Name: Hour: Night by Elie Wiesel Background Information

Transcription

1 Name: _ Hour: _ Night by Elie Wiesel Background Information Night is a personal narrative written by Elie Wiesel about his experience with his father in the Nazi German concentration camps at Auschwitz and Buchenwald in , at the height of the Holocaust toward the end of the Second World War. ON JUDAISM Pentecost commemorates the anniversary of the day God gave the Torah to the entire nation of Israel. Rabbi a Jewish leader, scholar or teacher, especially one who studies or teaches Jewish law. Synagogue the building where a Jewish assembly or congregation meets for religious worship and instruction. Zohar a collection of commentaries on the Torah, intended to guide people who have already achieved high spiritual degrees. ON WORLD WAR II AND THE HOLOCAUST Adolf Hitler an Austrian born German politician who was the leader of the Nazi Party. He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945 and Führer of Nazi Germany from 1934 to Anti Semitism hostility to or prejudice against Jews. Boche an insulting name for German troops. Final solution the code name used by the Nazis to refer to their plan to annihilate the Jewish people. Genocide the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation. Gestapo the official secret police of Nazi Germany and German occupied Europe. Holocaust the mass slaughter of European civilians, especially Jews, by the Nazis during World War II. Pogrom a violent riot aimed at massacre or persecution of Jewish people.

2 Setting of Night

3 Night Important Characters For each name, give a brief description of each character and why he or she is important: 1.) Eliezer Elie Wiesel:_ 2.) Shlomo Wiesel:_ 3.) Mrs. Wiesel:_ 4.) Hilda, Bea, and Tzipora Wiesel: 5.) Moishe the Beadle: 6.) Mrs. Sch ä chter:_ 7.) Stein of Antwerp:

4 8.) Idek: 9.) Franek: _ 10.) Rabbi Eliahau: 11.) Juliek:

5 Name: _ Hour: _ Night COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS (Chapters 1 3) Directions: Answer each question using full sentences. Give textual support for your answers. CHAPTER ONE (3 22) ghetto an area of a city which contains and restricts a certain portion of the population. The Jews of various Eastern European cities were forcibly relocated into blocked off areas of the city where overcrowding, starvation, and forced labor were the norm. Hasidism the ultra orthodox branch of Judaism that teaches the individual to raise every action in life to the level of prayer. Kabbalah the body of mystical teachings based on interpretations of ancient Hebrew Scriptures. Passover a holiday celebrating the Jews' freedom from slavery in Egypt. Phylacteries small leather boxes containing strips of parchment inscribed with quotations from the Hebrew Scriptures used by orthodox and conservative Jewish men during worship. Talmud the codified body of Jewish civil and religious law including rabbinical commentaries on the Torah. Torah the first five books of the Old Testament of the bible. Zionism political movement concerned with founding a Jewish state in Palestine. 1.) How is religion important to Eliezer's identity at the beginning of the narrative? 2.) How does Moishe the Beadle change over the course of the chapter? How and why is he different? 3.) How do the Jews of Sighet react to the Germans' arrival? How and why does their attitude to change? 4.) Why do you think the author chose the title Night?

6 CHAPTERS TWO & THREE (23 46) Auschwitz large concentration camp in Kraków, Poland that consisted of smaller camps (Auschwitz I, Birkenau, Buna); the location of the death of nearly 4 million prisoners (mostly Jews). Birkenau the entrance camp at Auschwitz, where the prisoners are processed (stripped of possessions, head shaved, and tattooed with number). Concentration (death) camp designed and built by Nazi Germany during World War II to systematically kill millions, primarily by gassing, but also by execution and extreme work under starvation conditions. Kapo a concentration camp inmate (Jew) appointed by the S.S. to be in charge of a work group. Schutzstaffel (SS) an elite unit of the Nazi party that acted as political police and oversaw the operation of the concentration camps. 5.) What happened to Mrs. Sch ä chter and what did she do? Why is it important to the narrative? 6.) What happens when the prisoner arrive at Birkenau? What is significant about the time of their arrival? 7.) List the things that Elie says he shall never forget (page 34): 8.) How does Elie say he changes the first day he arrives at Auschwitz?