Night by Elie Wiesel Recap/Summary

Review of Pg. 66-115 Characters: Eliezer Eliezer’s father (Shlomo) Juliek Rabbi Eliahu and his son Meir Katz Zalman

Pg. 66-> Rosh Hashanah - Jewish New Year. The Jews waited until after praying to eat their ration of soup. Struggle with Faith – Page 66: Eliezer angrily questions God for not using His power to help the suffering Jews. Page 67 – Eliezer again questions why he should bless God during the service for Rosh Hashanah. Why would he bless God when He created this suffering and torture. Refers to himself as a “former mystic” (“mystic” being a reference to his study of Kabbalah). Page 67-68 – References to Biblical events – times when God was displeased with mankind and sent different punishments. Here, where man is suffering for no reason, they are still praising His name. Page 68 – Rosh Hashanah once “dominated” Eliezer’s life, and he believed he needed to pray.

 The Rosh Hashanah service ends with Kaddish (pg. 68). Yom Kippur – Some want to fast, to show their praise for God. Eliezer says it was “Yom Kippur year-round.” Eliezer did not fast – why? Eliezer and his father are in different blocks. “Muselman” – a frail and weak inmate. (pg. 70) Selection – Dr. Mengele makes another appearance. (pg. 71-72) For selection, they must run in front of Dr. Mengele for him to judge is they are still healthy. Yossi, Tibi and Eliezer all make it through selection. The Blockälteste tells the Jews who had their numbers written down that it doesn’t mean anything and that they will be fine. This relates to the symbol of night how? Eliezer’s father says his number was not written down (pg. 73), but later learns that is was recorded, and was taken away for a more “decisive selection,” (pg. 74). Shlomo tries to give Eliezer a knife and spoon as his “inheritance.”

  Eliezer is given easier tasks at work, and Tibbi and Yossi try to keep his spirits up because they know he is worried about his father. His father made it through the second selection. (pg. 76) Akiba Drumer was taken for selection – he lost his faith and gave up. Asks the others to say Kaddish for him three days after he left for the hospital, but they forget. A polish Rabbi who had been constantly praying and reciting entire pages from the Talmud says to Eliezer “It’s over. God is no longer with us.” (pg. 76) Winter. They had Christmas and New Years Eve off – Christian traditions. Eliezer’s foot begins to swell from the cold, and he goes to the infirmary where the Jewish doctor decides he needs surgery. Elie is awake for the first part of the surgery, then falls asleep. In the infirmary, Eliezer’s neighbour warns him to leave before the next selection – “no need of sick Jews.” Elie is told to wait 2 weeks to recover – but 2 days after his surgery, rumours circulated of the battlefront moving closer (pg. 80)

   Eliezer’s neighbour says he has more faith in Hitler than anyone else, because he has kept his promises. Evacuation of Buna – rumours for the fate of infirmary patients: would the Nazis really leave them behind for the liberation? Or would they be shot (or blown up) before the evacuation? (pg. 81) Eliezer decides that he and his father shall evacuate with the others, rather than staying in the infirmary. Infirmary was liberated two days after evacuation (missed opportunity to escape). Preparation for the journey: double rations of bread and margarine, and prisoners could take as much clothing from the store as they wanted.

Page 85  On the Journey to Gleiwitz Eliezer did not mind being told to move faster – increased blood flow, made them warmer, feel more alive Zalman – young Pole, was running next to Eliezer. He got sick with stomach cramps, had to stop running, and was likely trampled by the other prisoners. Eliezer becomes fascinated with the idea of death – “ceasing to be,” no longer feeling pain, cold, tired. The presence of his father keeps him going. Pg. 87 – already made it 20 km. They stop in an abandoned village. It is dangerous to fall asleep in the snow, so Eliezer and his father take turns watching over each other while they rest. Many of them died when they stopped, due to cold and exhaustion.

  Rabbi Eliahu loses track of his son, and had looked for him among the bodies. (pg. 90) Eliezer tells the Rabbi that he has not seen his son, before remembering that he had been running next to him, and that the Rabbi’s son had seen his father slipping behind, but chose to keep his own pace to create more space between the two of them. Foreshadowing of what is going to happen to the relationship between Eliezer and his father, parallelism in the relationships. No one recites Kaddish for the dead under the snow. (pg. 92) They arrive in Gleiwitz, and prisoners trample each other to get into the barracks. They must avoid suffocating under one another. Juliek is being crushed, and is afraid of his violin being broken more than anything. (pg. 93-94) Juliek plays Beethoven before he dies – last act of defiance, one last time to do what he enjoys as a musician.

Gleiwitz – about 60 km from Buna

   Stayed in Gleiwitz for three days, with no food or water. (pg. 95) Selection – Eliezer’s father is in the weak category, Eliezer ran after him and causes confusion, allowing them both to survive. 100 people into the cattle cars, but only 12 survive this transport – How many fit in the cattle cars at the beginning of the novel? In the cattle car, many more people freeze and die. Eliezer’s father seems to be inbetween life and death, the gravediggers try to take him away. A German worker throws a piece of bread into the wagon, and the Jews fight over it. Years later, Eliezer sees a similar instance in Aden, Yemen. On the train, a son beats his father for a piece of bread, which leads to his death. (pg. 101) Meir Katz – worked as a gardener at Buna. Shlomo calls Meir over when another prisoner tries to strangle Eliezer, because Meir is stronger and was able to overpower the strangler. Meir Katz becomes weak, and cannot exit the train when they arrive at Buchenwald.

Page 104  Upon arrival at Buchenwald, Shlomo is exhausted and weak. Eliezer must encourage him to keep trying to survive. Eliezer gives Shlomo some of his soup, begrudgingly – immediately connects himself to Rabbi Eliahu’s son. (pg. 107) Shlomo becomes ill with dysentery, and is abused by his neighbours when he is no longer able to make it outside to relieve himself. The Blockälteste encourages Eliezer to take care of himself, and to stop trying to save his father. When Elie considers the idea of getting his fathers’ rations, he feels guilty. Shlomo calls for Eliezer, and is hit over the head for not being quiet. Eliezer stays still out of fear for being hit as well. (pg. 111) His father was removed during the night when Eliezer slept, and taken to the crematory. Eliezer does not pray for his father. “Free at last!...” (pg. 112)

  After his father’s death, nothing matters to Eliezer anymore. The Allies are making progress, and liberation is close – an American Tank appears at the gates of Buchenwald on April 10. The first thing prisoners wanted after being liberated was food – no thought of revenge or lost loved ones. Eliezer becomes very ill after liberation. When he is able to get up and look in a mirror, he sees a corpse in his reflection. “The look in his eyes as he gazed at me has never left me.” (pg. 115) Making the point that the effects of the Holocaust have never left Elie, and that part of him died in his experiences. He will never be the same as he was before the Holocaust began.

Personification of Death Pg. 92 – “…death hardly needed their help. The cold was conscientiously doing its work.” Pg. 105 – “… I was no longer arguing with [Shlomo] but with Death itself, with Death that he had already chosen.”

Dysentery Inflammatory disorder in the intestine, resulting in diarrhea with blood and mucus. Abdominal pain, fever, vomiting, dehydration In severe cases, can affect the brain, lungs, and liver.

Exam Outline – 70 Marks Multiple Choice – 30 marks (from both halves of the book) Short Answer – 25 marks (focus on the last half) Themes and ideas from the first half will be included, but the focus will be on examples from the second half. Matching/True and False – 15 marks.

Information to Know Anything from this slideshow is fair game. There will be a question regarding the article we read – “No time limit for Nazi convictions” Any vocab is fair game Night symbolism, Struggling with Faith, Breakdown of Humanity, Personification of Death, changes in Eliezer’s character, and other points we have discussed in class. Anything from your focus questions.