1. Night
Elie Wiesel
Study Guide Notes

2. Journal
Within the next ten minutes write everything you know or think you know about World War II and the Holocaust.

3. Night: Genre World War II and Holocaust Autobiography
Genre (type or style of writing)
World War II and Holocaust Autobiography

4. Night Study Guide Notes
The original title Elie Wiesel gave the novel was And the World Has Remained Silent.
He wrote this book after 10 years of silence.
By the end of the Holocaust, over 6 million Jews had been killed.

5. Night: Background
Wiesel first wrote a 900-page text in Yiddish titled Un di Velt Hot Geshvign (And the World Remained Silent). The work later evolved into the much-shorter French publication La Nuit, which was then translated into English as Night.

6. Night : Tone
Tone
Eliezer’s perspective is limited to his own experience, and the tone of Night is therefore intensely personal, subjective, and intimate. Night is not meant to be an all-encompassing discourse on the experience of the Holocaust; instead, it depicts the extraordinarily personal and painful experiences of a single victim.

7. Night: Setting setting (time) · 1941–1945, during World War II
settings (place) ·
Eliezer’s story begins in
Sighet, Transylvania (now part of Romania; during Wiesel’s childhood, part of Hungary)
The book then follows his journey through several concentration camps in Europe:
Auschwitz/Birkenau (in a part of modern-day Poland that had been annexed by Germany in 1939)
Buna (a camp that was part of the Auschwitz complex)
Gleiwitz (also in Poland but annexed by Germany)
Buchenwald (Germany)

8. Night : Themes
Themes
Eliezer's Struggle to Maintain Faith in a Benevolent God
Silence
Inhumanity Toward Other Humans
The Importance of Father-Son Bonds

9. Night Study Guide Notes
There are five motifs to look for while reading Night:
motifs (a recurring subject, theme, or idea)
Night – pay attention to what happens at night and what that might symbolize. Remember what we learned when we talked about archetypes and what night might symbolize.
Bearing Witness – Pay attention to which characters are witnesses and to what they bear witness.

10. Night Study Guide Notes
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.

11. Night Study Guide Notes
Motifs (continued):
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 the World Has Remained Silent), and why did he no longer remain silent?
Click here to listen to Elie Wiesel's "A God who Remembers"

12. Night : Symbols Symbols Night Fire
Night always occurs when suffering is worst, and its presence reflects Eliezer's belief that he lives in a world without God.
Fire
Fire appears throughout Night as a symbol of the Nazis' cruel power. 12

13. Night Study Guide Notes
In Poland, 90% of the approximately 3,000,000 Jews were murdered in the Holocaust.
As you read, look for times that Wiesel mentions the people in surrounding towns.
There are several groups who contributed to the Holocaust, persecutors and by-standers included.
Be prepared to discuss: Why are by-standers just as important as the persecutors?

14. Sighet and Ghettos

15. Aushwitz-Birkenau

16. Night Vocabulary
Dehumanization - the psychological process of demonizing the enemy, making them seem less than human and hence not worthy of humane treatment.
Alienation - the state or experience of being isolated from a group or an activity to which one should belong or in which one should be involved.
Ghetto - a poor densely populated city district
Gestapo - abbreviation of Geheime Staatspolizei, or the Secret State Police, was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and German-occupied Europe.
Hasidic - of or relating to the Jewish Hasidim or its members or their beliefs and practices

17. Night Vocabulary Surname – name used to identify members of a family
Utter - without qualification
Penury - a state of extreme poverty or destitution
Rendering - a performance of a musical composition or a dramatic role
Insignificant - conveying nothing

18. Night Vocabulary
Waif - a homeless child especially one forsaken or orphaned
Synagogue - the place of worship for a Jewish congregation
Mysticism - a religion based on communion with an ultimate reality
Fraught - filled with or attended with
Peril - a state of danger involving risk

19. Night Vocabulary Indulgently - in an indulgent manner
Eternity - time without end
Expel - eliminate
Deportee - a person who is expelled from home or country by authority
Trench - any long ditch cut in the ground

20. Night Vocabulary
Observant - quick to notice; showing quick and keen perception
Pity - a feeling of sympathy and sorrow for misfortunes of others
Resolve - find a solution or answer
Exterminate - kill on a large scale
Elder - a person of more advanced age

21. Night Vocabulary
Emigration - moving from one place in order to settle in another
Liquidate - eliminate a debt by paying it off
Abstract - existing only in the mind
Disquieting - causing mental discomfort
Penetrate - pass into or through, often by overcoming resistance

22. Night Vocabulary
anti-semitic - relating to or characterized by anti-Semitism; hating Jews
Optimism - the hopeful feeling that all is going to turn out well
Anguish - extreme distress of body or mind
Emblem - special design representing a quality, type, or group
Reassure - cause to feel confident

23. Night Vocabulary
Earnest - characterized by a firm, humorless belief in one's opinions
Billet - provide housing for (military personnel)
Jubilant - full of high-spirited delight
Verdict - findings of a jury on issues submitted to it for decision
Edict - a formal or authoritative proclamation

24. Night Vocabulary Henceforth - from this time forth; from now on
Decree - a legally binding command or decision
Prominent - conspicuous in position or importance
Bleak - unpleasantly cold and damp
Lethal - of an instrument of certain death

25. Night Vocabulary
Republic - a form of government whose head of state is not a monarch
Apparatus - equipment designed to serve a specific function
Hostile - characterized by enmity or ill will
Delusion - a mistaken or unfounded opinion or idea
Insinuate - suggest in an indirect or covert way; give to understand

26. Yiddish and Hebrew Vocabulary
Chutzpah – Shameless Audacity; impudence; nerve; guts
Dreck – Rubbish; Trash
Golem – (In Jewish Legend) a clay figure brought to life by magic to seek vengeance (justice)
Klutz – Person who often drops things, falls down, etc.; a clumsy person

27. Yiddish and Hebrew Vocabulary
Kosher –
1. (of food, or premises in which food is sold, cooked, or eaten) satisfying the requirements of Jewish law.
(of a person) observing Jewish food laws.
(of ritual objects) fit for use according to Jewish laws.
2. genuine and legitimate.
Mazel tov - a Jewish phrase expressing congratulations or wishing someone good luck.

28. Hebrew and Yiddish Vocabulary
Schlep – (v) to haul or carry something heavy or awkward; (n) 1. a tedious or difficult journey; 2. an inept or stupid person
Schmooze – (v) to talk intimately; gossip; (n) a long, intimate conversation
Schmuck – a foolish or contemptable person
Shtick – a gimmick, comic routine, style of performance associated with a particular person