crimes against humanity
What do these terms mean to you? What do you
already know about the Holocaust? What do you
want to know?
By Elie Wiesel
“The Holocaust is a central event in many people’s
lives, but it has also become a metaphor for our
century. There cannot be an end to speaking and
writing about it.”
-Aharon Appelfeld
Genocide
Geno-cide
Geno – from the
Greek word genos,
which means birth,
race, of a similar
kind
-Cide--word-forming
element meaning
"killer," from French cide, from Latin -cida
"cutter, killer, slayer,"
Essential question…
• How does Elie Wiesel
convey the inhumanity
and humanity associated
with the Holocaust in the
novel Night?
Civ & Lit - Miller/Hinrichs
What is the difference between
a memoir and an
autobiography?
• An autobiography
contains facts and
events that really
happened.
• Facts are not
altered or changed.
• A memoir is based
on facts and events
that really
happened.
• Some of the facts
are changed to
make the writing
more literary.
Elie Wiesel’s Night…
The novel begins in Sighet,
Transylvania.
During the early years of World War
II, Sighet remained relatively
unaffected by the war. The 15,000
Jews in Sighet believed that they
would be safe from the persecution
that Jews in Germany and Poland
suffered.
Night continued…
In 1944, however,
Elie and all the
other Jews in town
were rounded up in
cattle cars and
deported to
concentration
camps in Poland.
He was 14.
Night continued…
They were
sent to
Auschwitz and
Buna-concentration
camps.
Roll call in Buchenwald, February 1941
Civ & Lit - Miller/Hinrichs
Night continued…
After surviving the Nazi
concentration camps,
Wiesel vowed never to
write about his horrific
experiences.
He eventually changed his
mind and wrote Night in
1955. Wiesel won the
Nobel Prize in 1986
Civ & Lit - Miller/Hinrichs
Night unit overview
• Reading Night by Elie Wiesel
• Significant Sentences Charts
• Answer prompts and study guide
questions with evidence from the text
• Work in pairs and groups to discuss
sentences, questions, etc.
• Chapter vocabulary and quizzes from
Night
• Write personal student reflections
Civ & Lit - Miller/Hinrichs