Background about Night and the Holocaust
For the next two and a half weeks, we will be studying the Holocaust in relation to the memoir, Night. Night is
a true story, written by Elie Wiesel. The horrifying and tragic events that Wiesel describes in his memoir are
things that actually happened to him during his experience in concentration camps. The study of this literature is
very important to our understanding of the evil acts that are committed when hate, stereotypes, and prejudice
are allowed to prevail over love and understanding.
Before we can begin our reading and understanding of the memoir, it is important that you have enough
background information about events that occurred during the time period.
Your assignment:
Part I: Browse the following websites, collecting necessary information to answer the questions that follow.
You don’t need to answer the questions in complete sentences, but you need to make sure you are collecting
enough detail to write a summary at the end.
Part II: Summarize your findings in paragraph form. You should have 6 paragraphs, and they should all contain
5-6 sentences. Your paragraphs DO NOT need to follow the organizational pattern of the questions; arrange
them in an order that makes sense to you as if you were teaching someone about the events that occurred.
Paragraphs should include:






About Elie Wiesel
The Final Solution
Ghettos
Concentration Camps and Auschwitz
Gas Chambers
Dr. Mengele
Part III: Your own personal reaction to your findings. You need to write at least a paragraph explaining your
reaction to the events that happened. Are you saddened or angered? What was the most shocking? What do we,
as a human race of people, need to do to prevent these things from happening?
About the Author:
http://www.eliewieselfoundation.org/eliewiesel.aspx
1. Where was Elie born? In what year?
2. What happened to him at the age of fifteen?
3. Where does Elie live now?
4. What great honor did he receive in 1986?
The Final Solution
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005151
6. Nazis coined the term "The Final Solution." To what does this term refer? Why did they use this language?
7. What were some of the stages implemented as part of "The Final Solution?"
8. What was the intended purpose of these state-sponsored programs?
Ghettos
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005059
9. How were ghettos used just before and during WWII?
10. Where were the first ghettos set up?
11. How many ghettos were established?
12. Why did the Nazis initially set up ghettos?
13. What happened with the ghettos after the implementation of the "Final Solution" in 1941?
Concentration Camps and Auschwitz
http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007718
http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/othercamps/auschwitzbasics.html
14. Where was (and still is) Auschwitz located?
15. What was Auschwitz?
16. How many people were killed there?
17. What were some of the things that first happened to people arrived at the camps?
18. What was everyday life like there in terms of clothing, food, and the bathrooms?
Gas Chambers
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005220.com
19. What were gas chambers?
20. Why did the Nazis begin using gas chambers instead of mobile killing units and shooting squads after a
while?
21. What did the Nazi SS guards pretend the gas chambers were?
22. At the height of its operation, how many people were gassed daily at Auschwitz?
Doctor Mengele
http://isurvived.org/drMengele.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-DK2RVy21s&bpctr=1447775556
23. For what is Dr. Mengele famous? What was his role at Auschwitz?
24. On whom did Dr. Mengele primarily perform experiments? How did he rationalize these experiements on
these people?
25. While Dr. Mengele's experiments were unimaginably cruel, some scientific discovery came out of them
that we still use today (pressurized airplanes, dental procedures, etc). Some have argued that Dr. Mengele
should be given credit for these discoveries. Others argue that he should receive no credit since the nature of
his experiments was so brutal. What do you think and why do you feel this way?