Download Night - DI English Accel 10: 5(A)

Night
By Elie Wiesel
_______________________________
Please Note: This slideshow is by no means a
definitive look at Elie Wiesel, his experience, or the
experience of any other individual affected by the
Holocaust. Additionally, it is not an allencompassing look at the Holocaust. This is merely
a means of investigating a few points relevant to a
deeper and more beneficial understanding of Elie
Wiesel’s memoir Night.
Goals for this Unit
► Key
Learning: By reading a memoir,
students will understand the significance of
the genre and its importance in the field of
literature.
►Unit
Essential Question:
How does reading a memoir
help a reader understand the
human experience?
► Night
Night
is the first of Elie Wiesel’s many
written works. This very striking piece
covers Wiesel’s experience during the
Holocaust, where he and his family were
deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau, perhaps
the most infamous of
all the WWII
concentration camps.
What is a genre?
word genre comes from the French, and it
literally means “kind” or “type”.
► In literature, it refers to how literary works are
classified based on their form or content. Genre is
a text’s type—what kind of book is it?
► Genres include things like prose/poetry,
fiction/nonfiction. Then within each of those
categories there are sub-categories, such as
historical fiction, romance, science fiction, drama,
horror, etc.
► The
What genre is Night?
► Night
is a
memoir.
What is a memoir?
►A
memoir is a form of autobiography (a writer’s
account of his/her own life) that may deal with only a
portion of the author’s life and may also deal with
historical events affecting the writer. Memoirs often
have more artistry than biographies/autobios.
► An autobiography is a writer’s account of his or her
own life. Autobiographies are typically told from the
first-person point of view and generally cover the
major events in an author’s life over a period of time.
► A biography is an account of a person’s life written
by another person.
Autobiography vs. Memoir
BOTH are true accounts of the writer’s own
life.
BOTH are written from a first-person POV.
AUTOBIOGRAPHIES tend to cover all the
major/critical events in the author’s life.
MEMOIRS tend to focus on one major/critical
event, or one “chapter” of the author’s life.
MEMOIRS typically contain more artistry than
an autobiography. Memoirs are often
considered more “personal”.
Autobiography
Usually covers
author’s life up
to that point
Tends to read
more like a
textbook
Memoir
True
account of
author’s life
(non-fiction)
First-person
POV
Focuses on a
segment of
author’s life
Tends to be
more artistic and
novel-like
Who is Elie Wiesel?
This is a picture of Elie Wiesel
when he was fifteen years old.
This picture was taken just before
he and his family were deported
from their home in the town of
Sighet.
This is a more recent picture of Elie Wiesel. He currently
lives in the United States and is an author, professor,
lecturer, humanitarian, and political activist.
Sighet is located in
Transylvania, a
part of Romania.
This map depicts
borders as they
were in 1933.
Basic Information on Wiesel
► He
was born on September 30, 1928.
► He was the only boy in his family. He had
two older sisters, Hilda and Bea, and a
younger sister, Tzipora.
► His father was a practical and hardworking
businessman who was not particularly
religious.
► His mother was a teacher and was devout in
her faith. It was she who enrolled Wiesel in
Jewish schooling.
► As
a child and young man, Wiesel took to religious
study early and avidly. He practiced his faith in
ways that his parents didn’t always know how to
respond to.
► He began to read Hebrew at a very young age,
and as a young man he studied his religion and its
important texts thoroughly.
 He became a student of Cabbala
►Cabbala (Kabbala, Cabbalah) is a means of study
and of interpreting scripture.
►It is sometimes called “Jewish mysticism” and, if
studied appropriately, is believed to be a way to
approach God directly. One must have a teacher or
leader in the study of cabbala.
► Elie
lost his mother, father, and younger
sister during the Holocaust. His two older
sisters survived.
► After liberation, Elie was brought to France,
where he began continuing his education
and eventually became a journalist.
► In his role as activist, Wiesel has defended
the rights of Jewish people around the
world, as well as countless other groups of
people who have been persecuted because
of race, religion, or political beliefs.
A Little Bit of History…
(information from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum)
► The
Holocaust was the murder of six million
Jews and millions of others by the Nazis and
their collaborators during World War II.
Mass killings began in June 1941 with the
shooting of Jewish civilians during the
German invasion of the Soviet Union. At the
end of 1941, the Germans began deporting
Jews to killing centers in occupied Poland.
By May 1945, about two out of every three
Jews in Europe had been murdered.
What is genocide?
► Genocide
is a word that did not exist before
1944. It is a very specific term, referring to
violent crimes committed against groups
with the intent to destroy the existence of
the group.
► “gen” = (genus)
 birth, race, type
► “cide”
=
 to kill
Why Jewish People?
► There
are too many theories to count.
However,
► Jewish people were not the only ones persecuted
during Hitler’s years, however Jewish people
comprise the largest group affected by the genocide
of WWII.
► Hitler and his collaborators wanted to engineer a
“master race”—one that was “pure”. So, anyone that
did not fit the mold often fell victim to the Jewish
laws. That included people who were gay, Roma
(gypsy), of African heritage, or of a mixed race.
► Judaism was viewed more as a race than a religion.
Warning
Unpleasant photo ahead
This is Elie Wiesel
in 1945;
he was only
sixteen years old.
A close-up of this
famous picture,
taken by a U.S.
Army Private five
days after
Buchenwald was
liberated. The
whole photo was
published by the
New York Times in
May 1945 with the
caption “Crowded
Bunks in the Prison
Camp at
Buchenwald.”.
Elie Wiesel was about your age in this picture, passing as an
older individual in order to work. In the camps, the ability to
work meant the ability to live another day.
A Timeline of Important Events
► 1928—Wiesel
is born
► 1933—Adolf Hitler appointed Chancellor of
Germany; Nazi party takes control of
Germany’s government; The first permanent
concentration camp, Dachau, is established
in Germany
► 1935—The Nuremberg Race Laws were
decreed, denying German Jews their
citizenship.
► 1939—Germany invades Poland, starting
WWII in Europe.
Timeline Continued…
► 1939
cont’d—The first ghetto is established in
Poland; Jews in parts of occupied Poland are
forced to wear armbands depicting the Star of
David.
► 1940—German authorities seal off ghettos in
occupied Poland; Wiesel’s family become citizens
of Hungary (one of the axis/”allies” of Germany)
when Romania has to cede Transylvania.
► 1941—Construction of Auschwitz-Birkenau
begins; the U.S. enters WWII; the first of the
“killing centers” in occupied Poland begins
operating; Elie Wiesel begins study of the cabbala.
Timeline Continued…
► 1942—All
state, Nazi Party, and SS agencies
begin implementing “the Final Solution”—a plan to
murder European Jews.
► 1943—By the end of 1943, Germans and their
axis partners have killed over four million
European Jews.
► 1944—Germany occupies Hungary; Anne Frank’s
family is arrested and deported; Elie Wiesel’s
family is deported and taken to Auschwitz.
► 1945—Elie and his father are transported to
Buchenwald; Auschwitz is liberated; Elie is
liberated in April; Germany surrenders in May;
Japan surrenders in September; WWII ends.
Judaism is the second
oldest world religion still
being practiced today.
Judaism is also the
smallest major world
religion at 12.8 million.
5.5 million live in U.S.
Israel is the Jewish
homeland.
Borrowed from World History Curriculum
One god?
► Most
ancient cultures
were polytheistic.
► The Hebrews were the
first to be believe in
monotheism, or
belief in one god.
► The Hebrews god is
called Yahweh
Borrowed from World History Curriculum
Basic Teachings
► Only
one god, Yahweh
► Prophet- preachers who interpret god’s will.
► Prophets record Yahweh’s word in the
Torah. (Old Testament for Christians)
► Rabbi-a teacher of the Torah.
Borrowed from World History Curriculum
Messiah-savior.
-In Judaism the Messiah
has not yet come, but
will come at the end of
time.
-The dead will then be
raised to enter heaven.
-This is one of the
biggest differences
between Judaism, Islam
and Christianity!
Borrowed from World History Curriculum
Roots of anti-Semitism
► Because
of certain traditions and the refusal
of Jews to give up their faith, Jewish people
have been distrusted and persecuted for
thousands of years.
► Roman Empire vs. Judaism
► Christianity vs. Judaism
► Islam vs. Judaism
► 20th Century and Holocaust
Borrowed from World History Curriculum
The End
You should now have enough basic
background information to get started
reading the dark, yet captivating memoir
Night by Elie Wiesel.
The Final Solution
► This
is the name given to the Nazi plan to
exterminate European Jews.
► Through things like the Nuremberg laws,
mobile killing units, ghettos, and established
death camps, the Nazis and their
collaborators succeeded in killing about six
million Jews—nearly two thirds of the
European Jewish population.
Ghettos
► There
were millions of Jews in Germany, Poland
and the Soviet Union (occupied by Germany). In
an effort to “control” the population (including
others who didn’t fit into Hitler’s idea of a “pure
race), ghettos were established.
► Ghettos were marked-off and isolated sections of
cities where Jews were forced to live.
► They were typically placed in the oldest and most
run-down sections of a city.
► Many were surrounded by walls or barbed-wire
fencing, and were well-guarded.
Nuremberg Laws: Institutionalized Racism
These laws, established in 1935, excluded German Jews
from citizenship and prohibited them from marrying or
having sexual relations with persons of "German or
related blood."
► Anyone who had three or four Jewish grandparents was
defined as a Jew, regardless of whether that individual
identified himself or herself as a Jew or belonged to the
Jewish religious community.
► In 1937 and 1938, additions were added with the intent
of impoverishing Jews by requiring them to register their
property and then by dismissing Jewish workers and
managers, and giving ownership of most Jewish
businesses to non-Jewish Germans who bought them at
bargain prices fixed by Nazis. Jewish doctors were
forbidden to treat non-Jews, and Jewish lawyers were
not permitted to practice law.
►
The Improperly-written Bibliography
► This
information was compiled using data
from the United States Holocaust Memorial
Museum’s website: www.ushmm.org
► Pictures were found using Google Images
► The Franklin quote came from A Thousand
Darknesses, found at:
www.powells.com/review/2006_03_23.html