1. Night
By Elie Wiesel

2. Enduring Understandings
The Holocaust left a legacy that is painfully tragic yet unquestionably important.
Tragedy brings sorrow and loss, but it can also bring faith and wisdom.
Sharing our stories with one another brings us closer as a human race.

3. Essential Questions
How could the world allow such atrocities as occurred in the Holocaust?
Why did one boy survive when so many millions of others did not?
How can a man transform tragedy into inspiration?
How can sharing our experiences with others transform relationships and deepen understanding among people?

4. Elie Wiesel
Born Sept. 30, 1928 in Sighet, Transylvania (modern-day Romania)
Transported to Auschwitz by the Gestapo at age 15

5. Holocaust Survivor
New York Times photo, May 6, 1945

6. Holocaust Survivor Moved with his father to Buchenwald
His mother, father, and younger sister died in the Holocaust
His two older sisters and he survived

7. After the War Studied at the Sorbonne in Paris Became a journalist
Met famous French writer, Francois Mauriac, who convinced him to write about his experiences in the Holocaust
1956 And the World Remained Silent published in Yiddish
1958 La Nuit condensed version of 1956 tome published in French
1960 First English translation of Night published
Since then, translated into over 30 languages
2006 New edition, translated by Marion Wiesel, Elie Wiesel’s wife; most accurate to original

8. The Legacy of Elie Wiesel
Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986
Founding Chairman of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council
President of the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity, dedicated to fighting indifference, intolerance and injustice
World-renowned humanist, winner of many awards and honorary degrees
Professor (Boston Univ., Yale, Barnard…)
Author – more than 50 books, fiction and non-fiction

9. So to put this work in context…
1928 – Elie Wiesel is born in Sighet, Transylvania
The Nazis come to power; concentration camps established
1935 – Nuremberg Race Laws
1938 – Kristallnacht
1939 – Germany invades Poland; WWII begins in Europe; Nazis establish Jewish ghettos
1941 – Bombing of Pearl Harbor; U.S. enters WWII; Nazis begin “Operation Reinhard” and Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing units); Elie meets and befriends Moishe the Beadle (a beadle ushers and preserves order during services) in Sighet
1942 – Moishe the Beadle is expelled from Sighet because he is a foreigner; he escapes the Gestapo and returns to warn the people of Sighet
1944 – D-Day; Battle of the Bulge; German forces arrive in Sighet, establish ghettos; Jews from Sighet moved to camps
1945 – January: “Death” marches (evacuation of camps); Elie and father leave Auschwitz, move to Buchenwald; Russians liberate Auschwitz; Elie’s father dies in Buchenwald; April: Germans begin to evacuate Buchenwald; Americans liberate Buchenwald; May: end of WWII
– Elie lives, attends university, and works in Paris
1958 – La Nuit (Night) is first published
1960 – Night is published in English for the first time