Night by Elie Wiesel
A Memoir
Ms. Squicciarini
English 10
(Excerpted from William Shakespeare’s, A Merchant
of Venice
 Hath not a Jew eyes?
Hath not a Jew hands,
organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions;
fed with the same food,
hurt with the same weapons,
subject to the same diseases,
heal'd by the same means,
warm'd and cool'd by the same winter and
summer as a Christian is?
If you prick us, do we not bleed?
If you tickle us, do we not laugh?
If you poison us, do we not die?
And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?
- Shylock, Act III,
Scene 1
Non-Fiction…
An autobiography is a sketch of
the author’s entire life, often from
birth up until the time of the
writing.
A memoir focuses on one aspect
of the writer’s life. Memoirs
usually cover a relatively short
span of time, and their main
purpose is to draw the reader’s
attention to a specific theme or
circumstance.
A biography is the story of a
life from another person’s
perspective.
An essay is a short nonfiction
work that addresses a specific
subject.
A speech is a talk or an
address presented to an
audience.
Night by Elie Wiesel
Autobiographical, memoir
Focus on observation describes an event that the
writer witnessed firsthand.
Elie Wiesel - Bearing Witness invites us to listen, and to
remember. “Those who
cannot remember the past are
condemned to repeat it.”
“The soul of the
Holocaust”
Night
Night
Night
The Bible begins with God’s
creation of the earth. When
God first begins His creation,
the Earth is “without form,
and void; and darkness [is]
upon the face of the deep”
(Genesis 1:2).
God’s first act is to create
light.
For Elie Wiesel, darkness and
night symbolize a world
without God.
Night is always when the
suffering is worst, and the
presence of darkness reflects
Eliezer’s belief that his has
become a world without the
presence of God.
Elie Wiesel is the author of Night, his
famous memoir of his terrifying and
tragic experiences during the Holocaust.
He was 15 years old when he and his
family were deported to Auschwitz, the
notorious Nazi death camp and symbol of
genocide and terror. His mother and
younger sister died there, while his two
older sisters survived. Wiesel and his
father were later transported to
Buchenwald, where his father died
shortly before the camp was liberated in
April 1945.
 The internationally acclaimed Night has
been published in more than 30
languages. Wiesel has received more
than 100 honorary degrees from
institutions of higher learning. He
received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986.
He has also been awarded the
Presidential Medal of Freedom, the U.S.
Congressional Gold Medal and the Medal
of Liberty Award. President Jimmy Carter
appointed him as chairman of the
President’s Commission on the
Holocaust. He also became the founding
chairman of the United States Holocaust
Memorial Council.
Shortly after receiving the
Nobel Prize, he and his wife,
Marion, established The Elie
Wiesel Foundation for
Humanity, an organization
dedicated to combating
indifference, intolerance, and
injustice though international
dialogues and youth-focused
programs that promote
acceptance, understanding,
and equality.
Background 1…
Prewar European population:
9.5 million
Most Jews lived in eastern
Europe, primarily in the Soviet
Union and Poland.
The Nazi party came to power
in Germany in 1933.
The Germans moved to
extend their power in central
Europe, annexing Austria and
taking over Czechoslovakia.
Background 2…
 Germany invaded Poland in
1939, beginning World War II.
Over the next three years,
German forces conquered
most of Europe.
The Germans established
ghettos in occupied eastern
territories, isolating and
persecuting the Jewish
population.
Background 3…
 Nazi anti-Jewish policy
expanded with the invasion of
the Soviet Union in 1941.
Mobile killing units murdered
Jews, Roma (also called
Gypsies), Soviet political
commissars and others.
The Germans and their
collaborators deported Jews to
extermination camps in
occupied Poland.
Background 4…
At the largest extermination
camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau,
transports arrived almost daily
from across Europe.
By war’s end, almost six
million Jews and millions of
others had perished in the
Holocaust.
Postwar European Jewish
Population, ca. 1950: 3.5
million
Background
terminology…
Holocaust
Genocide
Ghetto
Prejudice
Discrimination
Kapo
Los
Gestapo
Heinrich Himmler - The head
of the SS.
Adolph Eichmann – Devised
the plan for the final solution.
Rudolph Hess – The
commander of Auschwitz.
Dr. Mengele - “The Angel of
Death,” a doctor who
performed brutal, unnecessary
experiments and operations
upon prisoners.
Aryan Race…
The pure Germanic race,
used by the Nazis to
suggest a superior, nonJewish Caucasian typified
by height, blonde hair, blue
eyes.
Third Reich…
The Third Republic of
Germany which began
with Hitler’s rule in 1933
and ended with his
defeat in 1945.
SS
“Schutz-Staffel” (literally
defense echelon), established
in 1929 as Hitler’s blackshirted
bodyguards. They became
the elite guards of the Nazis
trained in brutality and put in
charge of concentration
camps.
Theresienstadt
The “model” concentration
camp used to deceive the
visiting International Red
Cross. Many artists were
imprisoned here and later
killed.
The Final Solution
The plan devised in 1941 to speed
up the system of killing the Jews
and “undesirables.” The previous
method of shooting and burying
the dead was too “costly and
inefficient.” This final method
used an efficient system of gas
chambers and crematories to kill
the Jews. Six of these death
camps were built and often were
kept working round the clock,
killing thousands per day.
Selection
Term used when the SS
forced prisoners to line
up for inspection and
decided which prisoners
would live and which
would be killed.
Judaic / Biblical terms
Cabbala
Hasidism
Kaddish
Maimonides
Messiah
Zohar
Passover
Pentecost
Rosh Hashana
Lazarus
Synagogue
Talmud
Temple
Yellow star
Yom Kippur
Zionism
Cabbala - Jewish mysticism,
including numerology.
Hasidism - Movement of
Orthodox Judaism with strong
mystical and emotional
elements.
Kaddish - A prayer in Aramaic
praising God. The mourner’s
Kaddish is said for the dead.
Maimonides (1135-1204) Jewish rabbi, physician
philosopher
Messiah - Greek translation of
Hewbrew Mashiach; the
anointed one.
Zohar - From the Hebrew
meaning light or splendor; one
of the major works of the
Cabbala.
Passover - Greek word for the
celebration of the exodus of
Jewish people from Slavery in
Egypt.
Pentecost - The celebration of
the giving of the Torah.
Rosh Hashana – Jewish New
Year
Lazarus - A man described in
the Books of John and Luke as
having been raised from the
dead by Jesus.
Synagogue - A Jewish house
of worship and study.
Talmud - The most important
compilation of Jewish oral
tradition.
Temple - Holiest place in
Judaism, located in Jerusalem.
Biblically ordained sacrifices
were performed here. Built
and destroyed twice.
Yellow Star - Nazis forced
Jews to wear a cloth badge
with the word Jew written in
the center of a yellow six
pointed star.
Yom Kippur - day of Atonement.
Holiest day of Jewish year.
When the Jews fast and pray for
forgiveness of their sins.
Zionism - Political movement
advocating the establishment
of a Jewish state.
Gestapo
• The secret police organized in
1933 to uncover and
undermine political opposition.
• German acronym for the
German Secret State Police
• Part of the SS
• Notorious for terrorism against
enemies of the state.
Race
Ethnicity
Anti-Semitism
Euphemism
Fascism
Death camp
Concentration camp
Holocaust…
Holocaust means “complete
destruction by fire.”
The term is now associated
with the murder of more than
six million Jewish people
during World War II.
Elie Wiesel was born in 1928 in
the town of Sighet, now part of
Romania. During World War II, he,
with his family and other Jews
from the area, were deported to
the German concentration and
extermination camps, where his
parents and little sister perished.
Wiesel and his two older sisters
survived. Liberated from
Buchenwald in 1945 by advancing
Allied troops, he was taken to Paris
where he studied at the Sorbonne
and worked as a journalist.
 In 1958, he published his first book, La
Nuit, a memoir of his experiences in the
concentration camps. He has since
authored nearly thirty books some of
which use these events as their basic
material. In his many lectures, Wiesel
has concerned himself with the situation
of the Jews and other groups who have
suffered persecution and death because
of their religion, race or national origin.
He has been outspoken on the plight of
Soviet Jewry, on Ethiopian Jewry and on
behalf of the State of Israel today.
Background…
Wiesel’s 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.
"Those who cannot
remember the
past are
condemned to
repeat it."
Make a list of words this
image brings to mind…
Oprah visits Auschwitz with
Wiesel, Night is inducted into
Oprah’s notorious “book club”
Setting:
Geographical region: Sighet,
Transylvania
Time period: 1940s
Begins in Sighet during the early
years of WWII. Sighet remained
relatively unaffected by the war.
The Jews in Sighet believed that
they would be safe from the
persecution that Jews in Germany
and Poland suffered
The beginning…
They were sent to Auschwitz and
other concentration camps
In 1944, however, Elie and all the
other Jews in town were rounded
up in cattle cars and deported to
concentration camps in Poland
Elie was 14-years-old
After surviving the Nazi
concentration camps, Wiesel
vowed never to write about his
horrific experiences
A vow to send a
message…
He eventually changed his
mind and wrote Night in 1955
His notoriety and works have
recently re-emerged due to his
advocacy for peace and
attention he received from
Oprah and her own notoriety
associated with her book club
Genocide-crimes
against humanity
What does the term genocide
mean? What does it make you
think of? What questions (I
wonder why) can you come up
with relating to this term?
Historical background: World
War II, Holocaust
Geno-cide
Geno-from the Greek word genos,
which means birth, race, of a
similar kind
Cide-from the French word cida,
which means to cut, kill
Genocide-”the deliberate killing of
a large group of people, esp. those
of a particular ethnic group or
nation” (Webster’s dictionaryonline)
Adolf Hitler…
“The Fuhrer,” dictator of
Germany (Chancellor –
1933, President – 1934), a
demagogue and tyrant who
obtains power by appealing
to the emotions and
prejudices of the masses.
Hitler and the German
Nazis
Aryan: (in Nazi ideology)-a person of
Caucasian race not of Jewish decent.
Children of the
Holocaust-a loss of
innocence
“The Holocaust is a central
event in many people’s lives,
but it has also become a
metaphor for our century.
There cannot be an end to
speaking and writing about
it.”
-Aharon Appelfeld
What “normal” ideas and
concepts come to mind when
you think of children?
“A child can ask questions that
a wise man cannot answer.”
Author Unknown
Emaciated-”abnormally weak
or thin due to illness or lack of
food” (Webster’s dictionaryonline)
Starved boys at Ebensee concentration
camp. This was one of largest camps with
around 60,000 prisoners. They were used
as live guinea pigs for "scientific" medical
experiments. Some 2,000 died a week
[BBC]
Nazi doctors conducted dozens of medical
and other experiments on concentrationcamp inmates, who often died as a direct
result of the studies
Concentration camps:
Deportation, Auschwitz
and Birkenau
Prisoners board the deportation
train, unaware of the tragic fate
they’ll soon meet ahead
Crematorium
Moving Forward: What can we
learn from such atrocities
throughout our history?
“It must be the prayer of our
generation that with this help we
can recapture enough of that
reality so that it will never be
repeated.”
Excerpt from the preface written
by Robert McAfee Brown
Wiesel is awarded
Nobel Peace Prize in
1986
“Thou shall not stand
idly by.”
What does this quotation mean?
How does it relate to the events
that took place that are
associated with the Holocaust?
Define the following….
Humanity-
Inhumanity-
What is the significant difference
between the two?
Essential Questions:
How should we remember such
tragedies in our history or crimes
against humanity? Why should we?
How does human conflict at all levels
impact society and the people in it?
What social responsibility do we have
to prevent future crimes against
humanity?
How does Elie Wiesel convey the
inhumanity and humanity associated
with the Holocaust through his
memoir?
Community….
How does social responsibility
come into play in reference to
this tragic dark spot in history?
How does this tie into the
theme of community? What
communities were affected as
a direct result of WWII and
the Holocaust?
“Our lives begin to end the day
that we are silent about the things
that matter.”
-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
 Consider how King’s words relate to
this excerpt of Wiesel’s acceptance
speech for the Nobel Peace Prize:
 “And that is why I swore never to be
silent whenever and wherever human
beings endure suffering and
humiliation. We must take sides.
Neutrality helps the oppressor, never
the victim. Silence encourages the
tormentor, never the tormented.
Sometimes we must interfere.”