Transcript An Introduction to Night

Socratic Seminar:
Pre-Reading Qs:
What causes individuals to hate certain
groups of people?
 What are the consequences of simply
standing by when something bad is
occurring instead of acting?
 Is it possible to have world peace? Is it
possible for one individual to impact the
world for the better?
 Do you believe a second Holocaust is
possible in today’s world?

Bellwork: In your notebook
Agree/Disagree + Explain why:
 Educated, cultured people are more likely
to do good for their society.
 Religion will be the anchor when all else
fails.
 Evil is done by bad people who have no
consciences.
 When civilization has been stripped
away, man cannot function.
By Elie Weisel
“Never shall I forget that first night in camp,
which has turned my life into one long night.
Never shall I forget that smoke.
Never shall I forget the little faces of the
children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths
of smoke beneath a silent blue sky.”
Brief Biography of Elie
Wiesel
Wiesel was born in Sighet,
Transylvania, on September 30,
1928 (Sighet has long been claimed
by both Hungary and Romania and,
in the 20th century, has changed
hands repeatedly, a hostage to the
fortunes of war)
 His parents, Shlomo and Sarah,
were Orthodox Jews who owned a
grocery store. His father was a well
respected and admired community
leader.
 He had two older sisters, Hilda and
Bea, and a younger sister, Tsiporah.

Brief Biography of Elie
Wiesel
When he was three years old, Wiesel
began attending a Jewish school where he
learned Hebrew and studied the Torah.
 He also spent time talking with Moshe, a
Hasidic caretaker in his synagogue who
taught Wiesel about the mysteries of
Judaism.
 Elie was 15 years old when the Nazis
deported him and his family to AuschwitzBirkenau.

Important Jewish Texts
Eliezer, like Elie Wiesel,
studied the Torah and
the Talmud.

The Torah
A page of the
Talmud
A Hasidic Jew
Praying at the
Western Wall
in Jerusalem
Hasidic children
The Holocaust
A Human Genocide
1939 – Hitler starts invading Europe
and starts his ‘Ethnic Cleansing’
campaign.
 1941 – 1st concentration camp is
opened.
 1945 – war ends and camps are
dispersed.
 By the time WWII is over, almost 2/3 of
the Jewish people in Europe lost their
lives, around 6,000,000.
 The average life span at a
concentration camp was 4 months.
