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NightBy Elie Wiesel

“Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that smoke.

Never shall I forget the small faces of the children whose bodies I saw transformed into smoke under a silent sky….”

Student Study Guide

Name: ________________Mrs. Curley English 10H

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Kristallnacht

On the night of November 9, 1938, violence against Jews broke out across the Reich. It appeared to be unplanned, set off by the Germans' anger over the assassination of a German official in Paris at the hands of a Jewish teenager. In fact, German propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels and other Nazis carefully organized the pogroms. In two days, over 250 synagogues were burned, over 7,000 Jewish businesses were trashed and looted, dozens of Jewish people were killed, and Jewish cemeteries, hospitals, schools, and homes were looted while police and fire brigades stood by. The pogroms became known as Kristallnacht, a term translated roughly from German into what we now call "Night of Broken Glass," for the shattered glass from the store windows that littered the streets.

The morning after the pogroms, 30,000 German Jewish men were arrested for the "crime" of being Jewish and sent to concentration camps, where hundreds of them perished. Some Jewish women were also arrested and sent to local jails. Businesses owned by Jews were not allowed to reopen unless they were managed by non-Jews. Curfews were placed on Jews, limiting the hours of the day they could leave their homes.

After the "Night of Broken Glass,"life was even more difficult for German and Austrian Jewish children and teenagers. Already barred from entering museums, public playgrounds, and swimming pools, now they were expelled from the public schools. Jewish youngsters, like their parents, were totally segregated in Germany. In despair, many Jewish adults committed suicide. Most families tried desperately to leave.

1. What are the pogroms? What does Kristallnacht mean?

2. What happened to Jews the morning after the pogroms?

3. How did life change for Jews after Kristallnacht?

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Key Terms/Social Context The Nazis opened their first concentration camp in 1933, just after Adolf Hitler became German Chancellor. Auschwitz, where Weisel was initially taken, opened in 1940. With its reception centers, such as Birkenau, Auschwitz eventually became the largest of these networked camps.

When Hitler invaded Russia in 1941, he was in need of supplies and weapons. Many of these concentration camps became labor centers used prisoners to fuel the Nazi death machine…..

Aryan Race—The ‘pure’ Germanic race, idealized by the Nazis to suggest a superior, non-Jewish Caucasian typified by height, blonde hair, blue eyes.

Cabbala/Kabbalah- branch of ancient mystical Judaism that probes mysteries of the universe.    Genocide—Coined after WWII as a direct result of how some nationalities and ethnic groups, particularly the Jews, were mistreated during the war.  Its intention is the total annihilation of a race or ethnic group. Ghetto—A section of a city in which Jews were required to live. A ghetto typically was surrounded by walls and/or barbed wire

Holocaust—refers to the destruction of 6 million Jews (and, by some estimates, 6 million non-Jews) during 1933-1945.  Its Greek root means “burnt whole.”   Gestapo—the secret police organized in 1933 to uncover and undermine political opposition Kapo: (German term) a concentration camp prisoner who was given privileges in exchange for supervising work gangs, ‘lead prisoners.’ Some may think of Kapos as traitors to their own people. When Kapos were tried for war crimes after WWII ended, some felt this presented a moral dilemma.

Selection—A term used when the SS forced prisoners to line up for inspection and decided which prisoners would live and which would be killed. SS— “Schutz-Staffel”—established in 1929 as Hitler’s bodyguards.  They became the elite guards of the Nazis trained in brutality and put in charge of the concentration camps.

The Final Solution—plan devised in 1941 to speed up killing the Jews and “undesirables.”  This final method used an efficient system of gas chambers and crematories to kills the Jews. 

Third Reich—The Third Republic of Germany which began with Hitler’s rule in 1933 and ended with his defeat in 1945.

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Yom Kippur—the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.  This is considered to be the day in which every individual is judged by God, and thus is a solemn day marked by prayer and repentance.  No Jew attends work or school on this day.

Foreword

1. How does Francois Mauriac feel about being interviewed by the young Wiesel? Why might this be?

2. What does iniquity mean as it is used on p. xviii?

3. What literary device is predominant on p. xix?

4. Why might rhetorical questions be used so predominantly on p. xxi?

5. Why does Mauriac end his foreword with “All I could do was embrace him and weep”?

Be sure to become very familiar with terms such as Holocaust, Kapo, Kabbalah, etc from previous page. Such familiarity will aid in enriching your understanding of Wiesel’s moving first-person account.

Memoir:

Preface:

Foreword:

Anaphora:

Motif:

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Chapter 1

1. Why might Wiesel have chosen to begin his memoir with Moishe the Beadle?

2. Where did Elie grew up? How old was he at the start of his account?

3. How would you describe Moshe both physically and mentally? How is he received by his community? Why might this be?

4. Delineate Elie’s relationship with Chlomo.

5. How many siblings does Elie have? Who are they?

6. Why is Elie troubled with Moshe’s questions about prayer? Why did Eliezer pray, and why did he cry when he prayed?

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7. What happens to the foreign Jews in Sighet? What is the reaction to people taken away?

8. Upon his return, what story did Moshe tell? How is Moishe after his experience?

9. How did the townspeople respond to him? Why do you think they responded this way?

Passage to note: p. 5"Jews, listen to me! It’s all I ask of you……….And see how it is, no one will listen to me …"

10. Describe Elie’s life in 1943.

11. How do the Jewish people feel in the Spring of 1944?

12. Explain what the following quote means, “Of course we had heard of the Fascists, but they were just still an abstraction to us.”

13. Define disquieting.

14. “Optimism soon revived” is an example of what literary term/s? Also, what does this quotation mean?

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15. What is the initial impression of the Germans in Sighet?Passage to note: p. 8THE week of Passover…….Then came the ghetto.

16. What is interesting or compelling about the use of the word “normal” on p. 9?

17. Why is the ghetto ruled by “illusion”? (What does this really mean?)

18. What is the significance of “it was nearly midnight” on p. 11?

19. Why is the Chief Rabbi without his beard?

20. What is the significance of the Jewish people being described as “like beaten dogs”?

21. How does Elie describe both his father and mother just after the use of “Forward march!” on p. 16? Comment on the significance of this description.

22. “Oh God, Lord of the Universe” is what literary term?

23. What do you notice about the use of the word “night” on p. 18?

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24. Describe the conditions in the train (at the end of the chapter).

Chapter 21. What became intolerable in the cattle car?

2. How do some of the adolescents take advantage of the darkness?

3. What does the German office warn the people in the cattle car?

4. Describe the event with Mrs. Schachter. What literary term might this be?

5. What did some of the passengers do to quiet Madame.Shachter? Why? Is she crazy or actually perhaps very mentally stable?

6. What is the reaction to the name “Auschwitz”? Why?

7. Who are the “odd-looking creatures”?

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8. What smells linger in the air?9. Where did the train finally stop?

Chapter 3Passage to note: p. 27The cherished objects we had brought with us thus far were left behind in the train,….My father held onto my hand.

1. When questioned by the S.S. Officer, why did Elie lie about his age andoccupation?

2. Explain the importance of the simile: “We can’t go like beasts to the slaughter.”

3. Who is Dr. Mengele?

4. What was the first horrifying sight that Elie at first disbelieved?

5. Explain what Elie meant when he said, “Never shall I forget these flames which consumed my faith forever.”

6. What was Bela Katz forced to do once he was chosen for his strength?

7. What is the Kaddish?

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8. How exactly has/had Elie changed in such a short time? Take your listener to the passage….

9. What is Dr. Mengele referred to as on p. 36? What literary term is this?

10. What does the Gypsy do to Elie’s father?

11. What does Arbeit Macht Frei mean?

12. What sort of identification was used on the prisoners? Why?

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13. How does Elie react to the food? How does this change and why?

14. Who is Stein? What does Elie tell Stein? Why?

15. Who is Akiba Drumer? What could be said is rather remarkable about him?

Chapter 41. Locate an instance of animal imagery on the opening page of this chapter.

2. Explain what happens between Elie and his shoes.

3. Why do the men get their teeth checked?

4. Why were the Jewish musicians not allowed to play music by Beethoven? What new character is introduced in this context?

5. How did Elie initially avoid losing his gold crown? Why might this have been dangerous. Explain the irony regarding the dentist. Why might this have been dangerous?

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6. What happens between Elie and Idek the first time?

7. Define flashforward. What happens in the flashforward? Why might a flashforward be important in regards to this story?

8. Who else faces Idek’s wrath?

9. What happens to Elie’s tooth? Why does he do this?

10. What does Elie catch Idek doing? What is the consequence?

11.What are the similarities between both Idek and Franek?

Passage to note: p. 56-7:Within minutes, the camp looked like an abandoned ship……then moved no more.

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12. What happens at the Buna factory?

13. During one of the preliminary “ceremonies” for a hanging, what did Juliek whisper to Elie? What does this suggest?

14. What makes the Oberkapo special?

14. What is a pipel? Describe what happens to him.

15. According to Elie, where is God found?

16. What does the soup taste like? What literary term is this?

Chapter 5

1. How does Elie feel towards God at this point? How has this changed since the beginning of the memoir?

2. How do the rest of the prisoners act on Rosh Hashanah?

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3. Again, what is the Kaddish?

4. What is Elie’s dilemma on Yom Kippur? What does he decide to do, and why is this significant?

5. What is Elie’s “inheritance”? How does Elie feel towards it?

6. What did Akiba Drumer ask the others to do for him? Did they do it? Why is Akiba Drumer’s death so despairing?

7. Why does Elie go to the infirmary? What is the advice he receives?

8. How does Elie’s operation go?

9. How does the “faceless shape” feel towards Hitler?

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Passage to note: p. 77-8The camp had become a hive….. AFTER THE WAR, I learned the fate of those who had remained at the infirmary. They were, quite simply, liberated by the Russians, two days after the evacuation.

Chapter 6Passage to note: p. 81-2AN ICY WIND blew in violent gusts. … I quickly forgot him.

1. Who is Zalman? What happens to Zalman?

Find three different literary terms in the following passage and explain them.“I soon forgot him. I began to think of myself again. My foot was aching, I shivered with every step. Just a few more meters and it will be over. I'll fall. A small red flame…A shot…Death enveloped me, it suffocated me. It stuck to me like glue. I felt I could touch it. The idea of dying, of ceasing to be, began to fascinate me. To no longer exist. To no longer feel the excruciating pain of my foot. To no longer feel anything, neither fatigue nor cold, nothing. To break rank, to let myself slide to the side of the road…”

2. In the sentence “…I owned a body galloping there on the road in the midst of so many thousands of others” Why is the word galloped used?

3. “The snow seemed to me like a very soft, very warm carpet” – What 2 literary terms is this?

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4. What happens between Rabbi Eliahou and his son? Why does this happen? Why does this scare Elie?

5. What was Juliek’s last act? Explain the symbolism.

6. How can it be argued that Elie essentially save his father’s life at the end of the chapter?

Chapter 7

1. What does the light on the horizon reveal? What is notable about the motif of eyes, sight, vision in paragraph two?

2. “Then two ‘gravediggers’ grabbed him by the head and feet and threw him from the wagon, like a sack of flour.” What literary term is this? What does this emphasize?

3. What happens in the flashforward?

4. Explain the incident between the men and the bread.

5. Why does Elie mention his age at the end of the bread incident? What literary term is strongly illustrated here?

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6. What happens between the stranger and Elie? Why?

7. Note an instance of animal imagery on p. 97.

8. Where do they arrive at the end of the chapter?

Chapter 8

1. Explain how the father/son roles had been reversed in the case of Elie and his father.

2. What literary term is the following sentence? “This discussion continued for some time. I knew that I was no longer arguing with him but with Death itself, with Death that he had already chosen.”

3. When Elie thinks he lost his father, what is his reaction?

4. Elie compares himself to Rabbi Eliahu’s son; is this a fair comparison?

5. Why was Elie’s father being beaten?

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6. What did Elie think of the advice given to him by the head of the block?

7. What happened between January 28th and January 29th?

8. What are the last words of the chapter? Explain them.

Chapter 9

1. What happened on April 5th? What does the Lagerkommandant announce?

2. Where do Elie’s thoughts go first? Why? What are the prisoners’ first acts as free men?

3. Explain how personification is present in the last sentences of the memoir. Why do you think the text ends here and in the manner in which it does?

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Preface to the New Translation: Read the following excerpt taken from the Preface of Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night:

Other passages from the original Yiddish text had more on the death of my father and on the Liberation. Why not include those in this new translation? Too personal, too private, perhaps; they need to remain between the lines. And yet…I remember that night, the most horrendous of my life:…Eliezer, my son, come here… I want to tell you something…Only to you…Come, don't leave me alone…Eliezer…"

I heard his voice, grasped the meaning of his words and the tragic dimension of the moment, yet I did not move.

It had been his last wish to have me next to him in his agony, at the moment when his soul was tearing itself from his laceratedbody—yet I did not let him have his wish. I was afraid.

Afraid of the blows.

That was why I remained deaf to his cries.

Instead of sacrificing my miserable life and rushing to hisside, taking his hand, reassuring him, showing him that he wasnot abandoned, that I was near him, that I felt his sorrow, instead of all that, I remained flat on my back, asking God to make myfather stop calling my name, to make him stop crying. So afraid was I to incur the wrath of the SS.

In fact, my father was no longer conscious.

Yet his plaintive, harrowing voice went on piercing the silence and calling me, nobody but me.

"Well?"

The SS had flown into a rage and was striking my father on the head: "Be quiet, old man! Be quiet!"

My father no longer felt the club's blows; I did. And yet I did not react. I let the SS beat my father, I left him alone in the clutches of death. Worse: I was angry with him for having been noisy, for having cried, for provoking the wrath of the SS. "Eliezer! Eliezer! Come, don't leave me a l o n e … "

His voice had reached me from so far away, from so close. But I had not moved.

I shall never forgive myself.

Nor shall I ever forgive the world for having pushed me against the wall, for having turned me into a stranger, for having awakened in me the basest, most primitive instincts.

His last word had been my name. A summons. And I had not responded.

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Based on your reading, how would you describe Elie’s reaction to his father’s death? Why do you think Elie reacted to his father’s death in the way that he did? Does this affect your understanding of Elie’s story in any way? Why or why not?