Night
By
Elie Wiesel
Night is the account of a young man (Elie) who
must bear
responsibility for his aged father and whose loss of a beloved parent
wracks
his spirit with terror, despair and regret.
One of the most gripping autobiographical
ordeals in
literature, it carries the reader into the hell of Nazi perversity to
the death
camps intended to rid the German Reich of its Jews.
Over eleven months—from deportation on May
16, 1944,
to liberation in April 1945—Elie moves from Hungary
to Kaschau, Czechoslovakia
and the reception center at Birkenau,
Poland. Marched east to Buna, the electrical works at
Auschwitz, Poland,
he witnesses the worsening of his chances of survival as the hated
“Butcher of Auschwitz,” Dr. Josef
Mengele, steps up the extermination
of the unfit.
The book contains 9 segments (or chapters).
Timeline
Sept. 30, 1928—Elie Wiesel is born in Sighet, Romania,
which later becomes part of Hungary.
March, 1933—Adolf Hitler is elected
Chancellor of Germany;
Heinrich Himmler opens Dachau,
a death camp, near Munich,
Germany.
July, 1937—Buchenwald
concentration camp opens.
April, 1940—Germany
captures Norway and
Denmark. A concentration camp opens in Auschwitz, Poland.
September, 1941—At Auschwitz,
Germans begin using poison gas.
March, 1943—Himmler initiates the use of
crematoria
in Auschwitz.
May, 1944—The Wiesels arrive at a
concentration camp
in Birkenau, Poland.
Summer, 1944—Elie and his father are sent to Auschwitz.
January, 1945—Elie and his father are taken
to Buchenwald, Germany.
January 18, 1945—Russian forces liberate Auschwitz
April, 1945—American troops free inmates at Dachau and Buchenwald
camps.
1947—Elie enters the Sorbonne to study
philosophy.
1955—Elie is encouraged to write about his
incarceration
in a death camp.
1956—Elie enters the U.S.
1960—Elie publishes the English version of Night.
1986—Elie receives the Nobel Peace Prize.
Definitions
Torah—The primary source in the Jewish
religion is
the Hebrew Bible, consisting of 24 books divided up into 3 sections. The Torah includes the first five books of
the Bible.
Talmud—Next in importance to the Hebrew Bible
is the
Babylonian Talmud, a collections of teachings of early rabbis from the 5th
and 6th centuries.
Cabbala—a collection of traditional lore that
probes
the mysteries of the universe. Covers
such subjects as angels, death, numerology, and human reasoning.
Rosh Hashanah—Marks the new year of the
Jewish
calendar. It is both a joyous and a
solemn holiday. Jews around the world do
not work or attend school on this day.
Yom Kippur—This is the holiest day of the
Jewish
calendar. This is considered to be the
day in which every individual is judged by God, and thus is a solemn
day marked
by prayer and repentance. No Jew attends
work or school on this day.
Passover—And 8-day festival commemorating the
freeing of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage. A
ritual feast on the first 2 nights of this
holiday, called a Seder, includes the recounting of the Passover story. Ritual foods are eaten during these eight
days which are not eaten at other times of the years.
Observant Jews do not work or go to school on
the first 2 days and the last 2 days of this holiday.
Diaspora—Countries outside of Israel
inhabited by Jews.
Assimilation—To accept the culture of another
group
while giving up one’s own.
Ghetto—A section of a city in which Jews were
required to live surrounded by walls.
Genocide—Coined after WWII as a direct result
of how
some nationalities and ethnic groups, particularly the Jews, were
mistreated
during the war. Its intention is the
total annihilation of a race or ethnic group.
Holocaust—refers to the destruction of 6
million
Jews (and 6 million non-Jews) during 1933-1945.
Its Greek root means “burnt whole.”
Aryan Race—The pure Germanic race, used by
the Nazis
to suggest a superior, non-Jewish Caucasian typified by height, blonde
hair,
blue eyes.
Third Reich—The Third
Republic of Germany
which began with Hitler’s
rule in 1933 and ended with his defeat in 1945.
SS— “Schutz-Staffel”—established in 1929 as
Hitler’s
black-shirted bodyguards. They became
the elite guards of the Nazis trained in brutality and put in charge of
the
concentration camps.
Gestapo—the secret police organized in 1933
to
uncover and undermine political opposition
The Final Solution—the plan devised in 1941
to speed
up the system of killing the Jews and “undesirables.”
This final method used an efficient system of
gas chambers and crematories to kills the Jews.
Selection—A term used when the SS forced
prisoners
to line up for inspection and decided which prisoners would live and
which
would be killed.
People
Elie Weisel—the narrator and author of the
novel, Night.
Chlomo Wiesel—Elie’s father.
They manage to stay together during they
deportment.
Idek—a crazy Kapo who beats Elie. The worst of Elie’s mistreatment comes after
he laughs at Idek lying with a young Polish girls.
For this, Elie is given 25 lashes and faints.
Rabbi Eliahous—this rabbis’ son deserts him
in order
to survive. Disturbed by the son’s
selfishness, Eli prays that he will never grow so callous toward his
own
father.
Heinrich Himmler—Hitler’s second in command
and the
head of the S.S. He established Dachau, the first Nazi concentration camp, near Munich, Germany.
Adolf Hitler—Dictator of Germany;
a demagogue and tyrant who
obtains power by appealing to the emotions and prejudices of the masses.
Dr. Mengele—the “Angel of Death”; a doctor
who
performed brutal, unnecessary experiments and operations upon prisoners.
Places
Sighet, Hungary—Elie’s home town
Kaschau, Czechoslovakia—The first concentration
camp that Elie and his father arrive at after their deportation from
Sighet. It is here that they see their
wife, mother, sisters and daughters for the last time.
Auschwitz, Poland—home of a concentration
camp opened in April, 1940.
Birkenau, Poland—The Wiesels arrive in this
concentration camp in May of 1944.
Buchenwald, Germany—home of a concentration
opened in July, 1937. Elie and his
father are taken here in Jan., 1945