Night by Elie Wiesel
Characters:
Eliezer- is the narrator and is a teenager with 3 sisters, is between 13-14 yrs old, became A-7713(had a lot of faith in God in the beginning of the book, studied scripture, worshiped God; throughout the duration of the book, he started to doubt God because of the torture he saw in the camp, was really attached to his father and had a great relationship with him)
Shlomo- was only mentioned once at the end and he stuck with Eliezer
Moishe the Beadle- was a teacher who got deported and told the other Jews about the torture and got called a lunatic( was also a poor Jew that grew up in Germany with Eliezer, the synagogue he volunteered at was called Sighet)
Akiba Drumer- was one of the victims who lost his faith in God
Madame Schachter- “was in her fifties and her ten-year-old son was with her, crouched in a corner. Her husband and two older sons had been deported with the first transport, by mistake. The separation had totally shattered her. I knew her well. A quiet, tense woman with piercing eyes, she had been a frequent guest in our house. Her husband was a pious man who spent most of his days and nights in the house of study. It was she who supported the family.”
Juliek- , “a Pole with eyeglasses and a cynical smile in a pale face.” was an electrician
Tibi and Yosi- “two brothers from Czechoslovakia whose parents had been exterminated in Birkenau. They lived for each other, body and soul.”, parents ive din Palestine, and knew about God
Dr. Josef Mangele- “He looked like the typical SS officer: a cruel, though not unintelligent, face, complete with monocle.”
Idek- prisoner in Buna that was in charge of other prisoners, was really aggressive and violent(especially towards Eliezer and his father)
Franek- Franek, a former student in Warsaw.
Rabbi Eliahou- his son abandoned him and he was a respected man
Zalman- a prisoner who was trampled to death
Meir Katz- “the son of an important merchant of my town, had arrived in Birkenau with the first transport, one week ahead of us. When he found out that we were there, he succeeded in slipping us a note. He told us that having been chosen because of his strength, he had been forced to place his own father's body into the furnace.)” “a colossus, wore a child's pants”
Stein- knew the father and was a member of his family, was always elsewhere, was deported back in 1942
Hilda- oldest in the family
Bea- middle child
Tzipora- she was 7 years old and was the youngest sister in the family, was blonde
Notes
Section 1:
setting is in Transylvania and he was poor people in the town didn’t like the poor even though they helped them
Eliezer and the teacher met in 1941 when he was almost 13
Moshie was awkward and shy
his father was emotionless was more focused on other people than himself
Eliezer is the only son with 3 sisters
Eliezer would pray with Moshie and talk about God
he would teach the Kabbalah to Eliezer
was the was the poorest in Sighet
teacher got deported along with other people and they have been gone for months
Moishe was then found in the synagogue and he started talking about how he was on a train to go to the Galician Forest and were forced to dig up holes, after that they were shot and killed to the buried in the same holes
he the escaped by being shot in the leg and being left there
after that moment he has been preaching about what happened and stopped talking God and the Kabbalah(he also stopped believing in God as well)
came back to warn everyone including him-1942
things went back to normal and Eliezer was still focusing on the Kabbalah-1943
during spring of 1944 it was believed that Germany was going to lose and not torture the Jews and that it was impossible
eventually, the German troops started to invade Hungary and everyone started to become worried
then they ended up coming to their town and didn’t do anything harmful
then the chaos started and they weren’t able to leave their house, had to give up all of their valuables, and had to wear the yellow star
the ghettos then were created where the Jews were isolated from other people and were a community
Eliezer’s father went to a meeting and he said that the German soldiers were going to take the Jews somewhere else
the next day everyone was preparing to go somewhere else by cooking food and packing up some clothes
The Ghetto was then evacuated and they were sent somewhere else
they spent all day without food and they were walking a great distance while carrying sacs on their backs
the next day they found out that they were moving to a smaller ghetto and then they would leave to go else where
they then had to go outside to be counted and to check for anything, started to walk and everyone was tired
got to the smaller ghetto and it was worst than the bigger one
Maria offered to take them to a better place, but the family refused
the next day they were actually evacuated and they were offered bread and water, now they were going to the other place
traveled for 2 days
Section 2:
arrived at Kaschau where they were all checked for their valuable belongings again and if they kept them they would all get shot
she then saw a fire and everyone looked, but couldn’t see anything other than darkness
she was still screaming about a fire and everyone tried to get her to calm down, she calmed down for a moment and then started screaming about the fire again
She got punched so that she and shut up but she never did
they finally arrived in Auschwitz and were told that they were only working
they then realized that they were at a camp and they were hopping out one by one and then they finally saw the fire, people smelt burning flesh
Section 3:
Eliezer was then separated from his sisters and mother because the soldiers were doing something
Him and his father said their ages(15 and 50) but the soldiers said that they were 18 and 40
an inmate then told all of the new people that they would be taken to the chimney to be burned to death
the officer then asked for professions and Eliezer was still with his father
He then saw children being burnt alive in a furnance
this was when Eliezer started to doubt God and even started to be suicidal
wanted to run into the barbed wires
they then got to their destination and the Jews had to be stripped naked
after that their hair was shaved off
Jews then ran to a foul smelling liquid to bathe in it, then they took a hot shower, and they ran naked again
they eventually got clothes and then started switching with other people if the clothes weren’t fitting them
Eliezer then began to wonder how much time has passed since these traumatizing moments
the Jews were now in the mud and then they were told that they were in the concentration camp by an SS officer
Eliezer’s father was slapped by a Gypsy for asking to go to the bathroom
Jews were then transfer elsewhere based on their career
Eliezer and his father were then taken to another area with iron gates
the place was a garden where they would be working and the building had 2 floors
after they were done working they took a shower and went for a run
there was a man waiting for them and after they got settled in for a little bit, the man told them to have faith and to not give up and that 2 people should sleep in a singular bunk, and that they were in block 17
the next day was a regular day and they ate soup and got tattoos with their new “identity”
“In the mornings: black coffee. At midday: soup. By the third day, I was eagerly eating any kind of s o u p … A t six o'clock in the afternoon: roll call. Followed by bread with something. At nine o'clock: bedtime.” was the routine at this point and they have been in Auschwitz for 8 days
the father’s name was Wiesel
Stein went to greet him
the Jews had bread and margarine for dinner
at this point they have been in Auschwitz for 3 weeks
Stein would offer Eliezer and his dad some bread and told them to eat anything they can because they would not last long
Stein got the real news about his family(they died)
Akiba Drumer tried to motivate people by talking about having hope for the future
the next day Eliezer was transported somewhere else(Buna)
Section 4:
the Jews were transferred to another place and met the head of the camp
got new clothes and got into 2 tents
met the German officer who was in charge of the tents who told them that they would be in quarentine for 3 days, then work and a medical check up
some of them including became a musicians for the Germans
Eliezer then followed a few people and helped them with their job
He then met someone twin brothers and then returned to the musicians
Eliezer was called to get his gold tooth extracted, but got out of it by saying he was sick
teh dentist office ended p geting shut down and the person who owned it got hanged
Idek was venting his frustration and then saw Eliezer and started beating him up to the point he was bleeding
he then had a dream where he was on the metro and he met a beautiful woman, mentioned he was Jewish and then got deported
Eliezer then watched his dad get beat up and then Franek asked for his gold tooth
When he had to wait he made his dad march in step and since he was struggling he started beating him up
Eliezer then got his crown pulled
Eliezer witnessed Idek and a Polish girl together and got threatened for catching them
got whipped he next day
Idek threaten Eliezer with more beatings if he snitched
Eliezer and a few other were resting until a alarm went off and then after everyone was gone he saw 2 cauldrons of soup
saw someone die because of it
Eliezer saw planes bomb the Buna factories and him and the Jews were filled with joy
the Jews were ordered to take their caps on and off and watched a young boy get killed for punishment
watched other people get hanged
A child was then killed in front of the Jews as well and even one person was wondering where his god was
the soup he ate next tasted was corpses
Section 5:
Eliezer then started to doubt God because of the torture that was going on
he started to wonder why God would torture his own people for no reason
when he went to his dad he kissed his hand and saw defeat in his face
Eliezer started to rebel against God, one example is him not fasting
he was then transferred not able to see his father and was forced to carry heavy stones
some people had to be picked for selection and he was worried
Eliezer decided to stay with the twin brothers so that they appear stronger
their advice was to run so that they don’t look dead
he and the twin brothers pass, so did Eliezer’s dad
Dr Mengele camp to the other Jews and told them the people that were selected
Eliezer’s dad told him that he might be selected and he gave him a spoon and knife
his dad ended up not being selected
Akiba Drumer ended up getting selected and lost his faith in God
After Akiba’s death, they stopped saying Kaddish
Eliezer’s foot started to swell and there was a possibility that he might need his leg amputated
He ended up going to the doctor the next day and they ended up doing surgery on his foot and had to wait 2 weeks to walk on it again
rumors started going around that the front got closer and a neighbor said that he has more trust in Hitler than anyone else
The doctor then announced that they would be evacuated but if you’re injured you would be burnt alive in a furnace
Him and his dad were trying to figure out what to do because Eliezer can’t go without his father
Eliezer then escaped and then found out the Jews were killed by the Russians
went to search for food the next day before he left
Jews were ordered to clean the block and then their was a funeral
the blocks were now being evacuated
Section 6:
The Jews were running and if they couldn’t they were shot
Eliezer then saw Zelman die due to his stomach problems
he continued running because of his dad because he thought his dad wouldn’t be able to do anything without him
the Jews have moved 20 kilometers since they escaped
Eliezer then got into the shed and fell asleep with his father next him
He woke up and saw his dad look malnourished and old
They went outside and then Eliezer then asked his dad to go back to the shed with him to sleep
he then tried to sleep but he fought it because he was afraid to die
saw someone sleeping net to a corpse
Rabbi then came to find his son and ended up not finding him
he was a very kind Polish man
he was still looking for his son
Eliezer prayed that he doesn’t do what the Rabbi’s son did
They continued to march the next day
Eliezer’s foot was frozen at this point
they arrived at the other camp(Gleiwitz)
he heard Juliek even though Eliezer thought he was dead
Eliezer was fighting through bodies that were crushing him so that he can get some air
he then started hearing the violin from Juliek
Juliek then died the next day with the same violin next to him
The SS officers then gave the Jews bread and they ate the snow because they were thirsty
Section 7
by then a lot of people have died from the cold and him and his dad were still alive
Eliezer then found his dad unconscious and he denied the fact that he died because he was still moving slightly
All the Jews have been surviving off of snow for the past few days
when bread appeared, the Jews started fighting each other
Eliezer then saw murdering each other over bread when he was 16
Meir Katz has died
They finally arrived in Buchenwald after suffering a lot and being cold
Section 8:
The Jews were separated into ranks and were told that they would be taking a hot shower
Eliezer was still holding on to his dad
his dad then started dying in front of him and then he heard the alarm before going to sleep
Eliezer woke up the next day to get coffee and then heard his dad
they had to stay outside so that the officers could clean the blocks
went to the showers and then went back outside because they weren’t done cleaning
His dad started running
started telling Eliezer where he hid the gold but started talking too fast
His dad was still dying and Eliezer was trying to save him
His dad was beaten and Eliezer started insulting everyone
the doctor told Eliezer that he can’t save his dad and to leave him there to dad, but he didn’t listen
He then stayed with his dad and his dad was beaten for speaking
that was Jan. 28 1945
Eliezer’s dad died the next day due to the torment
Section 9:
After his dad died he had lost all motivation to live
they then were evacuated due to the camp being destroyed
the Jews heard bombs and other things outside, then they saw a American tank outside the camp
When they were free all they were dong was grabbing food
Eliezer then spent some time recovering in a hospital from injuries and after that he saw himself in the mirror for the first time