Night
"In every area of human creativity
indifference is the enemy;
indifference of evil is worse than
evil, because it is also sterile."
Elie Wiesel
Elie Wiesel
Elie Wiesel appears as the fourth child in the left
column in this photo of child survivors of
Buchenwald, a concentration camp.
Timeline of Elie Wiesel
•
1928--born in Sighet,
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Romania 1944—deported to
Auschwitz
Jan.1945--father dies in
Buchenwald
Apr.1945--liberated from
concentration camp
1948--moved to Paris to study at
the Sorbonne 1948--work in
journalism begins
1954--decides to write about the
Holocaust
1956--hit by a car in New York
1958--Night is published
1963--receives U.S. citizenship
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1964--returned to Sighet
1965--first trip to Russia
1966--publishes Jews of Silence
1969--married Marion Rose
1972--son is born
1978--appointed chair of
Presidential Commission on the
Holocaust
1980--Commission renamed U.S.
Holocaust Memorial Council
1985--awarded Congressional
Gold Medal of Achievement
1986--awarded Nobel Peace Prize
1995--publishes memoirs
Elie Wiesel--Biography
• A holocaust survivor!
At 15 yrs old
• He was born in the town of Sighet,
Romania in 1928.
• In 1944 the German Nazi’s deported
Wiesel and his entire family to Auschwitz,
a concentration camp.
• Wiesel survived Auschwitz, Buna,
Buchenwald and Gleiwitz, all Nazi
commanded concentration camps.
Elie Wiesel--Biography
• In 1963 he became a
citizen of the United States.
• He was appointed a professor of
humanities at Boston University in
1976.
• From 1980 to 1986, Wiesel served as
chairman of the U.S. President's
Commission on the Holocaust.
Elie Wiesel-Biography
• He received the Congressional
Gold Medal in 1985.
• He received the Nobel Peace Prize in
1986.
• Wiesel has written and lectured
widely about the Jewish tradition
and other Jewish issues, as well as
about human rights in general.
Famous Passage from Night
•
Never shall I forget that night, the first night in
camp, which has turned my life into one long night,
seven times cursed and seven times sealed. Never shall I
forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the little faces of
the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of
smoke beneath a silent blue sky.
Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my
faith forever.
Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence which
deprived me, for all eternity, of the desire to live. Never
shall I forget those moments which murdered my God
and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I
forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as
long as God Himself. Never.
(Elie-Wiesel)
Elie Wiesel with Yitzhak Rabin
Let us remember, let
us remember the
heroes of Warsaw,
the martyrs of
Treblinka, the
children of
Auschwitz. They
fought alone, they
suffered alone, they
lived alone, but they
did not die alone, for
something in all of
us died with them.
Elie Wiesel
I spent most of my time
talking to God more than
to people.
Elie Wiesel
Themes of the Novel
• Genocide
• Apathy can be
more detrimental to
society than pure hatred.
• One’s spirit drives the soul to survive.
• The light of faith in humanity can
overcome the darkness of hate.
• Even in despair, man searches for
meaning.
Main
Characters
• Eliezer Wiesel
(identification number A-7713)
*The narrator of the book, Elie is taken to
concentration camps in Czechoslovakia and Germany
at the age of fourteen.
• Eliezer's father (Chlomo Wiesel)
*Eliezer's father is very respected within the Jewish
community of his hometown, and he spends most of his
time occupying himself with community affairs
Minor
Characters
• Moché the Beadle: A poor, humble man
who works at the Hasidic synagogue in Sighet
• Tzipora:
Eliezer's seven-year-old sister
• Eliezer's mother:
Eliezer is separated from
his mother upon arriving at Birkenau.
Night Study Guide Notes
• The original title Elie Wiesel gave the
novel was And the World Has Remained
Silent.
• He wrote this book after 10 years of
silence.
• By the end of the Holocaust, over 6
million Jews had been killed.
Night Study Guide Notes
• There are five motifs to look for while
reading Night:
– Night – pay attention to what happens at
night and what that might symbolize.
Remember what we learned when we
talked about archetypes and what night
might symbolize.
– Bearing Witness – Pay attention to which
characters are witnesses and to what they
bear witness.
Night Study Guide Notes
• Motifs (continued):
– Father-son Relationships – Pay attention to
how Elie and his father’s relationship
develops; in addition, notice other fatherson relationships in the book.
– Loss of faith – Notice how Elie’s faith in
God changes as the book progresses.
Write on your study guides where these
changes occur.
Night Study Guide Notes
• Motifs (continued):
– Voice vs. Silence – Who has a voice and
who chooses to remain silent? Why might
Elie Wiesel title his novel what he did
originally, and why did he no longer remain
silent?
• From the 10 Core Concept notes, we
will learn that Poland had the largest
population of Jews in Europe.
Night Study Guide Notes
• In Poland, 90% of the approximately
3,000,000 Jews were murdered in the
Holocaust.
• As you read, look for times that Wiesel
mentions the people in surrounding
towns.
• There are several groups who contributed
to the Holocaust, persecutors and bystanders included.
• Why are by-standers just as important as
the persecutors?
Images
Photographs
Words to Think About
“The Holocaust is a central event in many
peoples lives, but it also has become a
metaphor for our century. There cannot
be an end to speaking and writing
about it.”
Aharon Appelfeld
“If by some miracle, I survive, I will
devote my life to testifying on behalf of
all those whose shadows will be bound
to mine forever”.
Elie Wiesel
"On Wiesel's Night“
by:
Thomas E. Thorton
I cannot teach this book. Instead,
I drop copies on their desks,
like bombs on sleeping towns,
and let them read. So do I, again.
The stench rises from the page
and chokes my throat.
The ghosts of burning babies
haunt my eyes.
And that bouncing baton,
that pointer of Death,
stabs me in the heart
as it sends his mother
to the blackening sky.
Nothing is destroyed
the laws of science say,
only changed.
The millions transformed into
precious smoke rode the wind
to fill our lungs and hearts
with their cries.
No, I cannot teach this book.
I simply want the words
to burn their comfortable souls
and leave them scarred for life.