Night by Elie Wiesel

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Nightby Elie Wiesel

• Presented by Sasha Lidman

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Contents

• Elie Wiesel- a biography3
• Chapter 1 summary11
• Chapter 2 summary12
• Chapter 3 summary13
• Chapter 4 summary14
• Chapter 5 summary16
• Chapter 6 summary18
• Chapter 7 summary20
• My reflection of the book.22
• Bibliography24

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Elie Wiesel- a biography

• Elie Wiesel was born in the small town of Sighet
  in Transylvania, where people of different
  languages and religions have lived side by side
  for centuries, sometimes peacefully, sometimes in
  bitter conflict. The region 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.

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• Elie Wiesel grew up in the close-knit Jewish
  community of Sighet. While the family spoke
  Yiddish at home, they read newspapers and
  conducted their grocery business in German,
  Hungarian or Romanian as the occasion demanded.
  Ukrainian, Russian and other languages were also
  widely spoken in the town. Elie began religious
  studies in classical Hebrew almost as soon as he
  could speak. The young boy's life centered
  entirely on his religious studies. He loved the
  mystical tradition and folk tales of the Hassidic
  sect of Judaism, to which his mother's family
  belonged. His father, though religious,
  encouraged the boy to study the modern Hebrew
  language and concentrate on his secular studies.
  The first years of World War II left Sighet
  relatively untouched. Although the village
  changed hands from Romania to Hungary, the Wiesel
  family believed they were safe from the
  persecutions suffered by Jews in Germany and
  Poland.

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• The secure world of Wiesel's childhood ended
  abruptly with the arrival of the Nazis in Sighet
  in 1944. The Jewish inhabitants of the village
  were deported en masse to concentration camps in
  Poland. The 15 year-old boy was separated from
  his mother and sister immediately on arrival in
  Auschwitz. He never saw them again. He managed to
  remain with his father for the next year as they
  were worked almost to death, starved, beaten, and
  shuttled from camp to camp on foot, or in open
  cattle cars, in driving snow, without food,
  proper shoes, or clothing. In the last months of
  the war, Wiesel's father succumbed to dysentery,
  starvation, exhaustion and exposure.

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• After the war, the teenaged Wiesel found asylum
  in France, where he learned for the first time
  that his two older sisters had survived the war.
  Wiesel mastered the French language and studied
  philosophy at the Sorbonne, while supporting
  himself as a choir master and teacher of Hebrew.
  He became a professional journalist, writing for
  newspapers in both France and Israel.

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• For ten years, he observed a self-imposed vow of
  silence and wrote nothing about his wartime
  experience. In 1955, at the urging of the
  Catholic writer Francois Mauriac, he set down his
  memories in Yiddish, in a 900-page work entitled
  Un die welt hot geshvign (And the world kept
  silent). The book was first published in Buenos
  Aires, Argentina. Wiesel compressed the work into
  a 127-page French adaptation, La Nuit (Night),
  but several years passed before he was able to
  find a publisher for the French or English
  versions of the work. Even after Wiesel found
  publishers for the French and English
  translations, the book sold few copies.

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• In 1956, while he was in New York covering the
  United Nations, Elie Wiesel was struck by a taxi
  cab. His injuries confined him to a wheelchair
  for almost a year. Unable to renew the French
  document which had allowed him to travel as a
  "stateless" person, Wiesel applied successfully
  for American citizenship. Once he recovered, he
  remained in New York and became a feature writer
  for the Yiddish-language newspaper, the Jewish
  Daily Forward (Der forverts ).

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• Wiesel continued to write books in French,
  including the semi-autobiographical novels L'Aube
  (Dawn), and Le Jour (translated as The Accident
  ). In his novel La Ville de la Chance (translated
  as The Town Beyond the Wall ), Wiesel imagined a
  return to his home town, a journey he did not
  undertake in life until after the book was
  published.
• As these and other books began to win him an
  international reputation, Wiesel took an
  increasing interest in the plight of persecuted
  Jews in the Soviet Union. He first traveled to
  the USSR in 1965 and reported on his travels in
  The Jews of Silence. His 1968 account of the Six
  Day War between Israel and its Arab neighbors
  appeared in English as A Beggar In Jerusalem . In
  time, Wiesel was able to use his fame to plead
  for justice for oppressed peoples in the Soviet
  Union, South Africa, Vietnam, Biafra and
  Bangladesh

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• He has written plays including Zalmen, or the
  Madness of God and The Trial of God (Le Proces de
  Shamgorod ). His other novels include The Gates
  of the Forest, The Oath, The Testament, and The
  Fifth Son. His essays and short stories are
  collected in the volumes Legends of Our Time, One
  Generation After, and A Jew Today. Although
  Wiesel still writes his books in French, his wife
  Marion now collaborates with him on their English
  translation.
• In 1978, President Jimmy Carter appointed Elie
  Wiesel Chairman of the United States Holocaust
  Memorial Council. In 1985 he was awarded the
  Congressional Medal of Freedom and, in 1986, the
  Nobel Prize for Peace. The English translation of
  his memoirs appeared in 1995 as All Rivers Run to
  the Sea. Since 1976, he has been Andrew Mellon
  Professor of Humanities at Boston University. He
  makes his home in New York City with his wife and
  their son, Elisha.

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Chapter 1(pages 1-20)

• This part of the book begins with the description
  of a man called Moche the Beadle. This man was a
  mentor to Elie, teaching him the Cabbala against
  his fathers will. One day, Moche was deported ,
  along with the other Sighet Jews. They were all
  soon forgotten, until Moche returned and told the
  townspeople what happened to the others- how they
  were forced to dig their own graves and then
  mercilessly killed. Even though Moche only came
  back to warn the Jews, they did not believe him ,
  thinking he was trying to get money or sympathy.
  The Jews remained optimistic even when the German
  soldiers entered their territory and the first
  decrees against the Jews were formed. When the
  Germans set up the Ghettos in Sighet, the Jews
  became optimistic,hoping they would remain in the
  Ghetto until the end of the war. Soon, however ,
  they received news of a deportation soon to come.
  Elies family had a week to prepare for the
  departure, and they prepared for a long journey
  not knowing where they would be taken. When it
  was finally time to leave, the Jews were
  literally stuffed into small cattle wagons.

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Chapter 2 (pages 21-26)

• In this part the Jews are taken somewhere in a
  cattle wagon. The conditions are awful, there is
  no food and the heat is unbearable.Here began the
  slow transformation of the Jews from human
  beings into animal-like creatures- Elie complains
  that the youngsters had sex openly in the train,
  inconsiderate of the others. Also, when an old
  woman named Madame Schachter went out of her mind
  and started screaming of a fire and a furnace she
  sees, the men beat her up repeatedly to shut her
  up. Later they even tied her up and gagged her,
  even though she was obviously unwell after the
  loss of most of her family. In the end of the
  chapter the Jews actually saw the flames she saw
  earlier. The Jews had arrived in Birkenau- the
  reception center for Auschwitz.

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Chapter 3 (pages 26-44)

• This section of the book was quite disturbing.
  The first shock was when Elie was separated from
  his mother and sisters. Then, the most horrible
  of all- he saw the burning pit of babies and
  young children. Thinking he was to be burned Elie
  thought of suicide on the electric wire to save
  himself the agony of burning.Its then when the
  first question in god rose in him. Interesting
  though, that while questioning Gods mercy and
  refusing to bless him, he had never questioned
  his existence.
• Here, the Nazis begin the work of robbing the
  Jews of their individuality and humiliating them-
  all have their hair cut and are given ill-fitting
  prisoners clothes. The guards threated them as
  animals. The men that were singled out for being
  stronger were made into the Sonder-Kommandos.
  ,made to burn their fellow prisoners, their own
  brothers! To me this is the most horrible
  torture imaginable.
• At the camp the next day, the sign on it said,
  Work is liberty. Liberty? In Auschwitz?
  Yet, it was, in a way, logical., as long as you
  could work, you were free from death. The head of
  Elies block met the prisoners with kind, human
  words and they regained hope. It was at this camp
  that the man Stein approached Elie and his
  father. He was a distant relative that Elies
  father did not remember, but Elie had recognized
  him. Stein wanted to know if they had heard
  anything about his family, so Elie lied and told
  him that he had heard that they were alive and
  well. Elie was wise enough to realize that this
  white lie would bring Keep Stein alive. Later
  Stein received some real news of his family. Elie
  had never seen him again.
• In the end of the chapter the remaining Jews
  marched to buna,

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Chapter 4 (pages 45-62)

• In this chapter Elie and the other Jews adapted
  in Buna. They were threated by the Kapos as
  cattle or merchandise. Elie got in a pretty good
  unit, with friendly comrades, a sympathetic
  foreman who even placed him with his father and
  an easy warehouse job. Sometimes the Kapo would
  have a rage outburst and beat whoever got in his
  way. Once, Elie did, and Idek beat him
  severely.Then,a young girl that worked there as
  French, helped him and even comforted him in
  German- even though she was risking herself by
  that . Another time, the victim was Elies
  father- and Elie wasnt mad at the Kapo but at
  his father- for not knowing how to escape the
  outburst! This is what camp life has made of him.
• Later on, the foreman had noticed Elies gold
  tooth. The sympathetic, intelligent youth was no
  more- the greed had turned him heartless and he
  tormented Elies father. Eventually, Elie had to
  give in.

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• One Sunday, the camp was bombed by American
  planes. This gave the Jews a new hope, even
  though each bomb could kill hundreds of them! But
  they didnt fear death anymore.
• During the alert, one of the prisoners stole some
  soup.
• A week later, he was executed for the crime.
• He died with a curse upon Germany on his lips
  and all the prisoners were made to look at him.
• This wasnt the last execution Elie had to
  witness. He tells of one that had shaken him more
  than the others the execution of a young child
  who was loved by all in the camp.The child worked
  under an oberkapo found guilty in sabotage. He
  was put to torture beforehand but would not
  speak.
• When the child was hung Elie felt as if god had
  died.

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Chapter 5 (pages 63-80)

• The summer was coming to an end, and the Jews
  celebrated Rosh Hashanah. Elies mind revolted
  against the prairs- He had been through so much
  until now that his faith was gone. He stirred
  against praising the god that let all this hell
  happen to those who pray before him and accused
  god for leaving them. In Yom Kippur Elie did not
  fast, as if protesting against God.
• After Yom Kippur came two selections. Elie ,
  among with his father and everyone else,
  panicked. His father even left him an inheritage-
  a knife and a spoon, preparing to die.
• Luckily, the father managed to escape the
  selection. But Akiba Drummer didnt. In all the
  previous chapters he was the one never losing
  hope But lately he had lost his faith in God.
  Elie explained his death by this.

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• When the winter came, the conditions in the camp
  went even worse, and in January Elie got a
  frostbite on his right foot. He had it examined
  and the doctor insisted on an operation. In the
  hospital Elie saw near-human conditions again- he
  had forgotten them by then! His neighbor advised
  him to get out of the hospital as soon as
  possible, but Elie didnt know whether even to
  trust him or not
• Two days after Elie had an operation a rumor of
  the Red Army approaching was spread. Soon the
  Jews were told to prepare for evacuation. Elie
  decided to go with the rest of the Jews,even
  though his foot was bleeding and he couldnt
  walk.. Ironically, the red army did come, and
  the invalids left in camp were released 2 days
  after the evacuation.

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Chapter 6 (pages 81-92)

• The Jews marched, followed by the SS who soon
  made them
• run and shot anyone who couldnt keep up. Elie
  was
• completely exausted, hardly dragging himself. The
  race was
• so hard the idea of a quick death started to
  fascinate him,
• and the only thing that stopped him from giving
  up was his
• fathers presence- Elie had to continue suporting
  him.
• When the Jews were given the order to rest,
  Elies father
• didnt let him sleep- those who did, froze to
  death. They
• went into a shed and slept in there, taking turns
  to watch
• one another.
• One of the most unsettling parts of the book to
  me is the
• story of rabbi Eliahou and his son, who left him
  behind. The
• most horrible part of the nazi abuse was the
  psychological
• effect. The Jews turned into mere animals. In the
  race for
• survival bonds suck as the one a father and a son
  share,
• were erased.
• Elie prayed to god for the strength never to do
  such a deed.

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• Finally, the Jews reached Gleiwitz. There, Elie
  met an old friend Juliek, the violinist. He had
  brought his violin with him.Falling asleep among
  the corpses
• Elie heard him play. Juliek played as he would
  never play again putting his soul into the
  strings. When Elie woke up Juliek was already
  dead, his violin trampled.Elie was kept in the
  camp for 3 days without food or drink. Then there
  was a selection.
• Elies father was chosen to die but Elie ran
  after him and causing a confusion, brought him
  back. Later, the Jews were given bread. For
  water, each ate a
• mouthful of snow from his neighbors back. The SS
  offecers laughed at this.
• Then, the train arrived. The wagons had no roofs
  and
• it was still snowing. The Jews were loaded in and
  the
• conoy set out.

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Chapter 7 (pages 93-108)

• When he was on the train, Elie recalls a stop
  where a workman threw some pieces of bread on to
  the train. The prisoners began to tear each other
  apart for a piecehe saw a man assault his own
  father for some bread. However, that man was
  killed right after by another man anyway... The
  Jews were no longer humans, they ceased to be men
  long ago. Unable to prove their humanity they
  acted as mere animals. Elie tells of an event
  that happened years later where a woman was
  throwing some money to some poor native children
  in Aden that reminded him of his situation. The
  children were fighting mercilessly over the
  coins, and when Elie asked her to stop, she
  replied, I like to give charity..... Obviously,
  it was only done for the entertainment, and so it
  is in the story. The workmen too didnt think of
  the Jews as of human beings.
• In Buchenwald, Elies father had fallen ill , and
  the doctors didnt help.His neighbors abused him
  and took away his food. He kept begging for water
  and eventually passed away. Elie had no tears to
  weep for him, and to his dismay, he even felt a
  bit liberated from the heavy burden

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• on April fifth, the SS said that they were going
  to start
• evacuating Buchenwald one day at a time, and stop
  the
• rations of bread and soup.The evacuation began.
• Finally, on April tenth, there was an alarm, and
  a revolt the
• next day. The prisoners were rescued by the
  Americans that
• Evening. Their first act as free men was to eat.
  That was the
• only desire still alive in them .None thought of
  their
• families or of revenge. The author ends the book
  with the
• Following lines
• From the depth of the mirror a corpse gazed back
  at me.
• The look in his eyes as they stared into mine,
  has never left me.

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My Reflection of the book

• My experience of reading this book has two
  aspects. On one hand, it was an amazing book. The
  author has a very special writing style that
  helped me imagine all the events vividly. On the
  other hand thats what made it unbelievably
  painful to read. The more I read, the more I
  realized- If I would be there I would never reach
  the end of the war.
• The Holocaust is pretty much my familys history,
  al my parents survived the war. My mind cannot
  comprehend all this. It is very stirring that all
  that happened to the Jews only because of their
  religion! I cant help agreeing with Elie Wiesel
  Where was the Justice?!
• I cant say Ive learned anything new about the
  Holocaust from the book, since Ive been reading
  about it a lot earlier. Still, the book was so
  vivid it made me almost experience the Holocaust,
  and of course, understand it better.

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• Im very gald I got to share opinions with a
  foreign student, since it was very interesting
  for me to see how an outsiders point of view on
  those events. As I see, they stirred my partner
  just the same.
• I believe my English has improved from reading
  the book- I enriched my vocabulary a lot and
  learned new expressions.
• In the end I feel that I learned something from
  this project and Im glad we went through with
  it.

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Bibliography

• http//www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/wie0bio-1
• The book Night