Research
 With a partner, look up Elie Weisel quotations
 Pick your favorite 3
 Discuss these quotes with your partner
 Identify at least three common themes expressed in these
quotations
 Write a paragraph explaining your discussion
Elie Wiesel
• 1928-present
• Born in Sighet, Transylvania
• 15 years old when he and
his family were deported by
the Nazis to Auschwitz
• Awarded with the Nobel
Peace Prize in 1986
• Professor in the Humanities
at Boston University
About Night
 Night is Elie Wiesel’s
masterpiece, a candid,
horrific, and deeply
saddening
autobiographical account
of surviving the
Holocaust while a young
teenager. It is considered
a classic of Holocaust
literature, and was one of
the first texts to be
recognized as such.
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
 Moishe 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.
Discussion Questions

1. Describe in detail the characters of Eliezer and Moishe the Beadle. What is the
nature of their relationship?

2. Consider Eliezer’s feelings for his family, especially his father. What about his
father’s character or place in the Jewish community of Sighet commands Eliezer’s
respect or admiration?

3. “And then, one day all foreign Jews were expelled from Sighet,” writes Wiesel,
quite bluntly. “And Moishe the Beadle was a foreigner” (p. 6). What is the point of
Wiesel’s abruptness? Also, consider the manner in which Moishe is treated by the
Jews of Sighet after he has escaped the Gestapo’s capture. Explain why Moishe has
returned to the village. Why don’t the Jewish townspeople believe the horrible
news he brings back to them?

4. Time and again, the people of Sighet doubt the advance of the German army.
Why? When the Germans do arrive, and even once they have moved all the Jews
into ghettos, the Jewish townspeople still seem to ignore or suppress their fear.
“Most people thought that we would remain in the ghetto until the end of the war,
until the arrival of the Red Army. Afterward everything would be as before” (p. 12).
What might be the reasons for the townspeople’s widespread denial of the
evidence facing them?
Sections 2& 3
 1. Describe Mrs. Schachter. Why were the Jews incorrect when they
said she was mad? In reality, what was she?
 2. In addition to their belongings, what else did the Jews leave behind
in the cattle cars?
 3. What was the significance of the “eight simple words”?
 4. What advice and insults do they receive from the veteran inmates?
 5. Why does Elie pinch himself? (pg.32)
 6. What makes Elie feel angry for the first time? How has his character
changed since chapter 1?
 7. Look at page 34. Paraphrase Elie’s thoughts that first night.
 8. What surprises Elie the most about seeing his father get slapped?
Section 5
 1. Describe Elie’s tone towards God in this chapter. Choose one quotation
that shows his attitude towards God and his faith. Write 2-3 sentences
that explain how that quotation reflects his tone towards God and his
faith.
 2. What is the key to survival? (pg. 77)
 3. What did they forget to do? How is this significant?
 4. What was “like an injection of morphine?” How is this significant?
 5. Who does Elie’s neighbor trust more than anyone else? Why? How is
this significant?
 6. What does Elie learn about the patients who stayed behind in the
infirmary at Buna?
 7. According to the commanding officer, why did they need to mop the
floors of the bunks? Describe Elie’s reaction to the irony of this statement.
Section 6
 1. What does Elie mean when he says, “I couldn’t help
thinking that there were two of us: my body and I. And I
hated that body.”? What does his body represent
symbolically?
 2. Why does Elie say, “I had no right to die.”? How is this
significant?
 3. What did Rabbi Eliahu’s son do that Elie prays he will
never do? What is unique about this prayer?
 4. Who is Juliek? What makes him unforgettable? What
was his fate?
Section 7
 1. How does Elie save his father’s life?
 2. How do the German townspeople react to the sight of
the Jewish inmates?
 3. How do the crusts of bread cause two deaths in Elie’s
car? How is this significant?
 4. How do Elie’s father and Meir Katz save Elie? How does
Elie’s father save Meir Katz?
 5. How many prisoners out of the 100 in Elie’s car made it
to Buchenwald?
Section 8
 1. Why is Elie so angry with his father? With whom does he
believe he is actually arguing?
 2. What makes Elie feel forever ashamed? How is this
significant?
 3. What does Elie mean when he says that “he had not passed
the test”?
 4. What does Elie’s father request of him? Why doesn’t Elie
listen to him?
 5. What happened to Elie’s father?
 6. What pains Elie? What is the only thought that could cross his
mind?
Section 9
 1. Why doesn’t Elie describe his life in Buchenwald?
 2. What consumed Elie’s thoughts?
 3. Describe the evacuation. What did the liberated
prisoners care about the most?
 4. What image has haunted Elie throughout his life? How is
this significant?