Night
Elie Wiesel
“Did
I write [the book] so as not to
go mad or, on the contrary, to go mad
in order to understand the nature of
madness, the immense, terrifying
madness that had erupted in history
and in the conscience of mankind?”
-Elie Wiesel
Why Jews?
8-9
**Hitler had a pathological (abnormal)
hatred of Jews: he was an anti semite.
(anti semitism = specifically hatred of
Jews)
**Hitler managed to convince the
Germans that the Jews were 'to blame' for
all the problems in the country. At that
time, the Jews were living very happily in
Germany, and were fully assimilated; they
married non Jews, worked with non Jews,
etc etc etc.
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080110064017AAlX8Yj
“Dehumanizing, demonizing, subversive,
verminous , unclean, dirty, scheming,
dishonest or stereotypical allegations
about Jews, plundering their religious
symbols and accusing Jews as a people of
being responsible for real or imagined
wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish
person or group have been the most
ancient instruments of persecuting the
Jews.”
http://shreyvats.wordpress.com/2009/11/21/bihari-the-jews-of-today/
Struggle to maintain faith…
• Elie’s faith is solidified in believing that God is
everywhere. God created all. Since God
creates all things good and beautiful, and God
is everywhere, then the world is essentially
good.
• This is shaken during his time in the
Holocaust.
• Selfishness, evil, cruelty, and more are
revealed in all people including himself.
Silence…
Religion and race…
• God is silent during the
torturing and murders.
• Victims are silent in their
abuse.
• Religion and race are the
targets of hate and
brutality.
Inhumanity to man…
• “Cruelty breeds cruelty”
• First Impressions can be deceiving
• Self preservation dictated actions of good and
evil
• We are all capable of inhumanity
(SparkNotes.com).
Family sacrifice and destruction…
Deception…
• Family members
sacrificed each
other to save
themselves
• Remaining guilt can
be inevitable
Symbols
• Night:
– Silence of God
– Suffering
– Womb and creation of the earth
• Fire:
– People burn in hell
– Crematoriums
– Religious fires (Moses and the burning bush)
Elie Wiesel
• born in 1928 in Sighet, Transylvania, which is
now part of Romania
• fifteen years old when he and his family were
deported by the Nazis to Auschwitz
• mother and younger sister perished
• two older sisters survived
• Elie and his father were later transported to
Buchenwald, where his father died
http://www.eliewieselfoundation.org/eliewiesel.aspx
• Father: Shlomo Wiesel, a grocer
• Mother: Sarah (Feig) Wiesel
• Marriage: Marion (Rose) Wiesel, (1969present)
• Children: Shlomo Elisha, 1972
• Education: Attended the Sorbonne, 19481951
http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/09/us/elie-wiesel-fast-facts/
• I Never Saw Another Butterfly Webquest
Works Cited
""A Wound That Will Never Be Healed: An Interview with Elie Wiesel"  Tags: ninth_grade literature  ." Home. N.p., n.d. Web.
19 Apr. 2014. <http://sequoyahhsmediacenter.libguides.com/content.php?pid=349782>.
"Elie Wiesel Fast Facts." CNN. Cable News Network, 1 Jan. 1970. Web. 19 Apr. 2014. <http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/09/us/elie-
wiesel-fast-facts/>.
"Night Notes on Characters." BookRags. BookRags, n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2014. <http://www.bookrags.com/notes/nit/chr.html>.
"Night by Elie Wiesel-characters." flashcards. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2014. <http://quizlet.com/16843795/night-by-elie-wieselcharacters-flash-cards/>.
"Night: Themes, Motifs, & Styles." SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2014.
<http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/night/themes.html>.
Shmoop Editorial Team. "Night Themes." Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 19 Apr. 2014.
<http://www.shmoop.com/night/themes.html>.
"The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity." The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2014.
<http://www.eliewieselfoundation.org/eliewiesel.aspx>.
"Welcome to the Online Archive of the Old PublicEye.Org Website." PublicEye.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2014.
<http://www.publiceye.org/magazine/v08n3/holodeni.html>.
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