Holocaust and WWII: Key Terms and Concepts for Students

Treaty of Versailles

Left Germany economically devastated and humiliated, creating conditions for Hitler's rise.

Holocaust

Systematic extermination of Jews during World War II.

Aryan superiority

Belief that Germans were a 'master race.'

Antisemitism

Jews blamed for Germany's problems; viewed as subhuman.

The Final Solution

Systematic plan to exterminate all European Jews.

Lebensraum

Expansion for 'living space' in Eastern Europe.

Concentration camps

Forced labor camps where many died from work/starvation.

Death camps

Designed specifically for mass murder via gas chambers.

Elie Wiesel

Narrator and protagonist, born in 1928 in Sighet, Transylvania.

Sighet

Small Jewish community isolated from war news; deported spring 1944.

Kabbalah

Jewish mysticism Eliezer wanted to study.

Shabbat

Day of rest from Friday evening to Saturday evening.

Yom Kippur

Day of Atonement; solemn fast day.

Cattle cars

80 people crammed in each, unbearable heat, no room to sit.

Madame Schächter

Sees visions of fire and furnaces; screams 'Fire! I see a fire!'

Dr. Mengele

Nazi doctor who performs selections at Auschwitz.

Eliezer's father (Shlomo)

Respected community leader in Sighet, becomes vulnerable in camps.

Idek the Kapo

Cruel Kapo who beats Eliezer's father.

Dehumanization

Stripping identity; prisoners called by numbers, not names.

Faith & Doubt

Eliezer's journey from deep faith to questioning and anger at God.

Survival and Self-Preservation

Prisoners turn on each other for food/survival.

Fear & Hopelessness

Constant terror of selection, beatings, and death.

Imagery

Use of fire and smoke to represent loss of faith and hope.

Symbolism

Night symbolizes darkness of Holocaust; fire represents death.

Repetition

'Never shall I forget' emphasizes trauma.

Metaphor

'Night' as metaphor for the Holocaust experience.

Key Quote: 'Never shall I forget that night...'

Emphasizes loss of faith and innocence.

Key Quote: 'Where is God now?'

Represents the death of faith.