Paideia Seminar Questions on Elie Wiesel’s Night
How is the theme of questioning God developed in this memoir? How do his experiences
answer that question? Do you agree with that or those answer(s)?
Describe Elie’s relationship with his father BEFORE the events of the Holocaust?
Explain how this relationship is transformed over the course of the story. What was
Elie’s “inheritance”? How did they look out for each other?
What other father-son relationships do we see in the memoir? (Rabbi Eliahou and his
son and the son/father on the train) By contrast, what do they highlight about Elie and his
father’s relationship?
Why would Elie Wiesel say that the most dangerous and destructive thing to mankind is
NOT hatred, but rather indifference?
Going beyond the obvious of the metaphor of night (darkness and terrible atrocities),
explore and explain how this metaphor is appropriate for Elie’s experiences.
What would Elie tell us if he was here in our seminar today? What would he want you to
take with you from this memoir?
Why did Elie Wiesel write this painful memoir?
There are many things that can be said about Wiesel’s style of writing. What are some
things you notice? Describe it.
Is it right to lie to “protect” someone from the painful truth? Were Elie and his father
right in lying to Stein of Antwerp?
Why did some survive and others did not? What did survival depend upon? Did some
just have a stronger will to survive?
Why do you think the Nazis had the prisoners go through the process of “selection”?
Beside physical harm, in what other ways did the Nazis mistreat the Jews?
Much has been said about the symbolism of the pipel. What is faith? Was Elie’s faith
“true” to begin with?
Why do you suppose the Nazis had the prisoners strip and wear uniforms? Why give
them tattoos?
What was the most painful part of Elie’s experience? Why?
How are prisoners able to keep their humanity, even if it is only in small amounts?
Explain and recount some of the instances of victim, bystander, and perpetrator as seen in
this memoir.
Much has been discussed about the ending of this memoir. What is the significance of it?
Why do you think Wiesel ends it so abruptly?
Why was it ironic that Juliek played a moving piece with his violin in the shed for the
dying men?
What did Akiba Drumer ask the other prisoners to do for him? Why didn’t they?
What did the prisoners debate when it came time to honor Rosh Hashanah and Yom
Kippur? What did Elie decide?
Who was Bela-Katz? What was the Sonder-Kommando unit?
Why do you think Elie shared some of what his life was like in Sighet before the Nazis
invaded?
What purpose did Moshe the Beadle have in this story? Why did Elie tell us about him?
Night Writing Assignment
English 10
Choose one of the following topics, and write at least a full-page essay on it. This is your
chance to show me what you understand about this book. Go beyond the obvious. Use
quotes from the book to support your ideas.
1. “Over the years, Wiesel has, in a sense, become the soul of the Holocaust. His books
and lectures compel us to not only confront the issues and consequences of the
Holocaust, but to keep it in our memory to ensure that history is never repeated. He lives
his life, he explains, in the pursuit of meaning,” (Holocaust Teacher Resource Center)
What meaning does this book have for you as a student at Currituck County High School
in 2005? Be specific!
2. While the majority of this memoir deals with man’s inhumane or brutal treatment of
man, one could make the argument that there is much in this story to show us what makes
a human being a human being. Based on your reading of this memoir, what are the good
qualities of a human being? Use specific support from the story to support your ideas.
3. Elie states that he will never forget that first night in Auschwitz (p. 32). From your
reading, what images, ideas, and feelings will you not forget? Why ?