Night
By Elie Wiesel
_______________________________
A complete look into Elie Wiesel's life
A complete understanding of the Holocaust
An overview to help you understand more
Goals for this Unit
Key Learning:
By reading a memoir, you will understand the significance of the genre and its importance in the field of literature.
Unit Essential Question:
How does reading a memoir help a reader understand the human experience?
What Is Night?
One of Elie Wiesel's many written works
The story of his family during the Holocaust
What is a genre?
French word meaning “kind” or “type”
Literature classification system
Can you think of any other types of genres?
Non-Fiction
Autobiography vs. Memoir
AUTOBIOGRAPHIES
Cover all the major/critical events in the author’s life
MEMOIRS
Focus on one major/critical event, or one “chapter” of the author’s life.
Considered more “personal”.
True accounts of writer’s own life
How old do you think Elie is here?
Immediate Family Relations
Sarah
Chlomo
Older Sisters
Hilda
Bea
Elie
Sighet is located in Transylvania, a part of Romania. This map depicts borders as they were in 1933.
He currently lives in the United States and is an author, professor, lecturer, humanitarian, and political activist.
As a young man he studied the Talmud and cabbala very thoroughly
Holocaust History
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/media_nm.php?ModuleId=10005143&MediaId=3372
Nazi's & collaborators murdered 6 million Jewish people & millions of others
Mass killings began in June 1941 with the shooting of Jewish civilians during the German invasion of the Soviet Union
At the end of 1941...
...the Germans began deporting Jews to killing centers in occupied Poland
By May 1945...
...about two out of every three Jews in Europe had been murdered
The Final Solution
This is the name given to the Nazi plan to exterminate European Jews.
Through things like the Nuremberg laws, mobile killing units, ghettos, and established death camps, the Nazis and their collaborators succeeded in killing nearly two thirds of the European Jewish population.
Ghettos
Marked-off and isolated sections of cities where Jews were forced to live
Anyone who had 3 or 4 Jewish grandparents was defined as a Jew
Typically placed in the oldest and most run-down sections of a city
Many were surrounded by walls or barbed-wire fencing, and were well-guarded
Nuremberg Laws: Institutionalized Racism
Excluded German Jews from citizenship and prohibited them from marrying or having sexual relations with persons of "German or related blood."
Did NOT matter whether that individual identified himself or herself as a Jew or belonged to the Jewish religious community.
In 1937 & 1938, additions were added with the intent of impoverishing Jews.
Required them to register their property
Dismissed Jewish workers & managers
Jewish doctors were forbidden to treat non-Jews
Gave ownership of most Jewish businesses to non-Jewish Germans
Jewish lawyers were not permitted to practice law
1928
Wiesel is born
1933
Adolf Hitler appointed Chancellor of Germany; Nazi party takes control of Germany’s government; The first permanent concentration camp, Dachau, is established in Germany
1935
The Nuremberg Race Laws were decreed, denying German Jews their citizenship.
1939
Germany invades Poland, starting WWII in Europe.
1939
The first ghetto is established in Poland; Jews in parts of occupied Poland are forced to wear armbands depicting the Star of David.
1940
German authorities seal off ghettos in occupied Poland; Wiesel’s family becomes citizens of Hungary (one of the axis/”allies” of Germany) when Romania has to cede Transylvania.
1941
Construction of Auschwitz-Birkenau begins; the U.S. enters WWII; the first of the “killing centers” in occupied Poland begins operating; Elie Wiesel begins study of the cabbala.
Why Jewish People?
Hitler and his collaborators wanted to engineer a “master race”—one that was “pure”. Anyone that did not fit the mold often fell victim to the Jewish laws.
That included people who were:
- gay,
- Roma (gypsy),
- of African heritage,
- or of a mixed race.
Judaism was viewed more as a race than a religion
What is Genocide
The word genocide did not exist before 1944.
It is a very specific term, referring to violent crimes committed against groups with the intent to destroy the existence of the group.
Recent examples of genocide include, but unfortunately are not limited to;
- Bosnia-Herzegovina,
- Darfur and the Congo,
- Rwanda,
- and the current strife in the Middle East.
Timeline of Important Events
1942
All state, Nazi Party, and SS agencies begin implementing “the Final Solution”—a plan to murder European Jews.
1943
By the end of 1943, Germans and their axis partners have killed over four million European Jews.
1944
Germany occupies Hungary; Anne Frank’s family is arrested and deported; Elie Wiesel’s family is deported and taken to Auschwitz.
1945
Elie and his father are transported to Buchenwald; Auschwitz is liberated; Elie is liberated in April; Germany surrenders in May; Japan surrenders in September; WWII ends.
Photo was published by the New York Times in May 1945 with the caption “Crowded Bunks in the Prison Camp at Buchenwald.”.
Photo taken by a U.S. Army Private 5 days after Buchenwald was liberated
How old do you think Elie is here?
Ability to Work + Being Older = Ability to Live Another Day
Some of the “workers” awaiting roll call at Birkenau
The work camp part of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Only uniforms they were given.
Never washed
Judaism
Judaism is the second oldest world religion still being practiced today.
Judaism is also the smallest major world religion at 12.8 million.
Israel is the Jewish homeland.
5.5 million Jews live in U.S.
Most ancient cultures were polytheistic.
The Hebrews were the first to be believe in monotheism, or belief in one god.
The Hebrews god is called Yahweh
Basic Teachings
Prophet; preachers who interpret god’s will.
Prophets record Yahweh’s word in the Torah. (Old Testament for Christians)
Rabbi; a teacher of the Torah.
Messiah-savior.
In Judaism the Messiah has not yet come, but will come at the end of time.
The dead will then be raised to enter heaven.
This is one of the biggest differences between Judaism, Islam and Christianity!
Roots of Anti-Semitism
Because of certain traditions and the refusal of Jews to give up their faith, Jewish people have been distrusted and persecuted for thousands of years.
Roman Empire vs. Judaism
Christianity vs. Judaism
Islam vs. Judaism
20th Century and Holocaust
You should now have enough basic background information to get started reading the dark, yet captivating memoir Night by Elie Wiesel.
Borrowed from World History Curriculum
One god?
Borrowed from World History Curriculum
Jewish people were not the only ones persecuted during Hitler’s years, however Jewish people comprise the largest group affected by the genocide of WWII
This is Elie Wiesel in 1945;
he was only sixteen years old.
Information from The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
What is a sub-genre?
Who is Elie Wiesel?
Father
Elie Wiesel today.
Younger Sister
Born: September 30th, 1928
Tzipora
Glance into Elie's Life
Family
Religious Beliefs
His father was a practical and hardworking businessman who was not particularly religious.
Life After the Holocaust
His mother was a teacher and was devout in her faith. It was she who enrolled Wiesel in Jewish schooling.
Became an activist & defended the rights of:
He took to religious study early and avidly
Victims of war in the former Yugoslavia & many other disfranchised people
Began to read Hebrew at a very young age
His mother, father, and younger sister did not survive the Holocaust
After liberation, was brought to France & became a journalist
Jewish people, Kurds, Cambodian Refugees
Victims of famine & genocide in Africa & of apartheid in South Africa
The Talmud is a collection of Jewish laws and traditions
Cabbala (Kabbala) is a means of study and of interpreting scripture
Is believed to be a way to approach God directly
One must have a teacher or leader in the study of cabbala