Mr. Lebofsky
English 8 LRC**
Night by Elie Wiesel
Goals:
 Identify the systematic steps taken by the Nazi’s and understand how these steps
made possible the loss of life in Night.
 Identify and understand the Nazi’s use of dehumanization as Elie Wiesel recounts in
Night.
 Identify and analyze Elie Wiesel’s relationship with himself, his father, and God
during his memoir Night.
 Identify elements of fiction, such as metaphor, symbolism, and imagery, which help
the reader connect to and understand the emotional depth of the Holocaust.
Work Associated with Night:
 Active reading using reading guide to focus on key story ideas and events
 Discussion – metaphor, symbolism, style
 Reading quizzes based on reading guides and discussion
 Vocabulary
 Reading in Class / Discussion
 In class writing
Introduction to Night:
Dear Students,
You are about to journey with Elie Wiesel in his memoir Night. Wiesel was only
slightly older than you when Hungarian officials allowed the Nazi’s to take over the
country of Hungary. In the beginning of the story you will learn about Wiesel’s
relationship with God and his father. These relationships are important as Wiesel is
imprisoned first in a Jewish ghetto, and then a concentration camp. Pay attention to
Wiesel’s thoughts about himself, the love of his father, and the imagery he uses to
express the love and heartache in his story.
This may be one of the hardest books you have ever read – its subject matter is
disturbing and sad. However, Wiesel reflects on the human spirit. Read and learn,
respect and remember. Perhaps, you will agree by the end of the story that it is
important that everyone learn about injustice so that we may challenge it and the
intolerance that causes it.
I know you will respect your classmates’ reactions to Night and participate in
stimulating discussions as we examine the ideas expressed in the novel and the reality
of genocide.
Sincerely,
Mr. Lebofsky
**Adapted from materials provided by Tasia Kavalek and Erin Demskis
Themes: the messages in Night concern the following: family, unity, alienation,
dehumanization, doom, fatherly love, survival, determination
Ideas: loss of family, coping with terror, asserting self-control, coping with loss,
recovering from imprisonment
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Settings:
Town of Sighet: Elie’s hometown in Hungary, a country in Eastern Europe
Jewish ghetto in Sighet: first place Jews are imprisoned
Cattle Cars: Elie and his family are forced to leave Sighet and travel to Auschwitz
Auschwitz: a large concentration camp in Poland
Buna: a large labor camp within Auschwitz
March to Buchenwald: Elie and his Father are forced to march to a new concentration
camp - Buchenwald.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Characters from Night:
o Moshe the Beadle - Jewish man in Sighet who worked in the Jewish synagogue
(church)
o Elie (Eliezer Wiesel) - Jewish boy, main character, only son
o Chlomo Wiesel - Elie’s father, a respected man in the community
o Hilde, Bea, Tzipora - Elie’s sisters, two older, one younger
o Elie’s mother
o Batia Reich - a relative who lives with them in the ghetto
o Martha - old servant who helps some leave the ghetto
o Madame Schecter - woman on the cattle car with her ten year old son - loses her
mind after losing her family; sees a powerful image and frightens other people in the
car
o Madame Schecter’s son - attempts to comfort his mother in her fear; a loyal son
o Dr. Mengele - SS officer and medical doctor who conducts the prisoners to the left or
right
o Yechiel - brother of the Rabbi in Sighet
o Young Pole (polish man) at Auschwitz - in charge of block 17
o Stein - Reizel’s husband, relative of Elie, curious about his family
o Hersch Genud - spoke of ending of the World and Coming of the Messiah (savior)
o Juliek - Polish violinist
o Franek - Polish foreman, former student, is nice until he wants Elie’s crown
o Yossi and Tibi - two brother living for each other after parents were killed
o Dentist - Czechoslovakian Jew who extracts gold crowns
o Idek - man in charge of the work unit
o French girl - another person working in the electrical warehouse, kind to Elie
o Rabbi Eliahou - Rabbi at Buna, looks for son while on march to Buchenwald
o Meir Katz - gardener at Buna, helps Elie
o Gustav - head of the children’s block (prison) at Buchenwald
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Short History of the Holocaust: 1933 to 1945
Germany, a nation in Central Europe, suffered greatly after its loss at the end of World
War One. Economic depression set the stage for the appointment of Adolf Hitler as Chancellor
(leader) of Germany. Hitler belonged to a political group called the Nazi Party. Under his
leadership, Germany developed their military and created the German SS (Schutzstaffel) - elite
soldiers extremely loyal to Hitler. Hitler preached the superiority of the German race (Aryans)
and focused German peoples’ prejudices and anger against minorities in Germany, especially
Jews. Hitler believed that by using the Jews as scapegoats for the difficulties Germany
experienced, he would be able to lift the spirits of the German people.
Laws were passed that removed personal rights to property and freedom from Jews.
Meanwhile, Hitler and the German army invaded neighboring nations and eventually grew to
control European countries to the East and West. During this time, Hitler and his commanders
established ghettos and the first concentration camps where Jews and other groups were
gathered and imprisoned. Jews were gathered forcibly into ghettos in the conquered countries
and later moved to concentration camps built throughout Germany and Eastern Europe.
Reports of the imprisonment and deaths of Jews were either ignored or disbelieved by
the outside world. Concentration camps began as labor camps, but many were turned into
death camps where millions of Jews and others were collected (concentrated) and murdered. In
an effort to exterminate all Jews toward the end of the war, Nazi leaders gave orders that
prisoners be shot, hanged, starved, poison gassed, and cremated (burned). This was labeled
“The Final Solution”.
The United States entered the war against Germany after Japan, Germany’s ally,
attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941. American and Russian troops pushed toward the German
homeland and Germany eventually fell. Seeing defeat, Hitler committed suicide. While pushing
toward Germany, Russians and Americans worked to free the remaining concentration camp
prisoners.
By the end of the War it is estimated that 6 million Jews were murdered and well over
10 million people total disappeared due to the Nazi efforts of human extermination. Many
surviving Nazis were tried and imprisoned. Many leaders were put to death, but many camp
workers and camp soldiers were never tried and remained free. Citizens and soldiers within
Germany and the conquered countries claimed to not be aware of the size of the Holocaust.
However, there were many stories of heroes and local governments working to save Jewish
citizens during that time. The survivors of the Holocaust emigrated, stayed in parts of Europe or
established a new homeland in Israel.
Words to know:
holocaust: (n) a fiery destruction of great magnitude (size)
prejudice: (n) an irrational attitude of anger or hostility directed against an individual, a
group, a race, or their supposed characteristics; bigotry
scapegoat: (n) a person or group made to bear the blame for others or to suffer in their place
ghetto: (n) an area of a city in which Jews were required to live
labor camp: (n) work camp; prisons where prisoners were forced to do work
extermination: (n) to get rid of completely usually by killing off
genocide: (n) any acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national,
ethnic, racial, or religious group
anti-Semitism: (n) a prejudice or bigotry toward people of the Jewish faith
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Links:
The Holocaust Museum: http://www.ushmm.org/
Lesson Plan ideas: http://holocaust.umd.umich.edu/lul/
Map of the Holocaust: (video)
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/media_nm.php?ModuleId=10005143&MediaId=7
827
Holocaust Awareness Museum and Education Center (video map)
http://www.holocaustawarenessmuseum.org/
“The Kristallnacht and Ghettos” (video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-deqjK4VWM&feature=player_embedded - !
“The ‘Final Solution’ and its Perpetrators” (video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WguSnJUyLA&feature=player_embedded - !
“Planet Auschwitz” (video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oc9ho0VBV5o&feature=player_embedded - !
Oprah and Elie Wiesel at Auschwitz (video)
Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slZMOkYJFO0
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Definitions of Jewish terms:
synagogue: temple; place of prayer and religious celebration
cabbala: Jewish mystical beliefs
Passover: Jewish holiday celebrating the release of Jews from Egyptian slavery
Maimonides: a Jewish religious leader (rabbi)
Talmud: Book of Jewish philosophy
Kaddish: prayer for the dead
Zionist: a person who believes in the formation of a Jewish nation
Rosh Hashanah: the Jewish New Year
Yom Kippur: Jewish Day of Atonement (forgiveness)
Summary: Modified from Sparknotes.com
Entire Text: NIGHT is narrated by Eliezer, a Jewish teenager who, when the memoir begins, lives in his
hometown of Sighet, in Hungarian Transylvania. Eliezer studies the Torah (the first five books of the
Old Testament) and the Cabbala (a doctrine of Jewish mysticism). His instruction is cut short,
however, when his teacher, Moshe the Beadle, is deported. In a few months, Moshe returns, telling a
horrifying tale: the Gestapo (the German secret police force) took charge of his train, led everyone
into the woods, and systematically butchered them. Nobody believes Moshe, who is taken for a
lunatic.
In the spring of1944, the Nazis occupy Hungary. Not long afterward, a series of increasingly
repressive measures are passed, and the Jews of Eliezer’s town are forced into small ghettos within
Sighet. Soon they are herded onto cattle cars, and a nightmarish journey ensues. After days and nights
crammed into the car, exhausted and near starvation, the passengers arrive at Birkenau, the gateway
to Auschwitz.
Upon his arrival in Birkenau, Eliezer and his father are separated from his mother and sisters,
whom they never see again. In the first of many “selections” that Eliezer describes in the memoir, the
Jews are evaluated to determine whether they should be killed immediately or put to work. Eliezer
and his father seem to pass the evaluation, but before they are brought to the prisoners’ barracks,
they stumble upon the open-pit furnaces where the Nazis are burning babies by the truckload.
The Jewish arrivals are stripped, shaved, disinfected, and treated with almost unimaginable
cruelty. Eventually, their captors march them from Birkenau to the main camp, Auschwitz. They
eventually arrive in Buna, a work camp, where Eliezer is put to work in an electrical-fittings factory.
Under slave-labor conditions, severely malnourished and decimated by the frequent “selections,” the
Jews take solace in caring for each other, in religion, and in Zionism, a movement favoring the
establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine, considered the holy land. In the camp, the Jews are
subject to beatings and repeated humiliations. A vicious foreman forces Eliezer to give him his gold
tooth, which is pried out of his mouth with a rusty spoon.
The prisoners are forced to watch the hanging of fellow prisoners in the camp courtyard. On
one occasion, the Gestapo even hangs a small child who had been associated with some rebels within
Buna. Because of the horrific conditions in the camps and the ever-present danger of death, many of
the prisoners themselves begin to slide into cruelty, concerned only with personal survival. Sons begin
to abandon and abuse their fathers. Eliezer himself begins to lose his humanity and his faith, both in
God and in the people around him.
After months in the camp, Eliezer undergoes an operation for a foot injury. While he is in the
infirmary, however, the Nazis decide to evacuate the camp because the Russians are advancing and
are on the verge of liberating Buna. In the middle of a snowstorm, the prisoners begin a death march:
they are forced to run for more than fifty miles to the Gleiwitz concentration camp. Many die of
exposure to the harsh weather and exhaustion. At Gleiwitz, the prisoners are herded into cattle cars
once again. They begin another deadly journey: one hundred Jews board the car, but only twelve
remain alive when the train reaches the concentration camp Buchenwald. Throughout the ordeal,
Eliezer and his father help each other to survive by means of mutual support and concern. In
Buchenwald, however, Eliezer’s father dies of dysentery and physical abuse. Eliezer survives, an empty
shell of a man until April 11, 1945, the day that the American army liberates the camp. ~ Quoted directly
from Sparknotes.com
Foreword: Writer François Mauriac recounts his encounter with a journalist from Tel Aviv,
later revealed to be Night’s author, Elie Wiesel. Wiesel explains that he was a victim of the
Holocaust. Mauriac is struck by the power of Wiesel’s story and Wiesel’s struggle with his
faith and belief in God. The powerful loss that Wiesel relates to Mauriac, loss of faith and the
loss of family, leaves Mauriac weeping for Wiesel.
Chapter 1 : In 1941, Eliezer, the narrator, is a twelve-year-old boy living in the
Transylvanian/Hungarian town of Sighet. He is the only son in a religious Jewish family that
strictly adheres to Jewish tradition and law. His parents are shopkeepers, and his father is
highly respected within Sighet’s Jewish community. Eliezer has two older sisters, Hilda and
Bea, and a younger sister named Tzipora. After the Hungarian government falls to the Nazis,
the Hungarian authorities, under German orders, begins to collect and isolate Jewish
communities in ghettos. The process is one that many Jews experienced across Europe at
the time. Slowly, but surely personal rights are taken from the Jews. Eventually, the Jews of
Sighet, along with Elie and his family, are deported to Poland
Chapter 2: The Jews are transported in packed cattle cars. Madam Schachter becomes
hysterical and torments her fellow prisoners with wild visions. Fear and cramped conditions
continues the process of dehumanization until the transports reach Birkenau, the processing
center for Auschwitz.
Chapter 3: At Birkenau, the first of many “selections” occurs, during which individuals
presumed weaker or less useful are weeded out to be killed. Eliezer and his father remain
together, separated from Eliezer’s mother and younger sister, whom he never sees again. In
a central square, Dr. Mengele stands, determining whether new arrivals are fit to work or
whether they are to be killed immediately. Marched past death pits and crematoria, the
prisoners are led to their barracks. In the barracks, the Jews are stripped and shaved,
disinfected, showered, and clothed in prison uniforms. They are lectured by a Nazi officer and
told that they have two options: hard work or the crematorium. When Eliezer’s father asks
for the bathroom, he is beaten by the Kapo (a head prisoner, in charge of the other inmates).
Eliezer is appalled at his own failure to defend his father. Soon they make the short march
from Birkenau to Auschwitz, where they are quartered for three weeks, and where their
prison numbers are tattooed on their arms. Despite all that they have seen, the prisoners
continue to express their faith in God and trust in divine redemption. Finally, they are
escorted on a four-hour walk from Auschwitz to Buna, the work camp in which they will be
interned for months.
Chapter 4: After the required quarantine and medical inspection—including a dental search
for gold crowns—Eliezer is chosen by a Kapo to serve in a unit of prisoners whose job entails
counting electrical fittings in a civilian warehouse. His father, it turns out, serves in the same
unit. Eliezer and his father are to be housed in the musicians’ block, which is headed by a
kindly German Jew. Idek, the Kapo in charge of Eliezer’s work crew, is prone to fits of violent
madness. One day, unprovoked, he savagely beats Eliezer, after which a French girl who
works next to Eliezer in the warehouse offers some small kindness and comfort. Eliezer’s
father falls victim to one of Idek’s rages. When Franek, the prison foreman, notices Eliezer’s
gold crown, he demands it. Franek’s desire for the gold makes him vicious and cruel. On his
father’s advice, Eliezer refuses to yield the tooth. As punishment, Franek mocks and beats
Eliezer’s father until Eliezer eventually gives up. The section ends with the hanging of
prisoners, one a young boy, who were discovered stealing during an air raid.
Chapter 5: At the end of the summer of 1944, the Jewish High Holidays arrive: Rosh
Hashanah, the celebration of the New Year, and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Despite
their imprisonment and affliction, the Jews of Buna come together to celebrate Rosh
Hashanah, praying together and praising God’s name. On this solemn Jewish holiday,
Eliezer’s religious rebellion intensifies, and he cannot find a reason to bless God in the midst
of so much suffering. With the arrival of winter, the prisoners begin to suffer in the cold.
Eliezer’s foot swells up, and he undergoes an operation. While he is in the hospital
recovering, the rumor of the approaching Russian army gives him new hope. But the
Germans decide to evacuate the camp before the Russians can arrive. Thinking that the Jews
in the infirmary will be put to death prior to the evacuation, Eliezer and his father choose to
be evacuated with the others. With his injured foot bleeding into the snow, Eliezer joins the
rest of the prisoners. At nightfall, in the middle of a snowstorm, they begin their evacuation
of Buna.
Chapter 6 & 7: In the blizzard and the darkness, the prisoners from Buna are evacuated.
Anybody who stops running is shot by the SS. Zalman, a boy running alongside Eliezer,
decides he can run no further. He stops and is trampled to death. Malnourished, exhausted,
and weakened by his injured foot, Eliezer forces himself to run along with the other prisoners
only for the sake of his father, who is running near him. Father and son keep each other
awakeand support each other, surviving only through mutual watchfulness. At last, the
exhausted prisoners arrive at the Gleiwitz camp, crushing each other in the rush to enter the
barracks. In the press of men, Eliezer discovers that he is lying on top of Juliek, the musician
who befriended him in Buna. The prisoners are herded into the cattle cars. Eliezer’s father,
unconscious, is almost mistaken for dead and thrown from the car, but Eliezer succeeds in
waking him. The train travels for ten days and nights, and the Jews go unfed, living on snow.
As they pass through German towns, some of the locals throw bread into the car in order to
enjoy watching the Jews kill each other for the food.
Chapter 8 & 9: The journey to Buchenwald has fatally weakened Eliezer’s father. On arrival,
he sits in the snow and refuses to move. He seems at last to have given in to death. Eliezer
tries to find medical help for his father. The doctors will not treat the old man. The prisoners
whose beds surround Eliezer’s father’s bed steal his food and beat him. After a week, Eliezer
is approached by the head of the block, who tells him that Eliezer’s father is dying, and that
Eliezer should concentrate his energy on his own survival. January 29, 1945, Eliezer wakes up
to find that his father has been taken to the crematory. To his deep shame, he does not cry.
Instead, he feels relief. Eliezer remains in Buchenwald, thinking neither of liberation nor of
his family, but only of food. On April 11, the American army arrives at Buchenwald. Now free,
the prisoners think only of feeding themselves. Eliezer is struck with food poisoning and
spends weeks in the hospital, deathly ill. When he finally raises himself and looks in the
mirror—he has not seen himself in a mirror since leaving Sighet—he is shocked: “From the
depths of the mirror,” Wiesel writes, “a corpse gazed back at me.”
Reading Guide Questions: To be completed along with reading.
Read questions first before you begin to read the required sections
Preface & Foreword
1. To whom has Elie Wiesel dedicated his autobiographical ordeal, Night?
(p. iv)
2. Prior to being liberated (freed) in 1945, where had Elie Wiesel been
incarcerated? (p. v)
____________________
____________________
____________________
____________________
3. Although Elie Wiesel survives the horrors of his incarceration, what
“devastation” will never end for him? (p. vi)
4. Francois Mauriac wanted to say many things to the young Jewish
journalist who visited him, yet all he could do was ____________________.
(p. xi)
Section 1, Pages 1-20
5. Where did Elie Wiesel spend his childhood? (city, region & country.)
(p. 1-3)
6. In what year does the plot begin, and how old is Elie? (p. 1)
7. Name the four Wiesel siblings in age order (oldest to youngest): (p. 2)
1.
2.
3.
4.
8. When Elie wants to study Hasidic Judaism, who becomes his teacher?
(p. 2)
9. On page 3. Moshe is rounded up with all the foreign Jews and expelled
by the Hungarian authorities. Why wouldn’t anyone believe Moshe the
Beadle when he returns? (pp. 4-5)
10. When do the German Soldiers finally enter Hungary? (p. 6)
11. . On the seventh day of Passover, everything changed.
Dehumanization: Describe the process or steps by which the Nazis
removed rights and privileges from the Jews of Sighet: (pp. 8-9)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Section 2, Pages 21-26
12. Describe the conditions in the cattle wagons. (p.21)
13. Who is Madame Schächter? Describe her vision: (pp. 22-23)
14. How does Elie Wiesel use her as a literary device (foreshadowing)?
15. At the end of this segment, to where have Elie and his family arrived?
(p. 26)
Section 3, Pages 27-43
16. As the Wiesel family disembarks the train, an SS officer commands,
“Men to the left! Women to the right!” What is so significant about those
eight words? (p. 27)
17. What advice does a fellow prisoner give to Elie and his father? (p. 28)
18. What is the name of the terrifying process all prisoners must endure,
which ultimately determines their fate? (p. 29)
19. Please complete the following quote on page 32:
“Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned
my life into ______________________, seven times cursed and seven times
sealed. Never shall I forget that ________________. Never shall I forget
the _________________________ of the children, whose bodies I saw
turned into _________________ of smoke beneath a silent blue sky. Never
shall I forget those flames which _____________________________
forever. Never shall I forget that _____________________ silence which
deprived me, for all eternity, of the ___________________________. Never
shall I forget those moments which murdered my ___________ and my
___________ and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these
things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself.
______________.”
20. Describe the process referred to as “Disinfection.” (pp. 33-34)
21. A man nicknamed “the Angel of Death” addresses the inmates with
these words: “You’re in a concentration camp. At Auschwitz…Remember
this. Remember it forever. Engrave it into your minds. You are at
Auschwitz. And Auschwitz is not a convalescent home. It’s a
concentration camp. Here, you have got to work. If not, you will go
straight to the furnace. To the crematory. Work or the crematory-the
choice is in your hands.” What is the name of this notorious SS officer and
doctor? (p . 29/p. 36)
22. Please provide the English translation of the infamous inscription
found above the gates of every concentration camp, “Arbeit macht frei.”
(p.38/ p.43)
23. The young Polish prisoner in charge at Auschwitz gives what advice to
his block mates? (p. 38)
24. What number is Elie given? (p. 39)
25. What was the reason for the Kapo (prisoner in charge) of Elie’s block
losing his job? (p.41)
Section 4, Pages 45-62
26. The fourth section opens after the prisoners’ four-hour march. Where
have they arrived? Describe this new location. (p.45)
27. How does Elie demonstrate that he is clever after he has been
summoned to the dentist so his gold tooth can be extracted? (p. 50)
28. What is the significance of the young French girl who works next to
Elie in the warehouse? (pp. 50-51)
29. Why and how does Franek target Elie’s father? (pp. 52-53)
30. What is the prisoners’ reaction to the bombing of Buna? (pp. 57-58)
31. What is a “pipel”? When the pipel is hanged, a man asks, “Where is
God now?” Provide Elie’s response, and explain the significance of the
statement, “that night the soup tasted of corpses.” (pp. 60-62)
Section 5, Pages 63-80
32. With the coming of Rosh Hashanah (last day of the Jewish year) and
Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), Elie’s feelings about his faith become
increasingly clear. Describe his feelings. (pp. 63-64)
33. What advice does the head of the block give Elie and the others prior to
selection? (p. 66-67)
34. Complete the quotation: “Those whose numbers had been noted
stood apart, ___________________________________________________.
Some were weeping in silence.”
Please explain. (p. 69)
35. When Elie’s father, Chlomo, realizes he needs to go through another
round of selection, what inheritance does he bequeath (pass on) to his son?
(p. 71)
36. Describe the winter conditions in the camp. (pp. 73-74)
37. In January 1945, why does Elie need surgery? (p. 74)
38. Who says, “I’ve got more faith in Hitler than in anyone else. He’s the
only one who’s kept his promises, all his promises, to the Jewish people.”
(pp. 76-77)
39. Toward the end of the fifth segment, we learn that Elie and his father,
for the first time, could choose their own fate: stay in the hospital or be
evacuated with the others on the march. Explain the tragic irony of their
decision. (p. 78)
Section 6, Pages 81-92
40. The forced march begins. Both the prisoners and the guards are
literally running, and continue forty-two miles without a break. The SS had
strict orders to _________________________ any one who couldn’t keep
up. (p. 81)
41. After his constant struggle, Elie considers dying right where he is.
Who, if anyone, stops him? Use a quote to support your answer. (p. 82)
42. Once at Gleiwitz, Elie demonstrates his love for his father by
committing what risky act? Describe the ensuing (resulting) scene. (p. 91)
Section 7, Pages 93-98
43. Figurative Language: They “threw people out of the wagon like a sack
of flour”; that line is an example of ____________________.
44. Two corpses, father and son in the cattle car, next to each other. What
is the effective, quick line that Elie uses then to put this nightmare into
perspective for the reader and perhaps himself? (p. 97)
45. Of ______ people loaded into the car, only ______ survive the journey.
(p. 98)
Segment 8, Pages 99-106
46. When Elie awakens in Buchenwald, he is distressed and guilt-ridden
from having abandoned his father. Upon finding him, he discovers his
father is dehydrated and feverish. What act causes him to say, “I probably
brought him more satisfaction than I ever had done during my whole
childhood?” (p. 101)
47. From which illness did Chlomo Wiesel suffer? (p. 102)
48. The head of the block at Buchenwald says to Elie, “Don’t forget you’re
in a concentration camp. Here, every man has to fight for himself and not
think of anyone else. Even of his father. Here, there are no fathers, no
brothers, no friends. Everyone lives and dies for himself alone.”
How does Elie feel about these statements? (p. 105)
49. Chlomo Wiesel’s last word spoken was: ________________________.
(p. 106)
50. He passed away on _______________________________. (p. 106)
Section 9, Pages 107-109
51. Completely overcome by grief, in his final days in Buchenwald, Elie’s
one desire was ________________________. (p. 107)
52. On the 5th of April, 1945, an organized camp resistance refused the
Germans’ orders to _____________________ the camp. (p. 108)
53. Finally on the _____________ of April, 1945, American troops arrived to
liberate Buchenwald. (p. 109)
54. Ironically, three days after liberation, Elie becomes deathly ill due to
___________________________________. (p. 109)
55. After two weeks in a hospital, Elie sees himself in a mirror for the first
time since the Sighet ghetto, nearly one year ago. He is haunted by the
_________________ that gazed back at him. (p. 109)