Transcript Night Background notes

Night
Elie Weisel
Genocide
Geno-cide
Geno – from the
Greek word genos,
which means birth,
race, of a similar
kind
-Cide – from the
French word cida,
which means to
cut, kill
Holocaust
Definition: A Jewish sacrificial offering that is completely burnt on an
altar; destruction or slaughter on a mass scale esp. caused by fire or
nuclear war.
The Holocaust
Became the leader of
Germany in 1934
3 years later outlined
his plan for
domination
Began his efforts to
wipe out the Jewish
race—“Final
Solution”
The Holocaust
Hitler felt the
Jewish to be racially
inferior and a threat
to the Germans’
racial community
Other groups also
targeted: gypsies,
disabled,
homosexuals, etc.
The Holocaust
Persecution began
in 1934
Deaths and WWII
didn’t begin until
1939
The Yellow Star
“Jude” is German
for Jew
The Holocaust
1933: Jewish
population of
9,000,000 in
Europe
1945: 2 out of
every 3 had been
killed—pop. of
3 million
The Holocaust
System of
confinement,
deportation to
camps,
execution
Ghettos
Concentration
camps: forced to
work
The Holocaust
Death Camps:
mass murders of
Jewish pop.
Gassing,
shooting, fire,
starvation,
maltreatment
Most infamous:
AuschwitzBirkenau
Auschwitz
Largest Death
Camp
4 gas chambers
in operation
Up to 6,000
Jews gassed
each day
Children and
dead bodies
burned in ovens
The Holocaust
Allies: US,
Great
Britain,
Soviet Union
When Allies
were closing
in, Nazis
began death
marches
The Holocaust
Death
Marches were
evacuations of
concentration
camps to
avoid the
freeing of
Jews by Allied
Powers
The Holocaust
April 30, 1945—
Hitler commits
suicide
German
surrender May
7, 1945
Elie Weisel
Elie Weisel
Was deported to a
concentration camp
in 1944
Survived 4 of the
most infamous
camps
After being freed,
he spent 3 years in
an orphanage
Deporting Jews
Elie Weisel
Broke vow of
silence and
published Night in
1955
Won the Nobel
Peace Prize in
1986
Elie Wiesel’s Night…
The novel begins in Sighet,
Transylvania.
During the early years of World War
II, Sighet remained relatively
unaffected by the war. The Jews in
Sighet believed that they would be
safe from the persecution that Jews
in Germany and Poland suffered.