• Adolf Hitler’s Genocide
• Genocide: the deliberate and
systematic extermination of
a national, racial, political,
or cultural group.
• His goal was to exterminate all
Jewish people.
• In March of 1944, the German
army took over Hungary, and
the holocaust reached that
region
• The Nazis murdered over
560,000 Hungarian Jews
Hitler; his army
• Auschwitz
Concentration Camp
• Auschwitz was the worst
concentration camp- over
1,300,000 Jewish deaths took
place here.
• This particular concentration
camp was known for the
burning chambers “furnace”
as a form of extermination.
Women being filed into
Auschwitz; an actual
furnace from the camp
About the Author
• Elie Wiesel
• Born on September 30, 1928, in
Sighet, a small town in
Transylvania
• Elie and his family were sent to
the holocaust in May, 1944,
where he was separated from
his mom and sisters.
• He and father remained
together throughout their
experience.
Wiesel’s message of
peace has inspired many
• Elie Wiesel’s Strong
Connection with the
Jewish Community
– His father was involved with
the community
– Wiesel studied the Torah (1st
five books in the Old
Testament)
– Wiesel studied the Talmud
(oral law) and the Cabbala
• Elie Wiesel’s Novel,
Night
– Wiesel’s book was published in
3 different languages, and he
also published a book in more
detail of his experience.
• Genre of Night
• While the book Night is about
Wiesel’s life, it is not necessarily
considered an autobiography
• He changes facts to make his
characters different, making this a
fictional story.
• Because of this, his story is
considered more of a memoir
than an actual novel.
• Wiesel now lives in New York City
as an American citizen.
Malnutrition and
starvation were common
in the concentration
camps
• Background of Novel:
Elie as a young
boy; passengers
load onto the trains
• This story is about Elie
Wiesel, a young teenage,
Jewish boy who is a survivor
of the holocaust.
• The story takes place in
Sighet, Transylvania,
Hungary, Germany,
Auschwitz in 1944-1945
• The German troops invade
his hometown, force all of
the Jews to load up on a train
and travel to Auschwitz.
• Background, Con’t:
• They first arrive in Birkenau
(another camp), where
Eliezer and his father are
separated from his mother
and sisters, whom they never
see again.
• They have to endure
“selections”(where the
German troops select those
who will go to the furnace
and die, and those who will
go to barracks and work)
The many barb wires of a
concentration camp
• Background, Con’t:
– Problems and Conflict
• During this year, Wiesel
encounters many obstacles,
mentally, physically, and
spiritually, that he must
endure.
• He is forced to witness
murders, is malnutrition,
and is constantly doubting
his, once confident, faith.
• The entire story is based off
of his experience there.
• Characters
•
•
•
Eliezer - The narrator of Night,
protagonist, a teenage boy in the
1940’s. Dedicated to his faith in
the beginning.
Chlomo- Eliezer’s father. His name
is only mentioned one time
throughout the whole novel, and is
the only other character that is
constant until the end. Highly
regarded in the community.
Moshe the Beadle - Eliezer’s
teacher of Jewish mysticism, Moshe
is a poor Jew who lives in Sighet.
• Characters, Con’t:
• Madame Schächter - A
Jewish woman from
Sighet who is deported
with the rest of the
community, and goes
crazy.
• Juliek - A young musician
whom Eliezer meets in
Auschwitz.
• Tibi and Yosi - Two
brothers who Eliezer
becomes friends with.
• Characters, Con’t:
• Dr. Josef Mengele - the
historically infamous Dr.
Mengel was the cruel
doctor who presided over
the selection of arrivals at
Auschwitz/Birkenau.
• Idek- Eliezer’s Kapo (nazi
police officer at Buna)
Dr. Josef Mengele was appropriately
nicknamed “the Angle of Death” by
inmates at Auschwitz
• Themes
• Eliezer’s Struggle to Maintain
Faith in a Benevolent God
• Silence
• Inhumanity Toward Other Humans
• The Importance of Father-Son
bonds
• Fire
• Night
• Symbols
• Directions: Use the computers in class to search
websites (on the left) in order to answer the questions
(on the right) on the following slides. Click on the links
to begin your quest. All answers should be written in
complete, framed responses on your own paper or in a
Word document.
• Example of a complete, framed response for number
1: Elie Wiesel was born in_ (place) in (year).
• This task should be completed in class. Any incomplete
work should be completed at home or in the library.
Background for Night and the Holocaust
Topic I: About the Author
Elie Wiesel Foundation
1. Where was Elie born? In
what year?
2. What happened to him at
the age of fifteen?
3. Elie received an
appointment from
President Jimmy Carter.
For what was that?
4. Where does Elie live now?
5. What great honor did he
receive in 1986?
Topic II: The Final Solution
**United States Holocaust
Memorial Museum: "Final
Solution" Overview**
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 statesponsored programs?
Topic II: The Final Solution
**United States Holocaust
Memorial Museum:
Ghettos**
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?
Topic III: Concentration Camps and Auschwitz
14. Where was (and still is)
Auschwitz located?
**United States Holocaust
Museum: Auschwitz**
**Holocaust Research
Project: Auschwitz**
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?
Topic III: Concentration Camps and Auschwitz
19. What were gas chambers?
**United States Holocaust
Memorial Museum:
Gassing Operations**
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?
Topic IV: Doctor Mengele's Experiments
23. For what is Dr. Mengele famous?
What was his role at Auschwitz?
**Dr. Mengele- The Angel
of Death**
24. On whom did Dr. Mengele
primarily perform experiments? How
did he rationalize these experiments
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?
Topic V: Traditional Jewish Customs/Meals/Holidays
Judaism 101
The Jewish Federations of
North America
26.What is the proper way
for a Jewish person to be
treated after death?
27.What are three
important Jewish
holidays/customs?
Topic VI: Auschwitz Virtual Tour
Inside the Nazi State
Take the virtual tour
through the PBS
website. In a short
paragraph, explain the
mobile killing units,
ghettos, camps,
crematoriums, and
slave labor systems.