Night Vocabulary

Diction: the author or speaker’s choice of words

Memoir: a biography or historical account

Tone: the authors attitude toward the subject, way of speaking Examples: Scared Anxious Excited Worried Foolish Smart Depressing

Anti-Semitism – a hatred of the Jews

Apathy— Lack of interest or emotion, indifference

beastial like a beast; cruel and savage

compulsory required; that which must be done

Concentration camp Camps that were primarily used for slave labor, holding camps or transit camps.

death camp Camps dedicated to the efficient murder of Jews and other victims; e.g. Auschwitz-Birkenau,Belzec, Chelmo, Madjanek, Sobibor, Treblinka. The term was also used for concentration camps where thousands died of starvation and disease

dehumanization to make someone less human

derision Scorn, ridicule

genocide Murder of an entire ethnic group

Gestapo German acronym for the German Secret State Police, part of the SS notorious for terrorism against enemies of the state

ghetto Jewish settlements set up by Germans. The confinement of Jews in a set-apart area of a city. The first exclusively Jewish ghetto was in Venice in 1516.

harangued scolded, especially in a noisy and bullying way

holocaust Genocide of European Jews and others

implore To beg and plead

meager Of small quantity; not adequate

pillage To loot; to rob of property

SS Abbreviation of Schutzstaffel (Defense Protective Units). Notorious for implementing European Jews’ extermination

Talmud A Jewish religious text. The most important compilation of Jewish oral tradition.