Night

Night by Elie Wiesel

Chapter 1 - Page 3 to 17

1. (3) How does Elie describe his father?

2. (5) What does Moshe the Beadle say the SS did to the foreign Jews deported from Sighet?

3. (6) How do the other Jews treat Moshe the Beadle after he returns to Sighet?

4. (7) Do the Jews of Sighet believe the Germans will reach them?

5. (8) What is the townspeople first impression of the Germans?

6. (9) What are the Jews forced to wear?

7. (11) Where does Elie's father say they are going?

8. (12) How would you describe the way the Jews are treated by the Hungarian police?

9. (14) Why does Elie's mother make the children go to bed very early?

10. (15) What does Elie see his father do for the first time?

11. (16) What does Elie's father say after their family friend, Martha, asks the family to come to her village in order to avoid the Germans?

12. (17) What happens to anyone who escapes the cattlewagon?

Chapter 2 - Page 18 to 21 

13. (19) What does Madame Schacter keep yelling out?

14. (20) What is the name of the concentration camp?

15. (21) What can Elie smell at Auschwitz?

Chapter 3 - Page 22 to 34

16. (22) How old does the other prisoner tell Elie to say he is? Why?

17. (23) What are some of the young men tempted to do? Why don't they?

18. (24) When asked by Dr. Mengele, what does Elie say his occupation is?

19. (25) What is Elie tempted to do in order to avoid dying in the flames?

20. (26) What were the Sonder-Kommando?

21. (28) Why does nobody notice Elie's new shoes?

22. (29) What does the SS officer say will happen to anyone who stops working?

23. (30) What does the inscription on the door to Auschwitz say? What is this supposed to mean?

24. (31) What is engraved into Elies arm? Why do you think the Germans do this to the prisoners?

25. (33) Why is the prisoner in charge of Elie's block replaced?

26. (34) What does Akiba Drummer say about God?

Chapter 4 - Page 35 to 48

27. (35) Why is the head of the camp so nice to children?

28. (36) Why is Louis not allowed to play Beethoven?

29. (37) What are the names of the two brothers that Elie becomes friends with?

30. (38) How does Elie avoid getting his gold crown removed?

31. (39) Where did Elie see the little girl from the concentration camp later in life?

32. (40) What does Franek want Elie to give him?

33. (41) How is Elie's crown eventually removed?

34. (42) Why did Idek not want the men in the camp?

35. (43) What happens in the camp that causes the SS to run for shelter?

36. (44) What happens with the starving man and the soup?

37. (45) Why do the Nazis hang the young man from Warsaw, Poland?

38. (46) What is a pipel?

39. (47) Why does it take longer for the pipel to die than the other hanged prisoners?

40. (48) What does Elie think to himself when the other prisoner asks where God is?

Chapter 5 - Page 49 to 62

41. (49) Why does Elie question whether he should bless God?

42. (50) Why does Elie believe his generation does not deserve the same punishment as Noah?

43. (51) Why are some of the Jews fasting? Does Elie? Why?

44. (52) What orders have the Kapos been given?

45. (53) How does Elie know he wasn’t selected?

46. (54) Did Elie’s father pass selection?

47. (55) What does Elie’s dad give him? Why?

48. (56) What happens to Akiba Drummer?

49. (57) How does Elie end up in the hospital?

50. (58) What is Elie afraid happened?

51. (59) What is going to happen to the camp?

52. (60) What decision do Elie and his father have to make?

53. (61) What ended up happening to the people in the hospital?

54. (62) Why does the head of the block try to clean out the block before leaving?

Chapter 6 - Page 63 to 71

55. (63) What do the SS do to anyone who stops moving?

56. (64) What motivates Elie to keep moving?

57. (65) Why does Elie’s father tell him not to fall asleep in the snow?

58. (66) Why can’t Elie sleep?

59. (67) What does Elie believe Rabbi Eliahou’s son did?

60. (68) What is the name of the new camp?

61. (69) How is Elie almost killed on page 69?

62. (70) Who does Elie think of when he hears Beethoven?

63. (71) What are the rest of the prisoners forced onto?

Chapter 7 - Page 72 to 75

64. (72) What do the Germans stop the train to do?

65. (73) How does Elie’s father escape death again?

66. (74) What happens when a piece of bread is dropped in the wagon?

67. (75) Out of 100, how many of the men in the wagon survive?

Chapter 8 - Page 76 to 81

68. (76) What does Elie’s father ask him to do?

69. (77) What does Elie’s father ask him to bring him?

70. (78) Why was Elie’s father not given food?

71. (79) What happens when Elie asks the doctor to help his father?

72. (80) Why are the other prisoners angry with Elie’s father?

73. (81) How does Elie find out his father has died?

Chapter 9 - Page 82 to 83

74. (82) What was the only thing Elie cared about for his remaining time at Buchenwald?

75. (83) What is the first thing the men do after being freed? What happens to Elie 3 days after being freed?

Night by Elie Wiesel

Vocabulary List

1. achtung: German for "Attention!"

2. Aden: a former Middle Eastern British colony, now part of Yemen

3. anti-Semitism: hostility toward or discrimination against Jews as a religious or ethnic minority group, often accompanied by social, economic, or political discrimination

4. Appelplatz (Appellplatz): German for roll call square

5. Aryan: in Nazi Germany, non-Jewish and non-Gypsy Caucasians. Northern Europeans with especially "Nordic" features such as blonde hair and blue eyes were considered by the so-called race scientists to be the most superior of Aryans, members of a "master race."

6. Auschwitz: the largest Nazi Concentration Camp complex, located 37 miles west of Kraków, Poland. The Auschwitz Main Camp (Auschwitz I) was established in 1940 as a concentration camp. In 1942, a killing center was established at Auschwitz-Birkenau (Auschwitz II). In 1941, Auschwitz-Monowitz (Auschwitz III) was established as a forced labor camp and included among its inmates prisoners who worked for the I.G. Farben synthetic rubber plant, called Buna Works. More than 100 subcamps and labor detachments were administratively connected to Auschwitz III.

7. Babylonian captivity: in the history of the Jews, the period from the fall of Jerusalem and the conquest of the Kingdom of Judah by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.E. until the return of the Jews to Jerusalem following a decree of the Persian King Cyrus in 538 B.C.E.

8. Beadle, Moishe the: a beadle ushers and preserves order during services. Everyone in Sighet refers to Eliezer's instructor in the Kabbalah as "Moishe the Beadle" rather than by his last name to denote his function at religious services.

9. benediction: a blessing, which often concludes religious services

10. billeted: to assign lodging to soldiers

11. Birkenau: also known as Auschwitz II (see Auschwitz), Birkenau contained the large-scale killing apparatus at Auschwitz. It also housed thousands of concentration camp prisoners deployed at forced labor.

12. blandishment: something that tends to coax or cajole; flattery

13. Boche: a derogatory French slang term for a German

14. Buchenwald: a large concentration camp established in 1937 by the Nazis located in north-central Germany, near the city of Weimar

15. Buna, Bunaweke: plant established by I.G. Farben on the site of Auschwitz III (Monowitz) in German-occupied Poland. I.G. Farben executives aimed to produce synthetic rubber and synthetic fuel (gasoline), using forced labor. Despite the death of thousands of forced laborers, I.G. Farben never produced any synthetic rubber and was unable to mass produce synthetic fuel. (See Auschwitz.)

16. cabbala (see Kabbalah): a body of mystical teachings of rabbinical origin, often based on an esoteric interpretation of the Hebrew Scriptures

17. colic: severe abdominal pain caused by spasm, obstruction, or distention of any of the hollow viscera, such as the intestines

18. concentration camp: in Germany and German-occupied Europe, camps established by the Nazi regime and managed by the SS to detain and, if necessary, kill so-called enemies of the state, including Jews, Gypsies, political and religious opponents, members of national resistance movements, homosexuals, and others. Imprisonment in a concentration camp was of unlimited duration, was not linked to a specific act, and was not subject to any judicial review.

19. conflagration: a large disastrous fire

20. crematory (or crematorium): an establishment containing a furnace for reducing dead bodies to ashes by burning

21. crucible: a vessel in which a substance is heated to a high temperature

22. death's head: the skull insignia, worn on the collar lapel, for SS units that administered and guarded the concentration camps

23. emaciate: to cause to lose flesh so as to become very thin

24. fascism: a political movement that exalts the collective nation, and often race, above the individual and that advocates: a centralized totalitarian state headed by a charismatic leader; expansion of the nation, preferably by military force, forcible suppression and sometimes physical annihilation of opponents—real and perceived. Fascist states demand total personal commitment of the individual to the collective whole (nation, race) and often organize economic production around preparation for total war and extreme exploitation of occupied territories

25. Galicia: a province of Poland ruled by Habsburg Austria in the 19th Century and the Polish Republic between the two world wars. After World War II, Galicia became a part of West Ukraine.

26. Gestapo: the German Secret State Police, which was under SS control and command

27. ghetto: a confined area of a city in which members of a minority group are compelled to live because of social, legal, or economic pressure. The first exclusively Jewish ghetto was in Venice, Italy, in 1516.

28. Gypsy: a traditional term, sometimes perceived as pejorative, for Roma, a nomadic people, whose ancestors migrated to Europe from India. The authorities of Nazi Germany and its Axis partners persecuted and killed large numbers of Roma during the era of the Holocaust.

29. Haifa: a city of present day Israel, in the northwest, on the Bay of Haifa, an inlet of the Mediterranean Sea

30. harangued: to deliver a long pompous speech, especially one delivered before a gathering

31. Hasidic: pertaining to a Jewish sect of the second century B.C. opposed to Hellenism and devoted to the strict observance of the ritual law

32. Hasidism: a movement of Orthodox Judaism with strong mystical and emotional elements that developed among Eastern European Jews in the 18th Century. (Hasid: a member of the movement; Hasidic: pertaining to the movement)

33. hermetically sealed: airtight

34. Himmler, Heinrich: (1900–1945) Reichsfüehrer-SS and Chief of German Police, a position which included supreme command over the Gestapo, the concentration camps, and the Waffen-SS. After 1943, Minister of the Interior of Nazi Germany; principal planner for the attempt of Nazi Germany to kill all European Jews.

35. Hitler, Adolf: (1889–1945) Führer of the National Socialist Movement (1921–1945); Reich Chancellor of Germany 1933–1945; Führer of the German Nation (1934–1945)

36. Horthy, Admiral Miklós: (1868–1957) Regent of Hungary, 1920–1944., In March 1944, the Germans occupied Hungary and forced Horthy to relinquish power to pro-German elements prepared to deport the Hungarian Jews. In October 1944, Horthy was overthrown in an SS-backed coup that brought to power the Arrow Cross (Nyilas), a Hungarian fascist movement.

37. invective: insulting or abusive language

38. Job: in the Old Testament, a man whose faith was severely tested by Satan, with God's permission. Figuratively, any long-suffering person can be said to be "as patient as Job." 

39. Kabbalah (or kabbala or cabbala or cabala): a body of mystical teachings of rabbinical origin, often based on an esoteric interpretation of the Hebrew Scriptures

40. Kaddish: a Jewish prayer recited in the daily synagogue services and by mourners after the death of a close relative

41. kapo: a concentration camp prisoner selected to oversee other prisoners on labor details. The term is often used generically for any concentration camp prisoner whom the SS gave authority over other prisoners.

42. Kaschau (German); Košice (Slovak); Kassa (Hungarian): the transport train carrying the Jews from Sighet makes a stop in Kaschau, a part of Slovakia that was annexed by Hungary in the autumn of 1938 and was returned to Slovakia in 1945.

43. Kommando: German word for detachment, here a detachment of concentration camp prisoners at forced labor

44. lorries: automotive trucks used especially for transporting freight

45. los: German for "Get moving!

46. manacled: handcuffed

47. Mengele, Dr. Josef: (1911–1979) SS physician assigned to Auschwitz Concentration Camp; notorious for conducting so-called medical experiments on inmates, especially twins and dwarves

48. Messiah: the anticipated savior of the Jews

49. Muselman (Muselmann or musulman): German for "Muslim." Concentration camp slang for a prisoner who is so weak he appears apathetic about living or dying, possibly derived from the perceived resemblance of a prisoner in a Muslim prayer position.

50. Nyilas Party: Hungarian for Arrow Cross, a fascist anti-Semitic party that assumed power in late 1944 and assisted the SS in deportations of Jews in the autumn of 1944 

51. Passover: a Jewish holiday commemorating the Hebrews' liberation from slavery in Egypt

52. Pentecost: a Christian feast commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles

53. penury: severe poverty

54. pestilential: deadly; poisonous

55. phylacteries either of two small square leather boxes containing slips inscribed with scriptural passages and traditionally worn on the left arm and on the head by Jewish men during morning weekday prayers

56. pipel: a young boy in the service of a kapo in the concentration camps

57. Red Army: the Army of the Soviet Union

58. Rebbe: rabbi, usually refers to a Hasidic rabbi

59. Rosh Hashanah: the festival of the New Year in Judaism. Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and the eight days in between are special days of penitence.

60. Shavuot: a Jewish holiday in commemoration of the revelation of the Ten Commandments at Mt. Sinai

61. Shekhinah: a visible manifestation of the divine presence as described in Jewish theology

62. SS: German; abbreviation for Schutzstaffel (literally, protection squads.) A paramilitary formation of the Nazi Party initially created to serve as bodyguard to Hitler and other Nazi leaders. It later took charge of domestic and foreign intelligence, the German police and the central security apparatus, the concentration camps and the systematic mass murder of Jews and other victims.

63. synagogue: in Judaism, a house of worship and learning

64. Talmud: collections of rabbinic commentary on biblical texts that form, with the Torah, the foundation for the religious laws of Judaism

65. Temple: the central place of worship for the Israelites. The first Temple was built in Jerusalem by King Solomon and destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.E. (See Babylonian captivity) Seventy years later, after the Jews returned to Jerusalem, the Second Temple was built on the same site. This Second Temple was significantly enlarged and expanded during the First Century B.C.E.; the Romans destroyed it in 70 C.E.

66. tommy gun: submachine gun

67. Transylvania: a historical region of western Romania bounded by the Transylvanian Alps and the Carpathian Mountains. Part of Hungary from 1867 to 1918, it became part of Romania after World War I. The province was divided between Romania and Hungary in 1940, with northern Transylvania going to Hungary. Northern Transylvania was restored to Romania after World War II.

68. truncheons: a short stick or club carried by police

69. yellow star: a badge featuring the Star of David (a symbol of Judaism) used by the Nazis during the Holocaust as a method of identifying Jews in Germany and in some areas occupied by the Germans

70. Yom Kippur: a Jewish holy day marked by fasting and prayer for the atonement of sins