NightNight by Elie Wieselby Elie Wiesel

Why are we reading it?Why are we reading it?

It’s a memoir It’s a reminder of what happened so history does not

repeat itself– “He [Elie] tells the story, out of infinite pain, partly to honor

the dead, but also to warn the living – to warn the living that it could happen again and that it must never happen again.”

Hatred still runs rampant today

A Quote from the Preface of A Quote from the Preface of NightNight

Night is “the story of how a cultured people turned to genocide, and how the rest of the world, also composed of cultured people, remained silent in the face of genocide.”

What does that mean?We read it because WE are capable of it

too.Just think – when did this happen?1930’s & 40’s

About the AuthorAbout the Author

He initially vowed NOT to tell his story of the Holocaust and took a ten year vow of silence

Why?He felt he couldn’t accurately

convey the horror of itFinally, another writer

convinced him to tell his story

The writing style of Night is simple and plain

Why?He felt the events could speak for

themselves; therefore, there’s no need to exaggerate anything

The memoir covers three and a half years in Elie’s life, from late 1941 to 1945 (during WWII)

Setting: Hungary, Poland, and Germany

In 1986, Elie won the Nobel Peace Prize for writing Night

It’s awarded to persons or organizations who help resolve a conflict or help create peace in the world

Other winner = The United Nations and Mother Teresa

The prize includes a medal, a personal diploma, and a large sum of prize money (currently 10 million Swedish crowns).

How would his novel help create peace?

ThemesThemes

#1. Survival = what helps Elie survive?#2. Change = how does he change through

this experience?#3. Death = how does it affect people?#4. Evil = how does it affect people?#5. Faith = what affects Elie’s faith in God?

TERMS TO KNOW…TERMS TO KNOW…Night

TERMS TO KNOW…TERMS TO KNOW…1. GHETTO:An area (usually in a city) where members

of a particular race, religion, ethnicity, etc. live in high concentration (either by choice or by force)

2. HOLOCAUST:A word that actually means complete

destruction or a great slaughter3. SYNAGOGUE:The place of worship for Jewish people

4. RABBI:A word that means teacherA Jewish minister

5. TORAH:The first five books of the Jewish Bible that

contains Jewish laws (note: it’s the first five books of the Christian Bible too)

6. TALMUD:A sacred book of the Jewish faith where

rabbis have commented on Jewish law

#7. BEADLE: A usher at Jewish religious services

#8. CABBALIST: An expert in difficult matters of the

Jewish Bible and other sacred texts

#9. GESTAPO: The secret police in Nazi Germany

known for brutal tactics such as terror and torture to eliminate political opposition in Germany

They were in charge of arresting and deporting Jews to concentration camps

                   

#10. KAPO:A prisoner in charge of a group of inmates

in Nazi concentration campNote: could be Jewish

#11. SS:The military wing of the Nazi party who

served as Hitler’s personal bodyguards and worked as guards at the concentration camps