Our extended text: Night by Elie Wiesel
Holocaust: from the Greek word
“olokauston”: a destruction caused by fire or a burned sacrifice
 What can literature teach us about humanity
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and responsibilities to ourselves, our culture,
our society, and our world?
How can taking notes and annotating a text
aid my comprehension?
How can I use note taking to analyze details
from a text to make inferences?
How does an author create tone?
How does word choice and the use of literal
and figurative language inform and reveal an
author’s purpose?
How does an author use rhetoric to support
his point of view?
How can I develop parallel structure in my
writing?
 Be able to
answer all
essential
questions
 Complete a
research paper.
 Be successful on
CDA #2
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Holocaust vocabulary and definitions
Night by Elie Weisel
Perils of Indifference (speech)
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas(film)
Oprah Winfrey/ Elie Wiesel at Auschwitz
documentary
Holocaust poetry
Letters to Holocaust victims
Research Paper
Unit Test
CDA #2
 The Holocaust refers to a specific event in 20th century
history:
The government-sponsored, systematic persecution and
annihilation of European Jewry by Nazi Germany and its
collaborators between 1933-1945.
Documentary LINK:
http://app.discoveryeducation.com/search#selItemsPerPag
e=20&intCurrentPage=0&No=0&N=4294939055&Ne=&Ntt
=holocaust&Ns=&Nr=&browseFilter=&indexVersion=&Ntk
=All&Ntx=mode%252Bmatchallpartial
Barracks at Auschwitz
Amon Goethe- was an SS Captain and the commandant
of the a Nazi concentration camp. He was tried as
a war criminal after the war. He was found guilty and
hung. The film Schindler's List depicts his occasional
practice of shooting camp internees for sport.
Anti-Semitism- is suspicion of, hatred toward,
or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected
to their Jewish heritage
Crematoria- the use of high temperature burning for the use
of reducing bodies to dust. In death camps used to rid the
Nazis of Jewish bodies.
Einsatzgruppen- were SS paramilitary death squads that
were responsible for mass killings, typically by shooting.
Enabling Act- which became a cornerstone of Adolf Hitler's
seizure of power.
Final Solution- was Nazi Germany's plan and execution of
the systematic genocide of European Jews
Gestapo- The Secret State Police of the Nazis.
Ghetto- is a part of a city predominantly occupied by a particular
ethnic group that may be looked down upon for various reasons,
especially because of social or economic issues, or because they
have been forced to live there .
Hebrew- Culturally, it is considered by Jews and other ethnic or
religious groups as the language of the Jewish people
Heinrich Himmlerhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_183S72707,_Heinrich_Himmler.jpg
Holocaust- known as “Shoah” by the Jews, was the systematic
killing of over 6 million Jews and 4 million non-Jews during
WWII.
Joseph Mengelehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Mengele
Judaism- The religion of the Jewish people.
Kabballa- the study of mysticism as part of the Jewish
religion. Questions like, “who is God?” “why are we
here?” are discussed and searched for.
Kaddish- a prayer found in Jewish prayer services.
Krakow- one of the oldest cities in Poland.
Kristallnacht- “The Night of Broken Glass”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristallnacht
Mein Kampf- “My struggle” is a book written by Adolf Hitler
while in prison. It contained many anti-semitic ideas.
Nuremberg Laws- of 1935 were antisemitic laws in Nazi
Germany introduced at the annual Nuremberg Rallyof
the Nazi Party.
Oskar Schindler- an ethnic German that saved over 1100 Jews
in the Holocaust.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oskar_Schindler
Star of David- A SYMBOL OF Jewish identity.
Sturmabteilung (SA) Schutzstaffel (SS)- functioned as the
paramilitary branch of the Nazis. They played a key role of
Adolf Hitler’s rise to power in the 1930s.
Swastika- the image used by the Nazis during WWII.
Third Reich- is the common name for Germany when it was
a totalitarian state ruled by Adolf Hitler.
Torah- the spiritual book of the Jews.
The Treaty of Versailles- the peace treaty that ended WWI.
This forced Germany to pay war fees to The Allies. This upset
and disgruntled many Germans. Hitler took advantage of this
general feeling and vowed that he would bring Germany back
to them.
Yiddish- a part of the Jewish language that incorporates
Hebrew and German into slang.
Zyklon B- a chemical used in concentration camps to kill Jews
in mass. Jews were told to shower and instead of water, Zyklon
B was pumped through the room, killing them within minutes.
 PHASE I (1933-1939):
Regulation and Isolation of German Jews
 PHASE II (1939-1941):
Totalitarian regulation of Polish Jews
 PHASE III (1941-1943)
Direct killing by Einsatzgruppen in USSR
 PHASE IV (1941-1945):
Bureaucratic killing across occupied Europe
 After the First World War, Germany was in
chaos, and Hitler was a strong leader who
promised a better life for Germany.
 European fascism merged with antisemitism.
 The western world was unaware of the true
extent of Germany’s persecution of Jews and
others.
 Fascists believe that nations and/or races are in
perpetual conflict whereby only the strong can
survive by being healthy, vital, and by asserting
themselves in conflict against the weak.
 advocate the creation of a single-party state.
 forbid and suppress openness and opposition to the
government and the fascist movement.
 opposes class conflict, blames capitalist liberal
democracies for its creation and communists for
exploiting the concept.
Some people were undesirable by Nazi standards
because of who they were,their genetic or cultural
origins, or health conditions.
Jews, Gypsies, Poles and other Slavs, and people
with physical or mental disabilities.
Others were Nazi victims because of what they did.
Jehovah's Witnesses, homosexuals, the dissenting
clergy, Communists, Socialists, and other political
enemies.
 World War I ended in 1918 with Germany being severely
punished for its aggression during the war.
 Military and political leaders blamed left-wing politicians,
communists, and Jews.
 The new gov’t, Weimar Republic, tried to establish
democracy but it could not handle the depressed economy
or lawlessness.
 The German Worker’s Party espoused a right-wing
ideology. Hitler joined in 1919 and quickly rose to
leadership
“it [Nazi philosophy] by no means believes in an equality of races, but along
with their differences it recognizes their higher or lesser value and feels
itself obligated to promote the victory of the better and stronger, and
demand the subordination of the inferior and weaker in accordance with
the eternal will that dominates the universe.” – Mein Kampf
Adolf Hitler
 1919 - Treaty of Versailles
 Cripples Germany
 1920 - National Socialist German
Workers Party (NSDAP or NAZI) is
formed
 1925 - Volume One of Mein Kampf
published
 October 24, 1929 - “Black Thursday”
 September 14, 1930
 Nazi Party wins 107 of 577
seats in Reichstag
 July 31, 1932
 Nazi seats in Reichstag
increases to 230 of 608
 January 30, 1933
 Adolf Hitler appointed
Chancellor of Germany
succeeding Paul Von
Hindenberg ending the
Weimar Republic
 Jewish population of
Germany 566,000
 February 22, 1933 - Auxiliary Police
 40,000 SA and SS sworn in
 February 27, 1933 - Reichstag burns
 Crisis created
 February 28, 1933 - Emergency powers
 March 22, 1933 - Concentration camps begin
opening throughout Germany
 March 24, 1933 - The Enabling Act
 Chancellor given absolute power
 April 1, 1933 - Nazi boycott of Jewish businesses
 April 7, 1933 - Law for Restoration of Civil Service
 April 11, 1933 - First legal definition of who is a Jew
 April 25, 1933 - Law Against Overcrowding German
Schools
 April 26, 1933 - Gestapo created
Children smuggling food into the Warsaw ghetto
 May 10, 1933 - Burning of “undesirable”
books
 July 14, 1933 - Outlawing of political
parties
 September 1933 - Jews excluded from the
arts
 September 29, 1933 - Jews prohibited
from land ownership
 October 4, 1933 - Editorial Law
A segregated streetcar in Krakow. The sign in German and Polish
reads, "for Jews; for non-Jews." (Circa 1940)
 January 24, 1934 - Jews banned from the German
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Labor Front
May 17, 1933 - Jews excluded from national health
insurance
June 30, 1934 - “Night of the Long Knives”
July 20, 1934 - SS independence
July 22, 1934 - Jews prohibited from legal
profession
August 2, 1934 - Hitler becomes Führer
 The Reich Citizenship Law
 Only Germans or those with “German” blood (“Aryans”)
could be citizens of the Reich
 German Jews became “state subjects”
 The Law for the Protection of German Blood and
Honor
 Prohibited marriages and extramarital affairs between
Jews and “Aryans”
 Prohibited the employment of German maids under
the age of forty-five in Jewish households
 Prohibited the raising of the German flag by Jews
 Symbolically dramatized the exclusion of Jews from
German society
 Rationalized and legitimized actions against the
Jews which were to follow
 Passed during special session of the Reichstag on
September 15, 1935
Naked Jewish women, some of whom are holding infants, wait in a line
before their execution by Ukrainian auxilliary police. (October 14, 1942)
Ensatzgruppen before executing a Jewish youth
 November 8, 1937 - Eternal Jew exhibit
 March 1938
- Austria annexed
- Eichmann
 April-July 1938 - further restrictions on Jewish
property and professions
 August 17, 1938 - Regulation requiring Jews to change
their names
 November 7, 1938 - German diplomat, Ernst vom
Rath attacked by Polish Jew in Paris; dies two days
later
 November 9/10, 1938 - Kristallnacht
 November 12, 1938 - Jews assessed one billion
deutchmarks for damages
 November 15, 1938 - Jews expelled from German
Schools
Jews from the Krakow Ghetto,
who have been rounded-up
for deportation, are crowded
onto the back of a truck.
(1942)
 December 3, 1938 - Law requires takeover of all Jewish
owned businesses
 December 14, 1938 - Reichsmarschal Hermann
Göring put in charge of resolving the “Jewish
Question”
 January 24, 1939 - Reinhard Heydrich charged with
emigration of Jews
 March 15, 1939 - Nazis invade Czechoslovakia
 September 1, 1939 - Nazis invade Poland
 September 3, 1939 - England & France declare war on
Germany
 September 17, 1939 - Soviet troops invade eastern
Poland
 September 21, 1939 - Heydrich orders “Ghettoization”
of Polish Jews
 Throughout 1939 Polish Jews are subjected to the same
systematic treatment that German Jews had during the
previous six and one-half years.
 December 1939 - Adolf Eichmann takes over Gestapo
section for Jewish affairs
Burning of Books (Kristallnacht)
 June - December 1941 - Invasion of USSR
 July 2, 1941 - Heydrich issues guidelines on
executions by Einsatzgruppen in USSR
 July 31, 1941 - Heydrich ordered to prepare a plan
for “the final solution of the Jewish question”
 September 3, 1941 - Zyklon-B used as agent of
mass killing on Soviet POWs
 December 8, 1941 - Chelmno Death Camp
 January 20, 1942 - The Wannsee Conference finalizes
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details of Final Solution
January 1942 - Killing of Jews at Auschwitz Birkenau
using Zyklon-B
March 1942 - Belzec Death Camp becomes
operational
March 24, 1942 - Slovak Jews to Auschwitz
March 27, 1942 - French Jews to Auschwitz
An American soldier
stands above the
corpses of
children that are
to be buried in a
mass grave dug by
German civilians
from the nearby
town of
Nordhausen.
(April 14, 1945)
Some victims of concentration camps survived to
publish their memoirs.
Famous authors who
wrote about their
experiences include
Primo Levi, Anne
Frank, Simon
Wiesenthal and Elie
Wiesel.
Elie Wiesel
addresses the
U.S. Congress.
 Taken from his hometown with his family in spring
1944, when he was a teenager.
 Transported to Auschwitz, Poland with his family.
 He never saw his mother or younger sister again.
 His father died after a forced march to buchenwald.
Wiesel is the
seventh man from
the left on the
second row.
April 16,
1945
 Became a U.S. Citizen in 1955
 Published his memoir of Auschwitz
 Teaches humanities at various universities
 Won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986 for speaking out
against racism and intolerance around the world.
 What is a motif (motive)?
Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary
devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s
major themes.
 Motifs to look for while reading Night:
 Bearing Witness – Pay attention to which characters
are witnesses and to what they bear witness.
 Motifs (continued):
 Father-son Relationships – Pay attention to how Elie
and his father’s relationship develops; in addition,
notice other father-son relationships in the book.
 Loss of faith – Notice how Elie’s faith in God changes as
the book progresses. Write on your study guides where
these changes occur.
 Motifs (continued):
 Father-son Relationships – Pay attention to how Elie
and his father’s relationship develops; in addition,
notice other father-son relationships in the book.
 Loss of faith – Notice how Elie’s faith in God changes as
the book progresses. Write on your study guides where
these changes occur.
 Voice vs. Silence – Who has a voice and who chooses to
remain silent? Why might Elie Wiesel title his novel
what he did originally, and why did he no longer remain
silent?
Let's listen to the speech
 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, King James Version).
God’s first act is to create light and dispel this darkness.
 To Eliezer, Darkness and night symbolize a world without God’s
presence.
 Night always occurs when suffering is worst, and its presence reflects
Eliezer’s belief that he lives in a world without God.
Examples:
• The first time Eliezer mentions that “[n]ight fell” is when his father is
interrupted while telling stories and informed about the deportation of
Jews.
• Similarly, it is night when Eliezer first arrives at Birkenau/Auschwitz
 Fire appears throughout Night as a symbol of the Nazis’ cruel power
and destruction.
 In the Bible, fire is associated with God and divine wrath. God
appears to Moses as a burning bush, and vengeful angels wield
flaming swords. In Gehenna—the Jewish version of Hell—the wicked
are punished by fire.
 In Night, it is the wicked use fire to punish the innocent. Such a
reversal demonstrates how the experience of the Holocaust has upset
Eliezer’s entire concept of the universe, especially his belief in a
benevolent, or even just, God.
Examples:
 On the way to Auschwitz-Birkenau, Madame Schächter receives a
vision of fire that serves as a premonition of the horror to come.
 Burning babies in a ditch.
 Most important, fire is the agent of destruction in the crematoria
 “For me, hope without
memory is like memory
without hope. Just as man
cannot live without
dreams, he cannot live
without hope. If dreams
reflect the past, hope
summons the future.” December 11, 1986
 Acceptance Speech
 Think for a minute about your reaction to these
historical events.
 Then write a dialectical response in your journal –
please include questions, thoughts and emotions.
“I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever
human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We
must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor,
never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor,
never the tormented.”
Elie Wiesel, author of Night