Transcript Elie Wiesel’s Night - Upper Canada District School Board

Elie Wiesel’s Night
“They fought alone, they suffered alone,
they lived alone, but they did not die alone,
for something in all of us died with them.”
- Wiesel
Elie Wiesel
“To remain
silent and
indifferent is
the greatest sin
of all.” Wiesel
1928 Born in Sighet, Romania
-Population of
15,000 Jewish
souls before World
War II
-Only a handful of
them live in the
town today
Holocaust
- Not one event, cause or person
- Collection of Fascism, irresponsible civic leadership,
strong propaganda and economic depression.
- Systematic persecution and eventual murder of the
Jewish population in Europe.
- Gypsies, homosexuals, Jehovah Witnesses,
Catholics and mentally retarded people were
victimized.
- Hitler is responsible for the death of over six million
(6,000,000) Jewish people.
Night
• A memoir about what
the Holocaust did to
Wiesel, to Jews, and to
humanity.
• Wiesel shows the
spiritual beating the
Jews suffered, the loss
of faith they suffered,
and the physical
brutality they suffered.
• At the end of the
war, Elie feels he
has been robbed of
his soul. He has
lost all faith in God
and his fellow man,
and these losses are
the obstacles he
must overcome.
1944 Deported to Auschwitz
- Auschwitz was a Nazi death
camp during the Holocaust
- Over 4 million Nazi prisoners died
- Mostly Europeans of Jewish
decent
- Prisoners were transported there
from 20 different countries.
- Elie Weisel’s family perished
while at the death camp
- Liberated by Russian troops on
January 27, 1945
Definitions
• Concentration Camp: a
camp primarily used for
slave labor.
• Death Camp: a camp
dedicated to the efficient
murder of Jews. The term
was also used for
concentration camps where
1000s died of starvation and
disease.
• Auschwitz: the largest
concentration camp that
later became a death camp.
Over 200,000 Jews died at
this camp.
Entrance to Auschwitz
“Work makes you free”
Guard station at Auschwitz
Perimeter fencing surrounding
Auschwitz
Internal courtyard at Auschwitz
Execution wall at Auschwitz
Timeline of the Holocaust
• 1933: The Nazi Party
takes power in
Germany. Adolf Hitler
becomes chancellor, or
prime minister, of
Germany.
– The Nazis set up the
first concentration
camp at Dachau.
– Books contrary to
Nazi beliefs are
burned in public.
Holocaust Timeline Continued
• 1934: Hitler combines
the positions of
chancellor and
president to become
“Fuhrer,” or leader,
of Germany.
• 1935: Jews in
Germany are
deprived of
citizenship and other
basic rights.
Holocaust Timeline Continued
• 1936: The Olympic
• A Jewish synagogue
Games are held in
burns during
Germany; signs barring
Kristallnacht
Jews are removed from
public places until the
event ends.
• 1938: Nazi gangs
physically attack Jews
throughout Germany
and Austria on
Kristallnacht (the “Night
of Broken Glass”).
Holocaust Timeline Continued
• 1938: Germany takes
over Czechoslovakia
and invades Poland,
and World War II
begins.
– Hitler orders the
systematic murder
of the
mentally/physically
disabled.
– Polish Jews ordered
to relocate.
Holocaust Timeline Continued
• 1942: Nazi officials
• 1940: Nazis begin
present the “Final
deporting German
Solution” – their plan
Jews to Poland.
to kill all European
– German Jews are
Jews.
forced into ghettos.
– Death camps begin
• 1941: Mobile killing
operation
units begin the
– March: 20-25% of
systematic slaughter of
Jews who die in the
Jews. 33,771 Jews
Holocaust have
killed in 2 days.
already perished.
Jewish Ghetto; Warsaw, Poland
Auschwitz II Birkenau created as
part of “Final Solution”
Perimeter fence surrounding Birkenau
(barracks in background)
Left, live; right, die
Left: Bombed out crematory
Right: “ashes could be seen in pond”
The Deaths Continue
• 1943: About 8085% of Jews who
will die have
perished.
• 1944: By June the
Germans are
deporting 12,000
Hungarian Jews a
day to Auschwitz.
The End Approaches
• 1945: Nazis begin to
evacuate death camps.
– About 1/3 of all the
Jews in the world
have been
murdered and the
survivors are
homeless.
• 1946: Nazi leaders
tried for war crimes
and crimes against
humanity.
• Surviving children
evacuate Auschwitz upon
liberation.
Jewish Cemetery; Warsaw, Poland
Wiesel Timeline
• 1928: Born in
Sighet, Romania
• 1944: Deported to
Auschwitz
• 1945: Father dies in
Buchenwald; Wiesel
liberated from
concentration camp.
• 1948: Moved to
Paris, France to
study at the
Sorbonne.
• 1948: Work in
journalism begins.
• 1954: Decides to write
about the Holocaust
• 1958: Night is
published.
• The author of 36
works about Judiasm,
the Holocaust, and the
moral responsibility of
all people to fight
hatred.
Childhood
Wiesel had a typical Jewish childhood in
Romania; his world revolved around
family, religious study, community,
and God. All of these things were
destroyed when he was deported in
1944. Since this time, Wiesel has
dedicated his life to making sure none
of us forget what happened to the Jews
during the Holocaust.
Life During the Holocaust
• Separated from his
mother and sister
upon deportation.
• His father died in
the last months of
the war.
• Later learned his
mother and sister
perished in the gas
chambers.
• Wiesel survived
Auschwitz and three
other concentration
camps.
• After the liberation
of the camps, Wiesel
spent a few years in
a French orphanage.
Wiesel the Statesman
• Awarded the Nobel
Peace Prize in 1986.
• Appointed to chair the
President’s
Commission on the
Holocaust.
• Awarded the
Congressional Gold
Medal of
Achievement.
• Responsible for the
creation of the
Holocaust Museum in
Washington, D.C.
• Elie Wiesel and the
Nobel Prize for Peace
Brick from Warsaw Ghetto in U.S.
Holocaust Museum
Night Vocabulary
• Talmud: the collection
of 1,000 years of
Jewish Law and
tradition.
• Synagogue: the Jewish
house of worship and
center of Jewish life.
• Rabbi: means
“teacher”and is given
to a religious leader
• Yellow Star: After
1935 in Nazi
Germany and later
in other countries,
Jews were required
to wear a Star of
David in public.
The star was black
on a yellow
background with
the word “Jew” in
the middle.
Vocabulary Continued
• Ghetto: Beginning
• SS: a highly trained
in 1939, the Nazis
force who protected
forced Jews into
the Nazi state.
restricted sections
• Gestapo: a secret
of cities surrounded
police and division
by walls, guards,
of the SS, much
and barbed wire.
feared and in
In reality, the
charge of
ghettos were
imprisoning all
holding stations
enemies of the Nazi
before deportation.
state.
Vocabulary Continued
• Kapos: prisoners who supervised
other prisoners.
• Crematory: a furnace for burning
dead bodies to ashes.
• Aryan: In Nazi ideology, the pure,
superior German race.
Mass grave
“Never shall I forget those moments
which murdered my God and my soul
and turned my dreams to dust. Never
shall I forget these things, even if I am
condemned to live as long as God
himself. Never.” – Wiesel in Night
Memorial at Auschwitz Birkenau
Memorial to resistance fighters;
Auschwitz Museum
Memorial to Auschwitz victims
Ghetto Uprising Memorial; Warsaw,
Poland