Transcript Night - Tri-Valley Local School District

Night by Elie Wiesel
A NONFICTION JOURNEY OF EVIL AND
UNSPEAKABLE HORROR THAT SHOULD
NEVER OCCUR AGAIN.
Nonfiction: types
 An autobiography is a sketch of the author’s entire life,
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often from birth up until the time of the writing.
A memoir focuses on one aspect of the writer’s life.
Memoirs usually cover a relatively short span of time,
and their main purpose is to draw the reader’s attention
to a specific theme or circumstance.
A biography is the story of a life from another person’s
perspective.
An essay is a short nonfiction work that addresses a
specific subject.
A speech is a talk or an address presented to an
audience.
Night by Elie Weilsel
 Autobiographical,
memoir
 Focus on observation describes an event that
the writer witnessed
firsthand.
 Elie Wiesel - Bearing
Witness - invites us to
listen, and to remember.
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“Those who cannot
remember the past are
condemned to repeat it.”
Author Background
 Born September 30, 1928
in Sighet
 Romanian-born FrenchJewish novelist, political
activist, and Holocaust
survivor.
 Author of over 40 books,
the best known of which is
Night, a memoir that
describes his experiences
during the Holocaust and
his imprisonment in
several concentration
camps.
Family Background
 Wiesel was born to Shlomo and Sarah Wiesel with
three sisters: Hilda and Bea, who were older than he,
and Tzipora, who was the youngest.
 Shlomo (father) was an Orthodox Jew of Hungarian
descent, and a shopkeeper who ran his own grocery
store.
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active and trusted within the community
had spent a few months in jail for having helped Polish Jews
who escaped to Hungary in the early years of the war.
encouraged Elie to learn Modern Hebrew and to read
literature, whereas his mother encouraged him to study Torah
and Kabbalah.
 Wiesel has said his father represented reason, and his
mother, faith.
Inside the camp.
 Inside the camp, Eliezer
will witness horrible acts
of cruelty and suffer in
terrible ways.
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How will he survive?
Can his religious faith
endure the atrocities he
witnesses?
What message does he
bring to the world from
such horror?
Historical Background
 In Night, Elie Wiesel
shares his story of the
Holocaust, the name
given to the persecution
and murder of millions
of Jews and others
during World War II.
 Holocaust comes from a
Greek word that means
“a burnt offering.”
Historical Background
 Germany began World War
II when it invaded Poland
in 1939.
 German forces conquered
most of Europe in the next
two years.
 World War II ended in
Europe in 1945 with the
surrender of German forces
to the Allied forces.
 More than six million Jews
had been killed in the
Holocaust.
Historical Background
 Wiesel’s story begins in
Romania (now Hungary)
in 1941 and ends in 1944.
When Germans took over
this area, local Jews were
persecuted.
 They were forced to wear
yellow stars and to live in
ghettos, and were then
sent to concentration
camps.
Historical Background
 Auschwitz, where Wiesel
was sent, was the largest
camp.
 Jews from all over Europe
arrived almost daily at
Auschwitz.
 Nazis also targeted other
groups:
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Romany (Gypsies),
Russians, non Jewish
Polish intellectual and
religious leaders, and
Jehovah’s Witnesses
Historical Background
 Between 1945 and 1946,
the Allies tried twentytwo major war criminals
for their crimes against
humanity.
 In later years, Israeli
agents worked to capture
and bring to justice Nazis
who had escaped the war
trials.
Just the facts … about the novel.
 genre · World War II / Holocaust autobiography
 time written · Mid-1950’s
 setting (time) · 1941–1945, during World War II
 settings (place) · Eliezer’s story begins in Sighet, Transylvania. The book then
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follows his journey through several concentration camps in Europe:
date of first publication · English translation was published in 1960.
narrator · Eliezer (a slightly fictionalized version of Elie Wiesel)
point of view · Eliezer speaks in the first person and always relates the
autobiographical events from his perspective.
tense · Past
tone · Eliezer’s perspective is limited to his own experience, and the tone of Night
is therefore intensely personal, one-sided, and intimate.
Disclaimer: Do not write down!
 Night is not meant to be an all-encompassing
discussion on the experience of the Holocaust;
instead, it depicts the extraordinarily personal and
painful experiences of a single victim.
 You will be exposed to many disturbing ideas,
thoughts, and graphics. If you are uncomfortable (or
become uncomfortable) with anything we cover –
please come see me!