Night by Elie Wiesel

Why are we reading it? It’s a memoir It’s a reminder of what happened so history does not repeat itself – “He [Elie] tells the story, out of infinite pain, partly to honor the dead, but also to warn the living – to warn the living that it could happen again and that it must never happen again.” Hatred still runs rampant today

A Quote from the Preface of Night Night is “the story of how a cultured people turned to genocide, and how the rest of the world, also composed of cultured people, remained silent in the face of genocide.” What does that mean? We read it because WE are capable of it too. Just think – when did this happen? 1930’s & 40’s

About the Author He initially vowed NOT to tell his story of the Holocaust and took a ten year vow of silence Why? He felt he couldn’t accurately convey the horror of it Finally, another writer convinced him to tell his story

The writing style of Night is simple and plain Why? He felt the events could speak for themselves; therefore, there’s no need to exaggerate anything The memoir covers three and a half years in Elie’s life, from late 1941 to 1945 (during WWII) Setting: Hungary, Poland, and Germany

In 1986, Elie won the Nobel Peace Prize for writing Night It’s awarded to persons or organizations who help resolve a conflict or help create peace in the world Other winner = The United Nations and Mother Teresa The prize includes a medal, a personal diploma, and a large sum of prize money (currently 10 million Swedish crowns). How would his novel help create peace?

Themes #1. Survival = what helps Elie survive? #2. Change = how does he change through this experience? #3. Death = how does it affect people? #4. Evil = how does it affect people? #5. Faith = what affects Elie’s faith in God?

TERMS TO KNOW… Night

TERMS TO KNOW… 1. GHETTO: An area (usually in a city) where members of a particular race, religion, ethnicity, etc. live in high concentration (either by choice or by force) 2. HOLOCAUST: A word that actually means complete destruction or a great slaughter 3. SYNAGOGUE: The place of worship for Jewish people

4. RABBI: A word that means teacher A Jewish minister 5. TORAH: The first five books of the Jewish Bible that contains Jewish laws (note: it’s the first five books of the Christian Bible too) 6. TALMUD: A sacred book of the Jewish faith where rabbis have commented on Jewish law

#7. BEADLE: A usher at Jewish religious services #8. CABBALIST: An expert in difficult matters of the Jewish Bible and other sacred texts #9. GESTAPO: The secret police in Nazi Germany known for brutal tactics such as terror and torture to eliminate political opposition in Germany They were in charge of arresting and deporting Jews to concentration camps

#10. KAPO: A prisoner in charge of a group of inmates in Nazi concentration camp Note: could be Jewish #11. SS: The military wing of the Nazi party who served as Hitler’s personal bodyguards and worked as guards at the concentration camps