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Transcript

Night

By Elie Wiesel

_______________________________

This is NOT:

A complete look into Elie Wiesel's life

A complete understanding of the Holocaust

This IS:

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?

Prose/Poetry

Non-Fiction

Fiction

Informational Text

Non-Fiction

Autobiography

Memoir

Biography

Autobiography vs. Memoir

AUTOBIOGRAPHIES

Cover all the major/critical events in the author’s life

MEMOIRS

Contain more artistry

Focus on one major/critical event, or one “chapter” of the author’s life.

Considered more “personal”.

BOTH

True accounts of writer’s own life

Written 1st-person POV

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

Established in 1935

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

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