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Night
By Elie Wiesel
Before, Into, and Post Reading Activities
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Night and Life is Beautiful
Compare and Contrast
Directions: While you view the film, Life is Beautiful, take very detailed notes on the following
questions as you will need them to write a Response to Literature essay at the end of this Night unit.
1. What is the setting of the film? (Dates and Places)
2. Who are the main characters?
3. What is the initial conflict introduced in the beginning of the film?
4. What is the tone and mood thus far?
5. Describe events that occur in the plot that foreshadow something horrible is going to happen.
6. Which characters are placed on a train? Which character volunteers to ride the train? Where is this
train going?
7. What happens once the train stops? For instance, what procedures are followed?
8. How has the tone and mood changed in the plot? What is Guido doing to try to keep the tone and
mood the same for his son? Hint: it is a quality/device he is using.
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9. What must Guido sacrifice in order to make life as normal as possible for Joshua?
10. What decision must Guido make? What are his choices? Did he make the correct choice?
11. What is the climax of the plot?
12. What happens quickly after the climax (falling action)?
13. What does the audience learn at the resolution of the plot?
14. What is the significance of the title?
15. What is ironic about the plot’s climax?
16. List various external conflicts the characters experience.
17. List various internal conflicts the characters experience.
18. What is the purpose of this film?
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Night: KWL Chart
TOPIC: WWII and The Holocaust
Know
Want to know
Learned
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Night and “Terrible Things”
by Eve Bunting
AN ALLEGORY OF THE HOLOCAUST
In Europe, during World War II, many people looked the other way while terrible things happened.
They pretended not to know that their neighbors were being taken away and imprisoned in
concentration camps. They pretended not to hear cries for help. The Nazis killed millions of Jews and
others in the Holocaust. If everyone had stood together at the first sign of evil would this have
happened?
Standing up for what you know is right is not always easy. Especially if the one you face is
bigger and stronger than you. It is easier to look the other way. But, if you do, terrible things can
happen.
—E. B.
The clearing in the woods was home to the small forest
creatures. The birds and squirrels shared the trees. The rabbits
and porcupines shared the shade beneath the trees and the frogs
and fish shared the cool brown waters of the forest pond.
Until the day the Terrible Things came. Little Rabbit saw
their terrible shadows before he saw them. They stopped at the
edge of the clearing and their shadows blotted out the sun.
“We have come for every creature with feathers on its
back,” the Terrible Things thundered.
"We don't have feathers," the frogs said.
"Nor we," said the squirrels.
"Nor we," said the porcupines.
"Nor we," said the rabbits.
The little fish leaped from the water to show the shine of their scales, but the birds twittered
nervously in the tops of the trees. Feathers! They rose in the air, then screamed away into the blue of
the sky.
But the Terrible Things had brought their terrible nets, and they flung them high and
caught the birds and carried them away.
The other forest creatures talked nervously among themselves.
"Those birds were always noisy," the squirrels said.
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"There's more room in the trees now," the squirrels said.
"Why did the Terrible Things want the birds?" asked Little Rabbit.
"What's wrong with feathers?"
"We mustn't ask," Big Rabbit said. "The Terrible Things don't need a reason. Just be glad it
wasn't us they wanted."
Now there were no birds to sing in the clearing. But life went on almost as before. Until
the day the Terrible Things came back.
"We have no tails," the frogs said.
"Nor do we. Not real tails," the porcupines said.
The little fish jumped from the water to show the smooth shine of their finned tails and the
rabbits turned their rumps so the Terrible Terrible Things could see for themselves.
"Our tails are round and furry," they said. "By no means are they bushy."
The squirrels chattered their fear and ran high into the treetops. But the Terrible Things swung
their terrible nets higher than the squirrels could run and wider than the squirrels could leap and they
caught them all and carried them away.
"Those squirrels were greedy," Big Rabbit said. "Always storing away things for themselves.
Never sharing."
"But why did the Terrible Things take them away?" Little Rabbit asked. "Do the Terrible
Things want the clearing or themselves?"
"No. They have their own place," Big Rabbit said. "But the Terrible Things don't need a reason.
Just mind your own business, Little Rabbit. We don't want them to get mad at us."
Now there were no birds to sing or squirrels to chatter in the trees. But life in the clearing went
on almost as before. Until the day the Terrible Things came again.
Little Rabbit heard the rumble of their terrible voices.
"We have come for every creature that swims," the Terrible Things thundered.
"Oh, we can't swim," the rabbits said quickly.
"And we can't swim," the porcupines said.
The frogs dived deep in the forest pool and ripples spiraled like corkscrews on the dark brown
water. The little fish darted this way and that in streaks of silver. But the Terrible Things threw their
terrible nets down into the depths and they dragged up the dripping frogs and the shimmering fish and
carried them away.
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"Why did the Terrible Things take them?" Little Rabbit asked.
"What did the frogs and fish do to them?"
"Probably nothing," Big Rabbit said. "But the Terrible Things don't need a reason. Many
creatures dislike frogs. Lumpy slimy things. And fish are so cold and unfriendly. They never talk to
any of us."
Now there were no birds to sing, no squirrels to chatter, no frogs to croak, no fish to play in the
forest pool.
A nervous silence filled the clearing. But life went on almost as usual. Until the day the
Terrible Things came back.
Little Rabbit smelled their terrible smell before they came into sight. The rabbits and the
porcupines looked all around, everywhere, except at each other.
"We have come for every creature that sprouts quills," the Terrible Things thundered.
The rabbits stopped quivering. "We don't have quills," they said, fluffing their soft, white fur.
The porcupines bristled with all their strength. But the Terrible Things covered them with their
terrible nets, and the porcupines hung in them like flies in a spider's web as the Terrible Things carried
them away.
"Those porcupines always were bad tempered," Big Rabbit said shakily. "Prickly, sticky
things!"
This time Little Rabbit didn't ask why. By now he knew that the Terrible Things didn't need a
reason. The Terrible Things had gone, but the smell still filled the clearing.
"I liked it better when there were all kinds of creatures in our clearing," he said. "And I think
we should move. What if the Terrible Things come back?"
"Nonsense," said Big Rabbit. "Why should we move? This has always been our home. And the
Terrible Things won't come back. We are White Rabbits. It couldn't happen to us."
As day followed day Little Rabbit thought Big Rabbit must be right. Until the day the Terrible
Things came back.
Little Rabbit saw the terrible gleam of their terrible eyes through the forest darkness. And he
smelled the terrible smell.
"We have come for any creature that is white," the Terrible Things thundered.
"There are no white creatures here but us," Big Rabbit said.
"We have come for you," the Terrible Things said.
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The rabbits scampered in every direction. "Help!" they cried. "Somebody help!" But there was
no one left to help. And the big, circling nets dropped over them, and the Terrible Things carried them
away.
All but Little Rabbit, who was little enough to hide in a pile of rocks by the pond and smart
enough to stay so still that the Terrible Things thought he was a rock himself.
When they had all gone, Little Rabbit crept into the middle of the empty clearing. "I should
have tried to help the other rabbits," he thought. "If only we creatures had stuck together, it could have
been different."
Sadly, Little Rabbit left the clearing He'd go tell other forest creatures about the Terrible
Things. He hoped someone would listen.
Excerpted from Terrible Things: An Allegory of the Holocaust by Eve Bunting. Copyright @ Eve Bunting. By permission
of the Jewish Publication Society.
Night and "First They Came for the Jews"
By Pastor Martin Niemoller
First they came for the Jews and
I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.
Author’s Background Information
Friedrich Gustav Emil Martin Niemöller (14 January 1892 – 6 March 1984) was a prominent German antiNazi theologian and Lutheran pastor. Although he was a national conservative and initially a supporter of Adolf
Hitler, he became one of the founders of the Confessing Church, which opposed the nazification of German
Protestant churches. He vehemently opposed the Nazis' Aryan Paragraph, but made remarks about Jews that
some scholars have called antisemitic. For his opposition to the Nazis' state control of the churches, Niemöller
was imprisoned in Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps from 1937 to 1945. He narrowly escaped
execution and survived imprisonment. After his imprisonment, he expressed his deep regret about not having
done enough to help the victims of the Nazis. He turned away from his earlier nationalistic beliefs and was one
of the initiators of the Stuttgart Declaration of Guilt. From the 1950s on, he was a vocal pacifist and anti-war
activist, and vice-chair of War Resisters' International from 1966 to 1972. He met with Ho Chi Minh during the
Vietnam War and was a committed campaigner for nuclear disarmament.
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Study Guide Questions for “Terrible Things”
and “First They Came for the Jews”
1. Why do you think the author told the story of the Holocaust in this symbolic way? Who is this story
directed to?
2. Why do you think the Terrible Things take away the animals one group at a time?
3. In an allegory, people, places, and events are used as symbols. What can the clearing in the woods
stand for? What about the different animals? The Terrible Things?
4. What kind of excuses do the other animals offer to explain the fate of each group as it is taken
away? How do these reactions help the Terrible Things?
5. How are the Terrible Things described? What verbs are used to describe their actions? How do the
descriptions affect your feelings about the Terrible Things?
6. During the Holocaust, terrible things were done by real people, people with faces, names and life
histories. Why do you think the author shows the Terrible Things as anonymous?
7. What choices do the animals in the clearing have when the Terrible Things come?
8. What would you say to Big Rabbit's statement, "We are the White Rabbits. It couldn't happen to us?
9. When the Terrible Things come for the rabbits, what do the rabbits do? What choice does Little
Rabbit make? Why? What does this tell you about Terrible Things?
10. Little Rabbit hopes someone will listen to him. Why might no one listen?
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11. What animal were you in the activity? How do you feel about the outcome of the story’s plot?
12. At the end of the poem, why is there “no one left” to speak for the narrator?
13. How does this poem make you feel? Why?
14. Compare and contrast the allegory with the poem.
15. How is “Terrible Things” an allegory?
16. What point of view is “Terrible Things” written? How do you know?
17. In the poem, the use of repetition is used. How is this device used and what is its affect on the
reader?
18. What is the point of view of the poem? How do you know?
19. What are the tones of both literary pieces?
20. What are the moods of both literary pieces?
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Night: Author Biography
Elie Wiesel (1928 - )
Elie Wiesel was born in 1928 in Sighet, a border town of about
120,000 people. It is a town with a long and complicated history.
After World War I, it was a part of Hungary, then handed over to
Romania, and then taken back by Hungary at the beginning of
World War II. During the war, the town became part of Hitler’s
Third Reich. After the war, it was under Russian rule for a time and
then turned over to Romania.
Wiesel grew up in the Jewish section of Sighet. His father Shlomo,
was a shopkeeper who was deeply involved in the Jewish
community. He wanted his only son (Elie Wiesel had three sisters)
to be as practical as he himself was. The boy’s mother, a welleducated woman, encouraged him to be pious. She would have
liked for her son to become a rabbi. As a boy, Wiesel felt closer to his mother than his father. He
immersed himself in religious studies and dreamed of becoming a scholar.
Then in March of 1944, the Germans entered Hungary and the boy’s life changed forever. Within a
month, the Nazis were deporting thousands of Jews from Transylvania, including about fifteen
thousand from Sighet and eighteen thousand from neighboring villages. Wiesel, at the age of fifteen,
was among those shipped to Auschwitz along with his parents and sisters. Read his memoir Night to
learn the fate of each member of his family.
After the war, Wiesel was sent to France along with four hundred other child refugees. At the border,
the children were asked if they wanted to become French citizens. Wiesel, unable to understand the
question, did not respond. As a result, he was stateless until 1963, when he became a U.S. citizen. Over
the next few years, Wiesel studied French, continued his Jewish studies, and took classes in philosophy
and literature. He supported himself by torturing in Yiddish, Hebrew, and the Bible.
For Wiesel, the French language offered a “new beginning, a new possibility, a new world.” Although
he eventually became a reporter who wrote articles in Hebrew, Yiddish, and English (which he learned
in 1952 on a trip to India), all of his books except Night have been written in French. And it was a
Frenchman who first encouraged him to tell his story. On one assignment reporter to write about his
experiences but also helped him find a publisher. Two years later, Wiesel completed the first version of
Night. After it was condensed and translated form Yiddish into French, Mauriac wrote the foreword.
The publication of Night marked the beginning of Wiesel’s literary career. Since then, he has written
more than thirty-five books. After their marriage in 1968, his wife, Marion, served as his English
translator. The Wiesels live in New York City with their son, Elisha. Today, Wiesel is not only a writer
but also a teacher. He is Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities and University Professor at
Boston University. He is also an observant Jew who continues to be a witness to history. He has
spoken out repeatedly against injustices wherever they occur in the world. Over the years, he has
received many awards for his work, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States
Congressional gold Medal, the French Legion of Honor, an in 1986, the Nobel Peace Prize. In
presenting the award, Egil Aarvik, the chair of the Nobel Committee, said the following of Wiesel:
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His mission is not to gain the world’s sympathy for the victims or the survivors. His aim is to
awaken our conscience. Our indifference to evil makes us partners in the crime. This is the reason for
his attack on indifference and his insistence on measures aimed at preventing a new Holocaust. We
know that the unimaginable has happened. What are we doing now to prevent its happening again?
Through his books Elie Wiesel has given us not only an eyewitness account of what happened,
but also an analysis of the evil powers which lay behind the events. His main concern is the question of
what measures we can take to prevent a recurrence of these events.
By the 1990s, Wiesel was expressing his concern by traveling to war-torn countries to call attention to
the violations of basic human rights.
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Night: Context of the Story
Scientist who showed the flaws in racist thinking were ignored. In the late 1800s, the
German Anthropological Society tried to determine whether there really were racial differences
between Jewish and “Aryan” children. After studying nearly seven million students, the society
concluded that the two groups were more alike than different. Historian George Mosse notes that the
survey had surprisingly little impact: “The idea of race had been infused with myths, stereotypes, and
subjectivities long ago and a scientific survey could change little. The idea of pure, superior races and
the concept of a racial enemy solved too many pressing problems to be easily discarded.”
By the early 1900s, “race had become the distorted lens through which too many people viewed the
world. And as racist thinking became “respectable,” attacks against the Jew and other minorities
intensified. These attacks were particularly virulent in times of stress and uncertainty, like the
worldwide depression that began in the late 1920s and early 1930s. At such times, having a “racial
enemy” who can be blamed for society’s problems offers and easy answer to complex problems.
In 1933, for example, a Protestant minister in Germany, the influence of Judaism has strengthened
extraordinarily. The number of Jewish judges, Jewish politicians, Jewish civil servants in influential
positions has grown noticeably. The voice of the people is turning against this.” Yet government
statistics paint a very different picture. In 1933, Jews made up less than 1 percent of the population.
And of the 250 Germans who help prominent government post between 1919 and 1933, only four were
Jews. The myth of a Germany dominated by Jews was fostered by groups like Adolf Hitler’s National
Socialist, or Nazi, party. In speech after speech, they maintained that the Jews were everywhere,
controlled everything, and acted so secretly that few cold detect their influence. The charge was
absurd; but after hearing it again and again, many came to believe it.
The Rise of Hitler
In January 1933, Adolf Hitler became chancellor, or prime minister of Germany. Within weeks, he had
set into motion a series of laws and orders that replaced a democratic government with a dictatorship
based on “race” and terror. From the start, he targeted Jews as “the enemy.” Little by little, step by
step, they were separated from their neighbors. Then in 1935, Hitler announced three new laws that
stripped Jews of citizenship and made it a crime for Christians to have contacts with them.
Once he was firmly in control of Germany, Hitler turned his attention to neighboring countries. By
1940, he ruled much of Eastern and Western Europe. In one conquered nation after another, Jews were
identified, isolated, and ultimately singled out for murder. By 1943, most European Jews were either
dead or on the way to death camps.
Only one large group was alive: the Jews of Hungary. They were safe chiefly because Hungary was an
ally of Germany rather than a conquered nation. As an ally, Hungary had its own anti-Jewish laws, but
Miklos Horthy and the nation’s other leaders were not willing to murder or expel Hungarian Jews.
When the Hungarians refused to grant it, he took control of the government. By the spring of 1944, the
Nazis were shipping twelve thousand Hungarian Jews a day to their death. Night is the true story of
teenager who was among the hundreds of thousands of Jews deported that spring. Fewer than one out
of every four of them survived the Holocaust.
The Context of the Story
Much of Night takes place within a single year, 1944-1945. It was the final year of what later became
known as the Holocaust, a Greek word that means “complete destruction by fire.” Between 1933 and
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1945. Adolf Hitler and his followers murdered about one-third of all the Jews in the world. Young and
old alike were killed solely because of their ancestry.
Roots of Anti-Semitism
Scholars are still debating why the Jews were singled out for destruction. Historians have traced
negative feelings about Jews back over two thousand years to the time of the Roman Empire and the
beginnings of Christianity. Jesus lives as a Jew in Palestine at a time of crisis. After the Romans
conquered the country, they insisted that the Jews not only obey Roman laws but also worship Roman
gods just as other conquered people did. When Jews refused to do so, they were labeled “stubborn,”
clannish,” and “hostile.” As pressure to accept Roman culture mounted. Jews searched desperately for
a way to maintain their religious identity. Some urged open rebellion against Rome. Others, including
Jesus, argued for peace.
As each side marshaled arguments in defense of its position, the debate increased in intensity. Still, all
of the attacks and counterattacks took place within the context of Judaism. Only when Jesus’ disciples
separated themselves from Judaism, did their words take on new meaning. They became, in the words
of Krister Stendahla professor of Christian Studies, “missiles hurled from a mainly gentile Church
toward the Synagogue across the street, form which now those Jews who followed Jesus had been
excommunicated. And by that shift Christian anti-Judaism was born.” He goes on to say that much as
been written about why and how the parting of ways happened, but no one factor was decisive. But
once the division was established, both the Church and the Synagogue “felt the necessity to define
them selves by sharpening their differences” even though they two faiths are more alike than they are
different. As a result, each came to regard the other as not only different but also suspicious, even
dangerous.
As a small minority in Europe, Jews were particularly vulnerable to attacks by the Christian majority.
By the sixteenth century, many were totally isolated from their Christian neighbors. In a number of
countries, people of the Jewish faith were confined to ghettos, sections of a city or town enclosed by
high walls and guarded by Christian gatekeepers. With more rigid separation came new myths and
misinformation. Jews and other minorities were increasingly portrayed as agents of the devil
responsible for every catastrophe, form random crime to plague and drought. People had moved form
fearing those they did not know to regarding them as the enemy.
Race and Anti-Semitism
By the 1700s and 1800s, even as the walls of the ghettos were coming down, a new idea was reviving
the old myths and misinformation. That idea was race. Until the 1800s, the word referred mainly to
people who shared a nationality or were related to one another in some way. Now many scientists used
the term race to refer to those who shared a genetic heritage. Some were so certain that “race”
explained all of the cultural differences they observed in the world that they distorted facts or made
claims they could not substantiate. Many even ranked the “races.” At the top were the “Aryans,” a
mythical people that left India in the distant past and carried its language and culture westward.
A number of people took pride in tracing their ancestry to the “Aryans.” Increasingly, these Europeans
and Americans believed that as the descendants of the “Aryans,” they were superior to other “races,”
including the Jewish or “Semitic race.” In the past, Jews were targeted for discrimination because of
their religious beliefs. Now they were excluded because of their “race.” Anti-Semitism, which literally
means “against Semites,” was coined specifically to describe this new hatred of Jews.
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Night: Timeline of the Holocaust
Entries in italics refer to events described or alluded to in Night.
1933 The Nazi party takes power in Germany. Adolf Hitler becomes chancellor, or prime Minister, of
Germany. Nazis “temporarily” suspend civil liberties for all citizens. They are never restored. The
Nazis set up the first concentration camp at Dachau. The first inmates are two hundred Communists.
Books contrary to Nazi beliefs are burned in public.
1934 Hitler combines the positions of chancellor and president to become “Fuhrer,” or leader, of
Germany.
1935 Jews in Germany are deprived of citizenship and other fundamental rights. The Nazis intensify
persecution of political dissidents and others considered “racial inferior” including “Gypsies,”
Jehovah’s Witnesses, and homosexuals. Many are sent to concentration camps.
1936 The Olympic games are held in Germany; Signs barring Jews from public places are removed
until the event is over.
1938 German troops annex Austria on Kristallnacht (the “Night of Broken Glass”). Nazi gangs
physically attack Jews throughout Germany and Austria.
1939 In March, Germany takes over a Neighboring nation. Czechoslovakia. On September 1,
Germany invades Poland. World War II begins in Europe. Hitler orders the systematic murder of the
mentally and physically disabled in Germany and Austria. Polish Jews are ordered to register and
relocated. They are also required to wear armbands or yellow stars.
1940 Nazis begin deporting German Jews to Poland. Jews are forced into ghettos. Germany conquers
one nation after another in Western Europe including the Netherlands. Denmark, Norway, Belgium,
Luxembourg, and France. With Germany’s backing, Hungary annexes parts of Romania, including
Sighet and other towns in northern Transylvania.
1941 Germany attacks the Soviet Union. Jews throughout Europe are forced into ghettos and
internment camps. Mobile killing units begin the systematic slaughter of Jews. In two days, one of
those units was responsible for the murder of 33, 771 Ukrainian Jews at Babi Yar-the largest single
massacre of the Holocaust. Hungary deports 17,000 foreign and “stateless” Jews. Several thousand are
used as slave laborers. The Nazis massacre the rest. The first death camp at Chelmno in Poland begins
operations. Germany, as an ally of Japan, declares war on the United States immediately after the
bombing of Pearl Harbor.
1942 At the Wannsee Conference, Nazi officials turn over the “Final Solution”-their plan to kill all
European Jews-to the bureaucracy. Five more death camps begin operation in Poland: Majdanek,
Sobibor, Treblinka, Belzed, and Auschwitz-Birkenau. March: About 20 to 25 percent of the Jews who
would die in the Holocaust have already perished. The ghettos of Eastern Europe are emptied as
thousands of Jews are shipped to death camps. The United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union
acknowledge that Germans were systematically murdering the Jews of Europe.
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1943 February: About 80 to 85 percent of the Jews who would die in the Holocaust have already
perished. April: Jews in Pland’s Warsaw Ghetto strike back as the Nazis begin new rounds of
deportations. It takes nearly a month for the Nazis to put down the uprising.
1944 March: Hitler occupies Hungary; by June, the Germans are deporting twelve thousand
Hungarian Jews a day to Auschwitz.
1945 January: as the Russian army pushes west, the Nazis begin to evacuate death camps, including
Auschwitz.April: American forces liberate the prisoners in Buchenwald. May: World War II ends in
Europe with Hitler’s defeat.The Holocaust is over: about one-third of all the Jews in the world are
murdered and the survivors are homeless.
1946 An international Military Tribunal created by Britain, France, the United States, and the Soviet
Union tries Nazi leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Nuremberg.
Night: German/Holocaust Terms
Auschwitz-Birkenau- established in 1940 as a concentration camp, a killing center was added in
1942 at Birkenau. Also part of the huge camp complex was a slave labor camp known as BunaMonowitz.
Concentration camp-a prison camp in which individuals are held without regard or accepted rules
of arrest and detention. The Nazis constructed concentration camps to hold Jews, “Gypsies,”
communists, and other considered “enemies of the state.”
Death camp-a camp where the Nazis murdered people in assembly-line style. The largest death
camp was Auschwitz-Birkenau. The term was also used for concentration camps such as BergenBelsen and Dachau where thousands died of starvation, disease, and maltreatment.
Kapo-a prisoner forced to oversee other prisoners.
Mengele, Josef (1911-1979)- senior SS physician at Auschwitz-Birkenau from 1943-1944. He
carried out “selections” of prisoners upon their arrival at the camp and conducted experiments on some
of those prisoners.
“Selection”- the process the Nazis used to separate those prisoners who would be assigned to forced
labor from those who were to be killed immediately.
SS- in German, Schutzstaffel; the elite guard of Nazi Germany. It provided staff for the police, camp
guards, and military units within the German army.
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Night: A Guide to Jewish References
Elie Wiesel grew up in a traditional Jewish community. Throughout Night, there are references
to ideas, practices, and events important to that community. Brief definitions of those terms are
provided. The page numbers refer to pages in Night.
Beadle- a caretaker or “man of all work” in a synagogue. (Page 1)
Cabbala- Jewish mysticism. Followers believe that every aspect of the Torah has hidden meanings
that link the spiritual world to everyday life. The teachings of the cabbala can be found in the Zohar,
which was compiled in the thirteenth century. (Page 1)
Hasidism- a Jewish reform movement inspired by the cabbala that spread through. Eastern Europe in
the 1700s. For Hasidic Jews, the divine presence is everywhere, in everything. They therefore try to
live a life of total dedication to God. The word Hasidic is an adjective used to describe followers of
Hasidism or some aspect of their practices and beliefs. (Page 1)
Job- a biblical figure who questioned why the just must suffer while the wicked flourish. (Page 42)
Kaddish- a prayer Jews recite in memory of a loved one. The prayer praises and reaffirms a belief in
one God. (Page 31)
Maimonides- a great Jewish scholar who lived in the twelfth century. (Page 1)
Messiah- the savior and deliverer of the Jewish people. Jews believe the Messiah is yet to come;
Christians believe that Jesus was the Messiah. (Page 42)
Palestine- territory assigned to the British in 1920 by the terms of the post- World War I treaty with
Turkey, the former ruler of the area. British control ended in 1948 when the territory was divided in to
the State of Israel and the Kingdom of Jordan. Palestine is the ancient homeland of the Jewish people.
(Page 6)
Passover- a Jewish holiday that is celebrated for eight days each spring to recall the Exodus of the
Jewish people from Egypt where they were held in slavery. (Page 8)
Pentecost - the Jewish holiday that commemorates the revelation of the Law on Mount Sinai. Called
Shavuot in Hebrew, it is celebrated about seven weeks after Passover. (Page 10)
Phylacteries (tefilin)- two small leather boxes containing four excerpts from the Bible. One box is
strapped to an arm and the other to the forehead during weekday morning prayers. Tefilin help
religious Jews focus their entire being on God as they recite their weekday morning prayers. (Page 13)
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Rosh Hashanah- the Jewish New Year. The holiday, which falls in September or October, marks
the beginning of a ten-day period of divine judgment-a time when Jews believe god calls them to
account for their actions. These days are marked by repentance, regret, and resolutions to make amends
to one another as well to God. The period ends on Yom Kippur. (Page 1)
Synagogue- a Jewish house of prayer. (Page 1)
Temple, The – a reference to the Temple I Jerusalem, which the Romans destroyed in 70 A.D. It
was the center of Jewish worship in ancient times. Today Jews recall its destruction n their daily
prayers. (Page 1)
Yom Kippur- the Jewish Day of Atonement, a fast day devoted to prayer. It marks the end of the
ten most solemn days in the Jewish calendar, which begins with Rosh Hashanah. (Page 65)
Zohar- the Book of Splendor; a commentary on the Five Books of Moses and the major work of the
cabbala. (Page 3)
Zionism- the belief that Jews must once more become a nation with a land of their own in Palestine.
A commitment to Zionism led a number of European Jews to settle in Palestine in the early 1900s.
(Page 6)
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Night: Study Guide Questions
Directions: On a separate piece of paper, answer the following questions in complete sentences.
Part 1 (pages 1-20)
1. Where does this story begin? (R 3.0)
2. Describe Moshe the Beadle (use the text for support). (R3.4)
3. Explain what happens when he returns to Sighet? (R 3.0)
4. Describe Elie’s father. What is his occupation? (R 3.4)
5. List five restrictions the Germans place on the Jews of Sighet. (R 3.0, 3.12)
6. Why do you think the Jews were reluctant to believe the reality of their situation? (R 2.5)
7. Describe the narrator of the story. What impressions do you have of him so far? (R 3.4,3.9)
Part 2& 3 (pages 21-43)
1. How many people are in the train’s wagon? (R 3.0)
2. What does Madame Schachter claim to see from the window? (R3.0)
3. How do the other passengers finally quiet Madame Schachter? (R3.0)
4. Where does the train finally stop? (R3.0)
5. What smell is in the air when the prisoners get off the train car? (R3.0)
6. What happens to Elie’s family? (R3.0)
7. How do Elie and his father avoid separation during the first selection? (R 3.0)
8. Which notorious SS officer do they meet at Auschwitz? (R3.0, 3.3)
9. Explain the process of “selection” (R 3.0, 3.12)
10. What does Elie see in the burning pit? (R3.0)
11. What else, beside the bodies, does Elie say the flames consumed? (R 3.0, 3.7)
12. What job is reserved for the strong ones? (R 3.0)
13. What is the inscription written above the iron door of Auschwitz? (R3.0)
14. Explain the irony in this inscription. (R3.8)
15. List five ways the Germans dehumanize the Jews? (R3.7, 3.12)
16. Describe how the narrator has changed. (R3.4, 3.9)
17. What is the name of the next camp Elie is moved to? (R3.0)
Part 4 (pages 45-62)
1. What is the dentist checking for during the medical examinations? (R3.0)
2. Describe what happens during the air raid? (R3.0)
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3. Whose music are the Jews forbidden to play? (R3.0)
4. What is Elie’s punishment for his “meddling”? (R3.0)
5. Who are the “pipels” at the camp? (R3.0)
6. What incident causes Elie to lose his faith in God completely? (R3.0)
Part 5 (pages 63-80)
1. Why does Elie refuse to participate in Yom Kippur? (R3.0)
2. What was the “fine New Year’s gift” from the SS? (R3.0)
3. What advice did the head of the block give the prisoners to pass the selection? (R3.0)
4. What is Elie’s “inheritance” from his father? (R3.0,3.7)
5. Who is chosen during this selection? (R3.0)
6. What is Akiba’s request to his friends before his death? Did they fulfill their promise? (R3.0)
7. Why is Elie hospitalized? (R3.0)
8. Why are the Germans evacuating Buna? (R3.0)
9. What would have happened to Elie if he had stayed in the hospital? (R3.8)
Part 6&7 (pages 81-98)
1. During the death marches, what happens to those who could not keep up? (R3.0)
2. What stops Elie form simply lying down to end his pain? (R3.0)
3. Why does Elie’s father warn him against falling asleep? (R3.0)
4. What does Wiesel personify in this chapter? Provide an example form the text. (R3.7)
5. What is the name of the third camp? (R3.0)
6. Who is Juliek and what happens to him? (R3.3)
7. What happens to the corpses on the train? (R3.0)
8. What did the prisoners fight for on the train? (R3.0)
9. How old is Elie at this point of the story? (R3.0)
10. How many had entered the train and how many left? (R3.0)
11. What is the name of the fourth camp? (R3.0)
Part 8&9 (pages 99-109)
1. What thoughts cause Elie to feel ashamed of himself? (R3.4,3.5)
2. What happens to Elie’s father? (R3.0)
3. What happens on April 10th? (R3.0, 3.12)
4. What does Elie see when he looks into the mirror? (R3.0, 3.4, 3.7)
5. What do you think is the author’s purpose in writing this memoir? (R3.12)
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Night: After Reading Chapter 1
Levels of Characterization
Directions: Write at least two descriptions under the appropriate categories for each character listed
below. Exception: The physical level may not provide more than one.
PHYSICAL
SOCIAL
PSYCHOLOGICAL
Elie Wiesel
Moshe the Beadle
Mr. Wiesel,
Elie’s Father
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Night: After Chapter 4
External and Internal Conflicts
Directions: In groups of three, beginning with the first column on the left, without discussion, have
each group member write two examples of conflicts that tended to dehumanize the prisoners. When
each member finishes, pass the paper to the next member.
When six examples are listed, the group can work together to complete the remaining two columns.
Each member writes the answers in the columns beside the conflict he/she listed. Write your names on
the lines provided.
_______________________
Conflict Used to
Dehumanize
SS starve prisoners
________________________
______________________
Type of Conflict
Effect on the Prisoner
External: Character vs. other
Characters
Destroys health, weakens, steal food,
fight for food becomes more important
than people or dignity.
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As a group, answer the questions below. Each person is responsible for writing the responses of each
group member on their own sheet of paper.
1. The dehumanizing conflicts which the prisoners faced often destroyed their desire to survive.
How do Akiba Drumer and Stein of Antwerp keep themselves determined to survive? Why did
they eventually lose hope?
2. What kept Elie Wiesel and his father determined to survive?
3. Many external conflicts in column 1 lead to internal conflicts in column 3. Explain why
external conflicts often lead to internal ones.
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Night: Before Chapter 8
Metaphors and Similes
Part 1
Directions: Read the statements below selected form Night. If the statement is a metaphor, write
M on the line before it. If the statement is a simile, write S on the line before it. Should the
statement contain both, write M/S. Be prepared to defend your answers.
1. “The street was like a market place that had suddenly been abandoned.”
2. “A great ideal wave of men came rolling onward and would have crushed me like an ant.”
3. “He looked us over as if we were a pack of leprous dogs hanging onto our lives.”
4. “It was not the first time a false prophet had foretold to us peace-on-earth, negotiations-withthe Red-Cross-for-our-release, or other false rumors…And often we believed them. It was an
injection of morphine.”
5. “The doors were nailed up; the way back was finally cut off. The world was a cattle wagon
hermetically sealed.”
6. “Men threw themselves on top of each other, stamping on each other, tearing at each other,
biting each other. Wild beasts of prey, with animal hatred in their eyes: an extraordinary vitality
had seized them, sharpening their teeth and nails.”
7. “In one moment of ultimate lucidity it seemed to me that we were damned souls wandering in
the half-world, souls condemned to wander through space till the generations of man came to
an end…”
8. “The march began. The dead stayed in the yard under the snow, like faithful guards
assassinated, without burial.”
9. “His (the Rabbi’s) mere presence among the deportees added a touch of unreality to the scene.
It was like a page torn from some story book, from some historical novel about the captivity of
Babylon or the Spanish Inquisition.”
10. “Thousands of voices repeated the benediction; thousands of men prostrated themselves like
trees before a tempest.”
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Part II
Directions: Choose two of the statements above. Then, circle the two items being compared in the
statement.
Part III
Directions: Using the two statements you chose for Part II, write the number of each statement
on the line provided below. Follow the steps A, B and C to complete the charts.
A. Write the first item of the comparison. B. Write the second item of the comparison. C. Explain
how item one is, or is like, item two.
Example Statement: Life is a rollercoaster ride.
A. Life
B. rollercoaster ride
C. Life seems to move at different paces, too fast when having a good time and too slow in the
boring times. Life is a mixture of joy and sorrow, simple pleasures and complex trials. At times it
is an exciting adventure that is enjoyable; at other times it can be frightening and sickening. Life
can seem so out of control and confusing that you do not know in what direction you are going or
where you will end up. There is no way to get away from life until it stops.
Statement #1:
A.
B.
C.
Statement #2:
A.
B.
C.
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Night: Symbolism
Symbol: Night
1. What did the word night mean to you before you read the book?
2. How has the meaning of the word night changed for you?
3. How did the word night change for the Elie Wiesel? Cite passages from the novel to support your
answer.
4. How has the word night become a symbol for the novel?
5. Explain the title’s significance.
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Night: Theme
Theme: Choices
1. Consider how Elie and his father make a decision that will decide their fate. What choices are open
to Elie and his father when the camp is evacuated?
2. How is the decision to leave the camp made? Who makes the choice? Why does the character
choose this option?
3. Is it the “right” choice? Explain your answer.
4. How does the decision help the reader understand why many survivors of the holocaust attribute
their survival to luck?
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Night: Key Word Understanding
Key Word: Resistance
1. What does the word resistance mean to you?
2. Some insist that “armed resistance” is the only form of legitimate resistance. Others stress the
idea that resistance requires organization. Still others argue that resistance is more about the will to live
and the power of hope than it is about either weapons or organization. Which view is closest to your
own?
3. Use your ideas about and definitions of resistance to decide whether each of the following is an act
of resistance. Place a Y on the blank if you think it is an act of resistance, or an N on the blank if you
think it is not an act of resistance.
____ Elie’s refusal to let the dentist remove his gold crown
____ Elie’s decision to give up the crown to protect his father
____ The French girl’s decision to speak in German to Elie after he is beaten.
____ The prisoner’s choice to die for soup.
____ The prisoners who attempted to stockpile weapons, for which they were later hanged.
4. Identify other events in the novel that are also examples of resistance.
5. In each act of resistance that you identify, who or what are the prisoners resisting?
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Night: Common Theme
A Prayer for the Children
by Yitzhak Katzenelson
The first were detained for death,
The first into wagons of slaughter;
They were thrown into the wagons, the huge wagons,
Like heaps of refuse, like the ashes of the earth—
And they transported them,
Killed them,
Exterminated them,
Without remnant or remembrance…
The best of my children were all wiped out!
Oh, woe unto me—
Doom and Desolation!
(1886-1944)
1. From the tone of the poem, how do you think the speaker feels about his life? Why do you
think this?
2. Who do you think “the first” are?
3. Who do you think the speaker might be?
4. How does this poem relate to Night?
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Night: Oprah’s Interview with Elie Wiesel
Directions: View the interview and answer the following questions or fill in the blanks.
1. How many Jews died in the Holocaust?
2. Elie Wiesel is considered, in this world today, as a ____________________________ for mankind.
3. In which year did Elie Wiesel win the Nobel Peace Prize?
4. What were three ways that the prisoners were being eliminated?
5. Wiesel explains that in the camps, they all lived in a ______________________________ of death.
6. Wiesel explains that he survived the Holocaust by ______________________; it was not a miracle.
7. How many years after the holocaust does the interview take place?
8. Wiesel claims that Auschwitz (the concentration camp) was worse than _____________________.
9. In the United States, ___________________ of adults and ________________ high school students
have ever heard of the Holocaust.
10. In May of _______ (year), Wiesel arrived at Auschwitz.
11. Who pleaded with Wiesel’s family to escape with her into the mountains to safety?
12. Where did Wiesel and the other Jews think they were going when they were transported?
13. What two items were in Wiesel’s knapsack (backpack)?
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Night: The Last Days
Directions: Stephen Spielberg's documentary, The Last Days, “traces the compelling experiences of
five Hungarian Holocaust survivors who fell victim to Hitler's brutal war against Jews in the final days
of World War II.” Please take notes on the documentary using the graphic organizer below.
Holocaust Survivor
Name
The Survivor’s story.
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Night: CAHSEE Timed Writing Practice
ABCDE Writing Strategy
Directions: For this prompt you are to do steps A, B, and C in the space provided. You have six
minutes to complete these steps.
Writing Task:
All humans make choices or decisions daily. Some are important; some are not so important. We
choose what clothes to wear. We decide whether or not to do our homework. We choose certain
people for friends. Sometimes the decisions we make change our lives.
Discuss an important decision you have made in your life. Explain the decision and how it affected
you. Tell whether you would make the same decision again.
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Night: Characterization
Open Mind
Directions: Go inside the mind of one of the characters in the memoir Night. What is there? Draw
symbols, write words, and write quotes from the novel that represent what you would find there. Cut
the mind out and clue it to this page when you are finished.
Character’s Name: _______________________
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Night: Character Bio-poem
Directions: Writing a bio-poem is an effective way to describe the deeper levels of a character’s
personality. It is also a good means of self-discovery. Below you will find specific guidelines on how
to write a bio-poem and some examples of a bio-poem. After familiarizing yourself with the structure,
write a bio-poem for two characters and one object, quality, or place from Wiesel’s memoir, Night.
Lastly, when you are finished, write one bio-poem about yourself. This is a total of FOUR bio-poems.
Be creative with your design and publication of the poems. See student examples for ideas.
Follow directions for each line of the poem. Copy any word that does not appear in parentheses.
(Write character’s first name)
(List three specific adjectives that describe this character)
(Identify the character’s relationship to another person: example, Son of Dave and Mary)
Lover of (list three things the character loves)
Who feels (list three things the character feels)
Who fears (list three things the character fears)
Who would like (list three things)
Resident of (identify where the character resides)
(Write the character’s last name)
Amy
Hyper, friendly, brunette
Sister of Dana
Lover of food, beaches, and guys
Who feels tired all he time, confused about life, and Hopeful about everything
Who fears spiders, embarrassment, and exclusion
Who would like a driver’s license, a boyfriend, and a fun weekend
Resident of North Smithfield, FJ
Williams
Brian
Artistic, humorous, strange.
Son of his father Michael
Lover of Anti-Virus programs, Mickey Mouse’s laugh, and big, fluffy dogs
Who feels Public Education needs help, the Energizer
Commercials are too repetitious, An Surrealism is true art.
Who fears George Bush becoming president, Mr. T on an energetic day, and a girlfriend with
a protective brother named Slash.
Who would like to be a better artist, bum around Europe, and get a spiffy Mickey Mouse tie.
Resident of a small canooke town named Manville, in the most corrupt state,
Frappier
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