Vocabulary for Night by Elie Wiesel

anti-Semitism

Prejudice against all Jews.

Aryan

Hitler's word for a superior race of people.

beadle

One who takes care of a house of worship.

cabala

The study of Jewish holy writings based on mysticism.

crematory

A place where gassed victims’ bodies were burned into ashes.

deportation

Forcibly removing a person out of his/her homeland to go to another location.

genocide

The murder of an entire group or race of people.

ghetto

A small neighborhood shut off from the rest of a town.

holocaust

A huge destruction by fire.

kapo

A prisoner in a concentration camp who bossed or controlled the other prisoners.

mysticism

The belief that understanding of God comes through love and meditation.

pogrom

An anti-Semitic riot directed against Jews and Jewish interests.

rabbi

A Jewish holy leader.

synagogue

A Jewish house of worship.

The Holocaust

The murder of over 6 million Jews in Europe in the 1930s & 1940s.

Zionism

The belief that Jews should have their own homeland.