Night Background
Background research to help you gain a more in-depth understanding of the historical context of Elie Wiesel's Holocaust memoir, Night. Topics are arranged basically chronologically.
At the end of each topic, the "On the book cart" section points out some titles from our book cart that might be most helpful. Citing a book in MLA 9 is really easy: Author lastname, Firstname. Title. Publisher, Year.
All Topics
Holocaust Timeline : A really extensive timeline from the Florida Center for Instructional Technology. Click on the hyperlinks for a detailed timeline of each period.
This Bay Area educational organization focuses on the teaching of the most difficult periods of history.
U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
The United States' museum dedicated to the Holocaust is in Washington, D.C. and has amazing resources for learning about the Holocaust.World War II (History Channel)
History ChannelHolocaust-related videos from the National WWII Museum, New Orleans
On the book cart: Check out Voices and Visions; The Holocaust: The World and the Jews; Moral Responsibility in the Holocaust; History in Dispute: The Holocaust; Remembering the Holocaust
Kabbalah (Jewish Mysticism)
Kabbalah: An Overview--written by a rabbi (currently at the Los Angeles Synagogue for Performing Arts), graduate of Columbia University, who has written a lot of books about Jewish history and culture and won several awards including the National Jewish Book Award.
Kabbalah (Chabad.org)
Chabad.org is a website to share information about Judaism that has been around in different forms since the late 1980s. Most of the articles are written by rabbis and religious scholars so it definitely has a religious rather than a neutral perspective, but it's a well-reviewed site by more neutral sources like the Washington Post and US News and World Report.Kabbalah (World History Encyclopedia)
Kabbalah and Hasidism (The Pluralism Project at Harvard University)
A Newcomer's Guide to Kabbalah (written by a law student at Cleveland State University)
The Rise of the Holy Spirit in Kabbalah (Harvard Divinity Bulletin)
Jewish Mysticism, Kabbalah... (an interview with a professor at University of Colorado, Boulder)
On the book cart: Check out Judaism; Religions of the World; Islam, Christianity, and Judaism.
Nazi Expansion in Europe
Nazification of Germany 1933-1939 (Florida Center for Instructional Technology)
The War Against Poland: Speed and Brutality (Facing History and Ourselves)
Dividing Poland and Its People (Facing History)
Colonizing Poland (Facing History)
Hitler (Biography in Context database)
If you have a public library card, you're lucky because you have access to this amazing biographical database that includes tons of articles, websites, e-books, videos, interviews, etc. about pretty much every famous person you can think of. It also provides citations.
If you don't have a public library card, sign up for an e-card at this linkHungarian Politics WWII
From History channelHungarian Politics WWII
An interesting Smithsonian magazine article on the modern legacy of Hungary's role in the Holocaust.Jewish Life in Poland Before the Holocaust (Facing History and Ourselves)
On the book cart: Check out Forever Outsiders; Smoke to Flame; The Blaze Engulfs; The Holocaust: The World and the Jews
Groups Targeted During the Holocaust
Non-Jewish victims of the Holocaust (from the United Kingdom's nonprofit group that runs the UK's Holocaust Memorial Day)--click on the names of specific groups on the left of this page
Polish victims of the Holocaust (USHMM)
The War Against Poland: Speed and Brutality (Facing History and Ourselves)
Dividing Poland and Its People (Facing History)
Colonizing Poland (Facing History)
Non-Jewish Victims (Yad Vashem)--Yad Vashem is the Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem, Israel. Unfortunately this site is not currently available at school but you can open it at home.
Victims of the Holocaust (Florida Center for Instructional Technology)
On the book cart: Check out Branded by the Pink Triangle
Ghettos During the Holocaust
Timeline of the ghettos (Florida Center for Instructional Technology)
Ghettos and Camps (this resource from the Holocaust Center for Humanity in Seattle includes video clips from survivors about life in the ghettos. Let Ms. McAuley know if you need to borrow headphones!)
Ghettos (Yad Vashem)
Yad Vashem is the Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem, Israel. Make sure you click on the names of specific ghettos (ie; "Warsaw Ghetto") on the left-hand toolbar for more information). Unfortunately this site is not currently available at school but you can open it at home.Ghettos and Deportation (from a British Holocaust memorial organization)
Daily Life in the Warsaw Ghetto (British Imperial War Museum)
Voices from the Warsaw Ghetto (Facing History and Ourselves)
Art of the Ghettos and Camps (Florida Center for Instructional Technology)
The Warsaw Ghetto (from the U.S. National World War II Museum in New Orleans)
On the book cart: Check out Life in the Nazi Ghettos; The Holocaust: The World and the Jews
Living Conditions in Concentration Camps, Forms of Resistance in Concentration Camps, Liberation of Concentration Camps
Concentration Camps (USHMM)
Overview of the Nazi Concentration Camps (from Birkbeck University, University of London)
Brief overview of camps (Holocaust Memorial Day Trust)
Neuengamme--this site from the British National Archives gives a lot of detail about the atrocious living conditions in one of the lesser-known camps (content warning: disturbing photos and descriptions)
Hunger in Concentration Camps (Nobel Peace Center)
Concentration Camps (Auschwitz-Birkenau museum): Unfortunately this site is not currently available at school but you can open it at home.
Concentration Camps (Yad Vashem) :Yad Vashem is the Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem, Israel. Make sure you click on the sub-categories (ie; "Daily Life in the Camps") on the left-hand toolbar for more information). Unfortunately this site is not currently available at school but you can open it at home.
Ghettos and Camps : This resource from the Holocaust Center for Humanity in Seattle includes video clips from survivors about life in the ghettos. Let Ms. McAuley know if you need to borrow headphones! This document has citation examples of videos.
Resisters (Florida Center for Instructional Technology)
Resistance timeline (Florida Center for Instructional Technology)
Timeline of the camps (Florida Center for Instructional Technology)
Timeline of Liberation (Florida Center for Instructional Technology)
Liberation of the Concentration Camps (Britain's Imperial War Museum)
On the book cart: Check out The Holocaust: The World and the Jews; Occupation and Resistance; Living and Dying in Nazi Concentration Camps; Beyond Courage; The Bielski Brothers
Dr. Joseph Mengele
Nazi medical experimentation (from The Lancet medical journal)
Mengele, Dr. Josef (Biography in Context database)
If you have a public library card, you're lucky because you have access to this amazing biographical database that includes tons of articles, websites, e-books, videos, interviews, etc. about pretty much every famous person you can think of. It also provides citations.
If you don't have a public library card, sign up for an e-card at this link.Revisiting Mengele's Malignant 'Race Science' (this New Yorker article discusses Mengele's life in the context of 2 books published about it)
Who knew what about Holocaust atrocities (internationally, in occupied countries, in Germany, etc.)
What Did The World Know? (Facing History)--also click "next reading" at the bottom, the next few pages are really helpful
"It's Not That The Story Was Buried" (TIME magazine, re: what America knew)
Americans and the Holocaust (USHMM)
"Early Warnings: How American Journalists Reported the Rise of Hitler" (Atlantic magazine)--you need to be logged in w/ your school Google account to view
Voyage of the Saint Louis (USHMM)
Voyage of the Saint Louis (Facing History)
Voyage of the Saint Louis (History channel)
Voyage of the Saint Louis (Britannica)
World Responses to the Holocaust (Facing History)
Smithsonian magazine--a really interesting article about ordinary Americans like you helping researchers find documents about what Americans knew at the time!
On the book cart: Check out The Holocaust: The World and the Jews; see also books listed under "All Topics" at top of this page
Elie Wiesel and His Life After the War
Wiesel's work as a college professor (Boston University)
Oprah Winfrey Interview with Elie Wiesel: Video. Winfrey and Wiesel visit Auschwitz together and talk about his memories there. Let Ms. McAuley know if you need to borrow headphones! This document has citation examples of videos.
Biographical article about Wiesel and his works from the Literary Reference Center database:
Goldman, L. H., et al. “Elie Wiesel.” Critical Survey of Long Fiction, Fourth Edition, Jan. 2010, pp. 1–13. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lkh&AN=164538243&site=lrc-plus.
A really interesting article about Wiesel's views and statements about the Israel-Palestine conflict from after WWII to today:
Chmiel, Mark. “Elie Wiesel and the Question of Palestine.” Tikkun (Duke University Press), vol. 17, no. 6, Nov. 2002, p. 61. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lkh&AN=7727657&site=lrc-plus.
Wiesel's remarks about the genocide in Darfur, Sudan, in 2004
Elie Wiesel (Biography in Context database)
If you have a public library card, you're lucky because you have access to this amazing biographical database that includes tons of articles, websites, e-books, videos, interviews, etc. about pretty much every famous person you can think of. It also provides citations.
If you don't have a public library card, sign up for an e-card at this link:Elie Wiesel (Britannica)
Our school has a subscription to Encyclopedia Britannica, which has articles on most of your topics as well as links to outside websites that are helpful. Log in using these credentials:
Username: fremont
Password: studentElie Wiesel (Nobel Prize website)
Click on the links on the left for more info.On the book cart: After The Darkness
War Crime Accountability
Nuremberg Trials (UMKC)
The "Famous Trials" site is written and managed by a law professor from the University of Missouri, Kansas City, school of law.Nuremberg Trials primary sources (Library of Congress)
Documents from the actual trials"Aftermath" timeline (Florida Center for Instructional Technology)
Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act: This site is about U.S. laws and efforts regarding de-classifying documents related to Nazi war crimes and prosecuting former Nazis as war criminals
Postwar Trials (Wiener Holocaust Library): This site explains some of the other Nazi war crimes trials besides Nuremberg
Denazification: This page is from the Allied Museum in Berlin, which is dedicated to the experiences of the Western Allied powers in Germany in WWII. Denazification refers to the effort to get all Nazis out of political power in Germany after WWII, which resulted in the detention of more than 400,000 Germans.
The Life of an Auschwitz Guard: An interesting interview with a former Nazi concentration camp guard who was put on trial in Germany at the age of 94 for the crimes he committed during the Holocaust
Fears of Retribution in Postwar Germany: This page from the U.S. WWII Museum describes German citizens' fear of being attacked by victims of the Holocaust after the war was over, and discusses to what extent these revenge attacks actually occurred
NPR article explaining what war crimes are and addressing the question of whether they are being committed now in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
On the book cart: Check out The Nuremberg Trials, Crimes Against Humanity, The Nazi Hunters, The Trial of Adolf Eichmann