Night Elie Wiesel

Who is Eliezer?

first person narrator

Who is Shlomo (his dad)?

respected by the entire Jewish community of Sighet

Who is Tzipora?

Eliezer’s youngest sister

Who is Moishe the Beadle?

poor Jewish man that lived in Sighet who taught Elie the Kabbalah, but he gets deported before the rest of the Sighet Jews, then escapes and returns to tell the town what the Nazis are doing to the Jews, but the community takes Moishe for a lunatic.

Who is Madame Schächter?

Jewish woman from Sighet who is in the same cattle car as Eliezer and is taken for a madwoman when, every night, she screams that she sees furnaces in the distance

Who are Yossi and Tibbi?

two brothers with whom Eliezer becomes friendly in Buna and they make a plan to move to Palestine after the war.

Who is the French girl?

Jewish girl whom Elie works next to at a warehouse at Buna and when Elie is beaten by Idek the Kapo, the French girl helps him and tells him to keep his anger for another day, but years later in Paris, Elie Wiesel runs into her in the Metro

Who is Meir Katz

Meir Katz is a friend of Elie's father, but he loses hope when his son is selected for the crematories

Who is Juliek?

young musician whom Eliezer meets in Auschwitz and before he dies after the death march Elie hears him playing the violin

Who is Idek?

Eliezer’s Kapo at the electrical equipment warehouse in Buna and during moments of insane rage, Idek beats Eliezer

Who is Zalman?

One of Eliezer’s fellow prisoners and is trampled to death during the run to Gleiwitz

Who is the Pipel?

the young assistant to the Dutch Oberkapo, the small, angelic-looking boy is tortured and hanged by slow strangulation because his body is too light to end the execution with one quick snap of the neck

Who is Dr. Mengele?

the cruel doctor who presided over the selection of arrivals at Auschwitz/Birkenau. Known as the “Angel of Death,”

Who is Rabbi Eliahou?

Jewish prisoner whose son abandons him and Eliezer prays that he will never behave as Rabbi Eliahou’s son behaves

Who is Akiba Drumer?

Jewish Holocaust victim who gradually loses his faith in God as a result of his experiences in the concentration camp

Who is the young rebel from Warsaw?

Holocaust

systematic destruction of 6 million Jewish people

Genocide

mass extermination

Anti-Semitism

hatred of Jewish people

Prejudice

irrational hatred; judgement

Nazi

socialist german workers party

Eugenics

involuntary sterilization

Kristallnacht

riot against Jewish owned businesses known as the “night of broken glass”

Ghetto

sections where Jewish people were forced to live

Nuremberg Laws

made Jewish people “second class”

Einsatzgruppen

SS killing unit

Arbeit Macht Frei

“work will set you free” the words on the entrance gate to Auschwitz

Extermination Camps

centers where Jewish people were systematically murdered; gas chambers

Zyklon B

cyanide-based pesticide used by Nazi’s in gas chambers

Selection

deciding the fate of Jewish prisoners

Kapo

a prisoner conscripted by the Nazis to police other prisoners

Final Solution

planned mass murder of Jewish people

Sonder-Kommando

prisoners forced to put corpses in the crematoria

Partisans

member of an irregular military force formed to oppose control

Bystanders

those who did nothing to stop or contribute to the holocaust

Righteous Gentiles

those non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust

Perpetrators

a person who carries out a harmful, illegal, or immoral act like the Nazi’s

Collaborators

a person who works jointly on an activity or project; an associate like Dr. Mengele and Hitler

What does Wiesel say about madness?

the origins of madness and why it happens

What dies Wiesel say about his survival?

he survived by chance and luck

What did Wiesel’s testimony help his life become?

he decides he has moral obligation to share his story and he wants to honor those who weren’t lucky enough to survive

How did the Nazi’s objective change during their reign?

Nazi’s wanted a society with no room for Jewish people, but towards the end of their reign they didn’t want Jewish people to exist at all

How were the Jewish people killed twice and denied proper burial?

Jewish people were forced to dig there own graves, then they were killed by SS and burned in their graves

What was obvious about Hitler’s war?

it was not only against Jewish people, but against the culture, religion and traditions aswell

What are some terrible experiences Elie struggled to describe?

cattle cars

innocent children dying

families tore apart

What were the last moments of Elie’s father’s life like?

his father was beat by SS for making too much noise, but Elie was too scared to stop them

What dies Wiesel say about the “response to Auschwitz”?

the response is responsibility and holding Nazi’s accountable

What dies Wiesel mean when he says “our eyes were opened too late”?

they realized they were not staying in Hungary and the train was being taken over by the gestapo

What did Madame Schächter foreshadow?

she has a vision of flames which foreshadows the crematories

What did they do to Madame Schächter to make her be quiet?

beat her

gag her

tie her up

Where does the train stop?

Birkenau

Why does Elie lie about his age an occupation?

he was advised to by another prisoner and he wants to appear useful in order to stay with his father

What did Elie see that he disbelieved?

babies being burned

What did Wiesel mean when he said “never shall I forget these flames which consumed my faith forever”?

Elie begins to lose faith in God

How did Elie change in a short time?

he didn’t defend his father and he feels he lost his soul

What was Elie’s first impression of Aushwitz?

he thought it was the better place to be and more humane

What was the “compulsory formality” at the entrance to all camps?

stripped

shaved

disinfected

showered

What identification was used on the prisoners?

tattooed numbers

a-7713

Why was the prisoner in charge of Elie’s block removed from his position?

for being too humane

What were the rations at each meal?

black coffee

bread

margarine

soup

What was Bela Katz forced to do once chosen for his strength?

forced to throw his own fathers body in the crematory fire

Who is Franek?

prisoner in charge of Eliezer’s group at Buna, but notices Eliezer’s gold tooth and gets a dentist in the camp to pry it out with a rusty spoon.

What were the objectives of the medical examinations?

to determine who was best able to work and to take gold crowns off teeth

Why were Jewish musicians not allowed to play music by Beethoven?

they were not allowed to play German music

How did Elie avoid losing his gold crown?

he told the doctor he was sick each time he was supposed to get it removed, but eventually the doctor got arrested

Who did Elie meet years later on the Paris Metro?

the french girl who speaks kind words to Elie after he gets beat by Idek

What happened when Elie refused to give his gold crown to Franek?

Franek tormented Elie’s father which led to Elie loosing his crown for nothing in return

What happened with the soup cauldrons?

a man tries to steal the unattended cauldrons, but ends up getting shot and nobody got food that night

What did Juliek whisper to Elie during a hanging?

“they’re expecting trouble” the SS were prepared for a revolt

During a certain hanging the prisoners cried, why?

the hanging of an innocent child who was too light for the rope (the pipel)

Why didn’t Elie Fast on Yum Kippur?

his father forbid him to do so and he felt like a stranger to his own religion; wanting to rebel from god

What advice was Elie given to pass selection?

increase your chances and don’t be afraid

How did Elie’s father react when he learned his name had been written down?

he becomes anxious and feels as though he is running out of time

What did Akiba Drumer ask the others to do for him?

he asked them to say kaddish for him, but they all forget

Why was Elie in the hospital?

his right foot began to swell and he needed an operation for it

Why was the camp evacuated?

Russians were coming to liberate Buna and those who stayed in the hospital were freed

What happened to anyone who couldn’t keep up with the death march? (12 miles)

SS were ordered to shoot

How did Zalman die?

he got a stomach cramp and falls, which leads to him getting trampled

What realization does Elie have concerning Rabbi Eliahou and his son?

Rabbi Eliahou’s son abandoned his father during the death march and Elie prays that he never the same to his father

What was Juliek’s last act?

Juliek played the violin and was found dead the next morning

How did Elie help his father when the selection was made, and again when they were on the train?

Elie causes a commotion and switches his father from left (weak) to right (worker) and on the train Elie slaps his father awake to keep him from getting thrown off the train

How many people got into the wagon and how many left the wagon?

100 people got on, but only 12 remained; the dead were thrown off the wagon

Where did the wagon finally arrive?

Buchenwald, Germany

How were the father/son roles reversed?

Elie’s father had become childlike, weak, frightened, and unrollable, which meant Elie had to take care of him

What does Elie think of the advice given to him by the head of the block?

Elie agrees with the advice, but it makes him feel guilty because he didn’t want to abandon his father

What were Elie’s dad, Shlomo’s last moments like?

his last moments were full of pain and suffering, which lead to his death of dysentery and was later taken to the crematory

Why is Shlomo’s death significan?

he did not get a proper burial and nobody paid their respects to him, not even Elie

How does Elie describe his life through April, 1945?

his life no longer mattered to him since his father had died

What happened April 5th, 1945?

the resistance was coming to liberate prisoners

What was the resistance movement?

armed men who went against Nazi’s

What did the prisoners do when they were freed?

all the prisoners wanted to eat and not once did they want revenge