Night by Elie Wiesel Guided Study

Who was Moche the Beadle?

A foreign Jew who taught Elie the Bible.

How do folks feel about Moche?

He is awkward, a clown, embarrassing.

Where is Elie from?

Sighet, Transylvania.

Name Elie's siblings

Hilda, Bea, Tzibora.

Why does Elie pray?

"Why does he breathe?" It is his instinct to pray.

Why was Moche expelled from Sighet?

He was a foreign Jew.

What are the three details of when Moche's was expelled from Sighet?

Babies were thrown in the air for target practice. He was taken for dead. It took him a year to return to Sighet.

Why did the Jewish people not believe the possibility of Hitler exterminating them?

They could not believe that one man was capable of killing so many people in so many countries.

What did the Jews first think of the Germans arriving in Sighet?

They seemed nice.

Name the restrictions placed on the Jews in Sighet.

Jews were not allowed to leave their houses for 3 days. They would not let them keep their gold or money. They had to wear yellow stars. They were not allowed to go to restaurants, cafes, and Synagogues.

Why did Elie not have to move out of his house when the ghettos were formed?

His house was already in the ghetto.

According to Elie, who ruled the ghetto?

Illusion (in their minds) that nothing bad would happen to them.

What is the news from the Jewish council?

Deportation was starting (1944).

What is the ghetto like once everyone starts to leave?

It looks like an empty tomb.

Once Elie and his family are forced to leave the large ghetto, where do they go?

A smaller ghetto a mile or two away.

Once Elie and his family leave the little ghetto, where do they go?

A synagogue.

What is so sad about the condition of the synagogue?

The altar is broken, paintings are town down. It is trashed.

Once Elie and his family leave the synagogue, what is the mode of transportation to the camps?

A cattle car.

Who was Madame Shatner?

She was a lady who lost her two older boys at the camp. She is the one on the train screaming, saying she sees fire coming from huge smokestacks.

What happened to Elie's mother?

She was taken to the gas chambers with his little sister Tzibora as soon as they arrived at Auschwitz.

What did Elie and his father lie about to the officers?

They lied about their age; Elie was only 15 and his father was 50, to avoid immediate death.

Who is Dr. Mengele?

A German officer who performed horrible experimental tests on the Jews.

Why did Elie's father wish that he had gone with his mother?

So he would not have to see all the suffering.

What choice did the SS officers give the prisoners?

You could either work or be sent to the crematorium.

What was the inscription above the gate at Auschwitz?

"Work makes you free."

What is A-7713?

Elie's number that is tattooed on his arm.

What camp were they in after they left Auschwitz?

Buna (work camp).

What did Elie lie about to Stein?

That his family was all right and that they were alive.

Who cleaned Elie after his beating and gave him some bread?

A young French girl.

Why was a 13-year-old hung at the gallows?

He was smuggling weapons and got caught.

What did Akiba Drumer make Elie promise to say for him?

He made him say the Kabbalah for him.

What bad decision did Elie make while in the hospital?

Not to stay in the hospital because the camp was liberated a couple of days after he was in the hospital. He would have been saved if he had stayed.

What was the only thing that kept Elie from slipping to the side of the road and dying while on the death march?

There were men behind him pushing him forward and he would have been shot if he had stopped.

Why was Elie almost thrown off the train?

He looked like a dead body; his eyes were rolled back in his head.

What did the men scramble for while on the train?

A small piece of bread.

Why did Elie wake up in the middle of the night?

There was a siren in the night.

Why did Elie's father want to lie down in the snow during the walk to the other camp?

He was giving up and wanted to end his suffering.

Elie woke up one morning and found who or what in his father's bed?

He found another man who was not his father in his dad's bed.

What was the last word Elie's father said?

Elie's name.

What happened to Elie's father?

He had dysentery and was sent to the crematorium.

What did Elie feel when he had learned his father had gone?

He felt free at last.

Why did the resistance movement have no trouble in taking over the camp?

Most of the SS guards fled because they knew the Allies are coming.

Who were the first liberators to the camp?

American soldiers.

What were the prisoners' first acts as free men?

Jump onto piles of provisions.

Why did Elie spend two weeks in the hospital after liberation?

Food poisoning.

How long had it been since Elie had seen himself in a mirror?

A year.

What did Elie see when he looked in the mirror?

A corpse.