Night A memoir by Elie Wiesel

Memoir Night is a memoir, which is a specific kind of autobiography. Elie Wiesel wrote this first hand account of his life as a fifteen year old during the Holocaust.

About Elie He was born in 1928 in Sighet, Transylvania, now part of Romania. He became a journalist in Paris after the war. His memoir, Night, has been translated into more than 30 languages! In 1978, President Jimmy Carter appointed Wiesel as Chairman of the President’s Commission on the Holocaust.

In 1980, he became the Founding Chairman of the U. S In 1980, he became the Founding Chairman of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council. He and his wife founded the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity, which fights indifference, intolerance, and injustice. He has received more than 100 honorary degrees from institutions of higher learning. He was a Professor in Humanities at Boston University until his death. He has written more than 60 books and has won numerous awards for his works Died in July 2016

Awards Presidential Medal of Freedom U.S. Congressional Gold Medal National Humanities Medal Medal of Liberty Rank of Grand-Croix in the French Legion of Honor 1986 Nobel Peace Prize winner

Elie’s Message Elie’s mission was to promote peace and understanding- something this world greatly needs, today just as much as ever. Listen Here

Ideas that relate to themes in Night Death Faith Hatred Survival Perseverance Loss of innocence

Motifs in Night Eyes Night Make sure to take note of these ideas and motifs as you read- use sticky notes or write down page numbers.

Holocaust Background Outside of class, I would like you to go to my website and click on the three sets of cards titled: Events from History, Anti-Jewish Laws and Decrees, and World Responses. Please keep a timeline of events from 1933-1945. You may want to do this in a four column Google Doc. We will discuss this during our next class.

Condensed NIGHT.ppt

Oprah and Elie Wiesel Read the Interview Here

Mapping Elie’s Journey The Wiesel family rode in to the camps in a cattle car like the one:

Birkenau-Auschwitz The entrance gate to Auschwitz I bears the German words, Arbeit Macht Frei. “‘Work makes you free,’” Professor Wiesel translates. “And that is the first ironic statement ever made here.” (Oprah.com)

Before they were murdered en masse, the Jews had been told they would be resettled in Eastern Europe. The families arrived in Auschwitz with their most treasured possessions packed into suitcases. On the outside of each case, the unsuspecting owners wrote their names and dates of birth believing their things would be returned. (Oprah.com)

The Nazis went to sinister lengths to profit from the extermination of millions, and no possible resource was wasted. Human hair shorn from victims' scalps was gathered and sold to German factories to make cloth. At the time of the camp's liberation in January 1945, seven tons of hair were discovered ready to be transported for sale. In Block 4, mounds of human hair are preserved behind a glass case more than 67 feet long. (Oprah.com)

A case filled with empty Zyklon B cans is a haunting reminder of the poisonous gas used by the Nazis for killing prisoners on a massive scale. "When the gas chambers were full, an SS man put on the gas mask, went to the roof, opened the little window there and threw such a can into the gas chamber," Professor Wiesel explains. "Unspeakable pain and horror—that's how they were killed. Mothers and children hugging. … The death factory became industrialized and industry worked well.“ (Oprah.com)

Prisoners were packed two or more to a bunk on straw mattresses Prisoners were packed two or more to a bunk on straw mattresses. Professor Wiesel slept on similar bunks at Auschwitz and later at Buchenwald. In this photo, taken by soldiers on April 16, 1945, after the liberation of Buchewald, Elie Wiesel looks out from the far right of the middle bunk. Rats, lice and other vermin were rampant. Deadly outbreaks of dysentery, typhus, tuberculosis and malaria wiped out entire sections of this camp. Inmates wore thin cotton uniforms year round, even in the harshest winter. Given only meager rations of stale bread and meatless soup, many starved to death. For prisoners not sentenced to die in the gas chambers, the average life span was barely four months.