Night-Elie Wiesel

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Name_____________________________________________________NIGHT PACKET

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Elie Wiesel was only twelve years old when, in 1941, the events of World War II and the

Holocaust invaded his home in Sighet, Transylvania. His childhood was cut short, his dreams

and beliefs shattered, as he witnessed the death of his family and his people in the Nazi death

camps of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. After the war, Wiesel took a 10-year vow of silence

before he attempted to put into words the horror and pain of the Holocaust. When he finally

wrote Night, Wiesel had difficulty finding a publisher, for it was believed that few would want to

read such heart-wrenching words. Today it is one of the most read and respected books on the

Holocaust.

After World War II, Wiesel lived in Paris, France, for 10 years where he studied at the Sorbonne

and worked as a journalist, traveling to both Israel and the United States. Eventually, Wiesel

moved to the United States and currently lives in New York City. In 1976, Wiesel became the

Andrew Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Boston University. His book Night has been

followed by other equally powerful books. Against Silence: The Voice and Vision of Elie

Wiesel is a three-volume collection of his work. In 1985, Elie Wiesel was the recipient of the

Congressional Gold Medal and in 1986, he was honored with one of the greatest of all awards,

the Nobel Peace Prize.

Over the years, Wiesel has, in a sense, become the soul of the Holocaust. His books and lectures

compel us to not only confront the issues and consequences of the Holocaust, but to keep it in

our memory to ensure that history is never repeated. He lives his life, he explains, in the pursuit

of meaning. Wiesel has traveled all over the world, including Bosnia, where he attempted to

assist with the peace efforts. His eloquence, sensitivity, and insights serve as the voice for those

who can no longer speak.

SUMMARY

Night is Elie Wiesel's personal account of the Holocaust as seen through the eyes of a 15-year-

old boy. The book describes Wiesel's first encounter with prejudice and details the persecution of

a people and the loss of his family. Wiesel's experiences in the death camps of Auschwitz and

Buchenwald are detailed; his accounts of starvation and brutality are shattering—a vivid

testimony to the consequences of evil. Throughout the book, Wiesel speaks of the struggle to

survive, the fight to stay alive while retaining those qualities that make us human. While Wiesel

lost his innocence and many of his beliefs, he never lost his sense of compassion nor his inherent

sense of right.

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VOCABULARY

kabbala: Jewish mysticism studied by Jewish scholars.

ghetto: a small area of a city to which the Jewish people were restricted and from

which they were forbidden to leave.

concentration camps: a group of labor and death camps in Germany and Poland.

kapo: overseer in charge of a work detail, or some other branch of a concentration

camp. Often, kapos were selected from the prisoners—usually the criminals.

Illusion: something deceptive in appearance, something that deceives the senses or

mind, appearing to be one thing when it is another

Irony: incongruity between what is expected and what occurs

PREREADING ACTIVITY

The cover of Night contains an illustration of a lone person surrounded by barbed

wire. Study this picture and create a list of words the image brings to mind.

Go on to page 3

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Select one of the words from your list and write brief extended definition that reflects

the feelings that this word evokes. You will be asked to share your response.

For this memoir you will be listening and graphically taking notes. The purpose of this is

two-fold. First, you will be expected to listen attentively for details. Second, you will be

expected to visualize what you read and represent you images our Night Packet (download

in notability or paper copy)

We will be listening over a six-day period of time. Each day you will be expected to use

graphics to represent what you heard and pictured. You may insert a word or phrase if

you wish to help you remember details: dates, places, and characters.

To get the most out of this experience, follow the steps below.

• Complete the assigned reading

• Critically read and think, taking notes on what interests or disturbs you; what you

disagree with, want to challenge, or do not understand

• Complete the packet pages—exercises and questions—and reflect further on

your thoughts and feelings in response to the same in your journal

• Listen in class and participate fully in class discussion (critical listening and

articulating)

• Write a journal entry that integrates your thoughts and feelings from the readings,

the packet pages, and the class discussion

Make this experience meaningful to you. This intellectual experience is a chance for

you to take some time for yourself—time to ponder questions of great importance

about yourself, your world, and your future. Remember, the more effort you put

into this, the more you are likely to get out of it.

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Night

By Elie Wiesel

Capturing your initial response: Critical thinking and critical feeling Before you read

Before we even open a book, our minds begin to engage and to make assumptions. As you look

at Night, think about and make journal entries on the following: What images and motions does

the title evoke? Does the picture on the book make an impression on you, how so? Have you

heard anything about Night, or its author Elie Wiesel? How does the fact that this book has been

given to you as an assignment affect you before you begin reading?

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Graphic notes- remember you may write simple words or phrases to help remember what

you read, but I am looking for the images that Wiesel leaves with you at the end of each

listening session. Complete the questions after listening each day.

Day 1

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Homework - Answer the following questions after listening session one.

1. Why did people in Wiesel's village refuse to believe the warnings of Moshe the Beadle when

he told them what happened to Jews who had been expelled from their villages in other

countries?

2. Why did the people in Wiesel's village doubt Hitler's plans to exterminate the Jewish

population?

3. How did the German soldiers win the confidence of the people of Sighet?

4. Briefly describe your initial responses to reading Night for the first time.

What thoughts went through your mind as you followed young Elie on his journey?

5. How does the term “irony” typify what you have read so far?

6. What illusions did you notice in the reading so far?

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Day 2 -

Homework written Response-Use the back side of the paper to respond,

please.

1. What emotional responses did reading about his experiences provoke in you? You may

include quotations and passages from the book to illustrate your point, or to illustrate how the

author responded to specific experiences. Remember: Think in terms of both critical thinking and

critical feeling.

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DAY 3

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Homework Response: Complete sentence responses. Answer fully the following

two questions on separate paper and hand in as a homework response at our

next class meeting.

1. At one point, upon arrival at Auschwitz, the prisoners considered revolting. What

stopped them?

2. Describe conditions in the death camps.

TABLE TOPICS: Each table will be assigned one question to fully discuss. You will be

expected to share your discussion with your classmates today.

1. When the Jewish people were being deported, they were allowed to take

only one small bag with all their possessions. Evidence has shown that

most people took their photograph albums. Why were these albums so

important to them?

2. Wiesel's village was invaded by the Nazi soldiers in 1944, years after the

extermination of Jews had begun. Why, after all this time, did the people

have so little, if any, information about what had been happening to Jews

all over Europe?

3. Wiesel was given two contrasting pieces of advice about how to survive.

One was from a young Pole, a prisoner in charge of one of the prison

blocks, and the other was from the head of one of the blocks at

Buchenwald who spoke to Wiesel as his father lay dying. Summarize

these two philosophies of survival and discuss the wisdom of each.

4. Many people ask survivors why there was so little resistance in the death

camps. While there is documented evidence of some resistance in the

various camps, why do you think that there were so few accounts of

resistance?

5. In what ways did Wiesel's experiences affect his beliefs?

6. In discussing the Holocaust, one survivor, Luba Frederick, said, "To die

was easy." Based on the reading you have done, explain her statement.

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DAY 4

Homework Question: Please write a one page response to the following question and hand

in upon entry to our next class session.

1. What is your emotional reaction to the book? What have you gotten out of reading so far?

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Day 5

Homework Responses: Please answer in complete sentences and submit your written

response on lined paper or typed when you arrive to our next class session.

1. Do you think other people can ever really understand what the author experienced in the

concentration camp?

2. If someone asked you to describe exactly what you think Elie Wiesel thought and felt while

living in the camps, how would you do so?

3. What does it mean to “understand” another person, or to “understand” what another person is

going through?

4. What is it in life that allows us to “understand” others more completely and/or more

accurately?

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DAY 6

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Homework Responses: Please submit paper copy with responses to the following two

questions by our next class session. Answer thoughtfully in complete sentences please.

1. Discuss the significance of the title NIGHT for this work.

2. Ponder Elie Wiesel’s Night in terms of such questions as those raised below. Again, you may

include quotes and passages from the book to illustrate your point or to illustrate ways in which

you think the author would respond to these questions.

a. Elie Wiesel has stated, “My whole life, my whole work, has been devoted to questions,

not to answers.” Having read Night, formulate several questions that you think might be of

paramount importance to Wiesel.

1.

2.

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TABLE TALK DISCUSSION (based on your table number, discuss the questions and be

prepared to share with the class)

1. Wiesel wrote of those things he will never forget (p. 32). After reading Night, what images, ideas, and feelings do you think you will never forget?

2. At one point in the book, Wiesel said that he had ceased to feel human. What did he mean by this and what things can cause people to lose their sense of dignity and humanity?

3. Wiesel opens Night with this sentence: “They called him Moshe the Beadle, as though he had never had a surname in his life” (1960: 1). With no surname, a problem especially within Judaism, Moshe’s “Identity” is in question. As a writer, Wiesel often makes an explicit link between the first sentence and concluding sentence of a text. These are the two sentences that conclude Night: “From the depths of the mirror, a corpse gazed back at me. The look in his eyes, as they stared into mine, has never left me” (1960: 109). A major theme connects beginning to end: the drama of identity, as it plays itself out through a lived story. In this final sentence, it is Elie who looks into the mirror and who does not recognize who it is looking back. Having read his story, why do you think “identity” is such an issue for Wiesel? 4. Throughout the last few days of his father’s life, Wiesel is tormented by the guilt he feels over his inability to help his father more than he does, and for secretly wanting to feed himself before feeding his father. During this time, Wiesel is told: “Every man has to fight for himself and not think of anyone else… Everyone lives and dies for himself alone.” Do you agree with this statement? Why or why not? A popular rendition of the statement in our society is that every person should “pull himself up by his own bootstraps.” To what extent do you agree with this statement? To what extent do you think many persons in our society adhere to this slogan or similar ones? 5. Elie painstakingly describes his experience of “loss”—the loss of his family, his homeland, his home, his childhood, and most significantly, his God. When a person is asked, “what makes life worth living,” attachment to one or more of the elements Wiesel describes is often noted. What attachments/connections in life most contribute to your sense of meaning? How do you think you would react to the loss of one or more (or all) of these attachments? How is a person to find, discover, or create meaning in life after an experience of profound loss, as Wiesel experienced? (Or: is it even possible to do so)? 6. It has been said that the one belief most responsible for the bloodshed of countless individuals through history is this one: “Those who do not share my faith (or race or religion or political ideology) do not share my humanity; ‘they’ are different than ‘us’ and thus not ‘human’ in the same way we are.” What do think and feel about this way of looking at life and others? Why, do you think, does it seem so difficult to appreciate human differences? Do you think that this tendency is inborn, or do we learn to devalue the “other”? Does education play some role in reversing the tendency to devalue those who are different from me, from “my kind”? How does education (if it plays as role at all) make a difference in how we perceive and treat others?

Report out

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Introducing-JAKOB THE LIAR

Irony and Juxtaposition:

Define irony

Situational Irony

Verbal Irony

Dramatic Irony

Juxtaposition

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Concluding Personal Connection and Personal Reflection

1. Becoming the person you want to be and creating the type of world in which you wish to

live: Do you think that there a role for education? Why or why not?

2. In reflecting on Night, list three specific things that you have learned regarding what kind

of person you want to be.

1. ______________________________________________________________________

2. ______________________________________________________________________

3. ______________________________________________________________________

3. In reflecting on Night, list three specific things that you have learned regarding what kind

of world you would like to inhabit.

1. ______________________________________________________________________

2. ______________________________________________________________________

3. ______________________________________________________________________

4. In reflecting on Night, list three current world events/news stories that you think have

some specific connection to the events that Wiesel describes.

1. ______________________________________________________________________

2. ______________________________________________________________________

3. ______________________________________________________________________

5. In reflecting on Night, assume that you wanted to learn more about the Holocaust in order

to “understand” it. What three university departments would you look to first to find

courses most relevant to understanding?

1. ______________________________________________________________________

2. ______________________________________________________________________

3. ______________________________________________________________________

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EXTENSION-choose one and be prepared to present orally to the class.

1. Consider the author, historical period and the genre of memoir, use the

information to help plan a keynote or ppt, Wiesel was born in Sighet in

Transylvania. Locate the region of Transylvania on a pre-World War II

map of Europe. Discover what happened to this area during and after

World War II. Share five facts you find most significant in the form of a

keynote that you present to the class-find NEW information. (10 slides)

2. Create a cover for Night based on your own interpretations and reactions.

Share your cover with classmates and explain what motivated you to

create as you did.

3. Create an "Open Letter" to those people of Europe who did little more

than watch as their neighbors were persecuted.

4. Select a recurring word, phrase, or symbol from Night. For example, the

word night is used frequently throughout the book. Analyze the word/

phrase/ symbol and explain the images it evokes.

Oprah Interviews Elie Wiesel

1. Before viewing: What is your impression of Wiesel the man and

author?

2. What specifically reinforced or modified your impression of Wiesel?