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ions, and simple, beautiful

Night

E L I E WI E S E L
WINNER OF THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE
Section Three
Vocabulary lucidity: clarity
antechamber: an entrance monocle: a corrective lens worn outside of one eye
ascertain: to determine nocturnal: night-time
baton: a stick notorious: well-known for disreputable acts petrified:
Blockälteste: German a block leader immobilized by fear
colic: indigestion raus: German out, off
colossus: a giant rebbe: a Jewish spiritual leader or rabbi, especially of a
crematorium: an oven built to incinerate bodies Hasidic sect
Dr. Mengele: a doctor and SS officer known as the Sonder-Kommando: German translated as “special
“Angel of Death” who helped select those destined squad”; refers to a Jewish work unit or group in the
to die and also performed cruel and bizarre medical death camps
experiments on the prisoners SS: abbreviation for an officer in the Schutzstaffel, an
eluded: escaped from garb: clothing elite guard unit under Hitler and the Nazi Party
harangued: berated, lectured responsible for carrying out war crimes during
imperative: critical, necessary World War II
invectives: attacks, curses tumult: chaos
Kapo: a concentration camp prisoner designated as a veritable: actual, true
supervisor by the SS vigor: strength
1. As the Jews exit the train, what is left behind in the
wagon with their precious belongings?
2. a. What is the consequence of the “eight simple, short
words” (3.6) spoken to them as they enter the camp?
b. What are the words?

3. a. Two inmates approach the group of men and speak

to them. What does the first inmate say, and what is
his intent?

b. What does the second inmate say, and why is he so

angry?
4. Why don’t the younger, armed men rush the guards
when they learn the reason for the crematorium?
5. a. What does Elie answer when asked his age and
occupation?

b. Why does he lie?

c. What does Dr. Mengele do after questioning Elie

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and his father? Is this is a good sign?

6. Why does Wiesel as the author insert a parenthetical
comment into the narrative saying, “(Is it any
wonder that ever since then, sleep tends to elude
me?)” (3.89-90)
7. Why does Elie pinch himself to see if he is
dreaming?

8. a. What is Kaddish, and why are people reciting it?

b. What is different about their recitation?

9. What meanings does the term “Angel of Death” carry

as Elie faces his first selection?

10. a. Elie writes, “Never shall I forget that night”; he

then recalls his first night in the camps.

b. What will Elie never forget that turned his “life

into one long night seven times sealed”?

c. What is different about this passage in terms of

style?

d. What purpose does it serve in the narrative?

11. a. What are the Jewish men made to do when they

reach the barracks?

b. For what reason?

12. How does Elie describe the Jews after he encounters

the rebbe’s brother, Yehiel?

13. Describe what is happening to the notion of time for

Elie.

14. a. Who addresses the Jews as though they were “a

pack of leprous dogs clinging to life,” (3.245-6)
b. and what does he say to them?

c. What word is the only word that still carries “real

meaning” in Auschwitz?

15. For what does Elie have remorse related to his

father?
16. a. What is inscribed above the gate leading to
Auschwitz?

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b. How is the phrase darkly ironic?

17. a. What are the first “human words” that Elie hears at
the camp,
b. and who says them?
18. a. What is tattooed on Elie’s arm,
b. and what is its purpose?
19. a. Why does Elie lie to Stein?

b. What does Elie tell him?

c. What is the outcome of Elie’s efforts?

20. How do the Germans who are not soldiers react to the
prisoners being marched to Buna?

Section Four
Vocabulary
altruistic: selfless Lagerälteste: German the head of the work camp
Appelplatz: German a place to assemble for roll call in manacled: handcuffed
the concentration camps Meister: German mister
Aryan: belonging to a subgroup of non-Jewish, Caucasian merchandise: products for sale
people of European descent pipel: slang a young male prisoner in the camps kept by
cauldrons: large, heavy cooking pots a commander for sex
conscientious: careful, thorough pittance: a tiny amount
copulate: to have sex quarantine: to isolate and keep apart from a group
dissipated: lessened ration: a measured portion
epidemic: a widespread occurrence of infectious disease swine: a pig
in a community thrash: to beat
famished: extremely hungry untenable: unsustainable
gallows: a structure from which a person is hanged wizened: wrinkled
gaping: hanging open writhed: squirmed, struggled
ghastly: awful Zionist: a Jewish nationalist and advocate for a Jewish
imprudent: unwise, foolish homeland
infirmary: a ward or barrack where the sick are kept and
treated
1. How is the German tent leader described? What
mood does the description evoke?
2. Who is compared to “cattle” and “merchandise”?
3. How are Elie and his father “lucky” in the work detail
they are given?
4. What common dream do Elie, Tibi, and Yossi share?
5. a. Why is Elie sent to the dentist?

b. What does the dentist do to his mouth?

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c. What becomes of the dentist?

6. What secret does Elie suspect related to the French

woman in the camp that is verified in a Metro station
in Paris many years after the war?

7. a. Explain how this passage employs metaphors to

describe Elie’s physical condition:
“The bread, the soup—those were my entire
life. I was nothing but a body. Perhaps even
less: a famished stomach. The stomach
alone was measuring time.” (4.137-9)
b. What meaning is achieved through the
metaphors?
8. a. Describe and explain Elie’s reaction when his
father is beaten by Idek.
b. What prompts Elie’s receiving a whipping?
c. What is the purpose of the whipping?
9. a. Describe what happens when the sirens go off in
camp.
b. What do the “hundreds of eyes” look at?
c. How does the scene that follows illustrate the
theme of insanity?
10. When the camp is being bombed, Elie first thinks
gleefully of the German factory going up in flames,
but after the inmates learn the “depot was not
touched,” (4.356) they go “cheerfully” (4.357) to
clear the ruins.
a. Why is Elie happy?
b. How does this reflect the Jews’ attitude toward
revenge while in the camps?
11. Elie says of one evening that “the soup tasted better
than ever” (4.405) and of another that “the soup
tasted of corpses” (4.459). Describe the events
underlying each of Elie’s assertions, and explain the
different effects they have on him.

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