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BACKGROUND ON NIGHT AND THE HOLOCAUST
Early Jewish History

The ancient religion of Judaism shares its earliest history with two other Abrahamic religions – ________________
and ______________.

It traces it roots back to ________________ – a devout believer who began his journey in the Mesopotamian city of
___ and migrated to the promised land of Canaan in 1800 BC.

After Canaan, early Jews and Christians were enslaved in _________ and escaped under the leadership of Moses in
1300 to 1200 BC.

After wandering in the Wilderness of Sinai for many years, the group takes Canaan back from the Babylonians to
found the ______________ of _____________ (1000 BC).

The Jews of Israel suffer many revolutions and defeats throughout their history.

This upheaval resulted in the Jewish ________________ – Referring to the “scattered” or “exiled” groups of Jews
outside the Kingdom of Israel.

The largest Diasporas were created during the:
Roman Empire – Christianity became the official religion and Jews fled to ________ to avoid
persecution after the death of the Christian Messiah.
Middle Ages – Jews were often the targets of the ________________ as huge groups were
killed and pushed out of Spain.
Renaissance/Reformation - Anti-Semitism continued when many Jews in Italy and Germany
were separated into ______________ (_____________ _____________).
17th-18th centuries - Tensions eased somewhat. Jews begin to leave the ghettos of
_______________ and integrate with majority European cultures.
Jewish Text and Traditions

Torah – primary text in the Jewish religion (the Hebrew Bible); consisting of the _____________ or first five books
of the ___________

Talmud – Next in importance to the Hebrew Bible is this collection of teachings of early of early rabbis from the
______________ centuries

Kabbala – Hasidic Jews also read this _________________ text on the Torah
Jewish Tradition
There are many branches of Judaism. Two of which include:


______________ Judaism - the most traditional form of Judaism, characterized by belief that the Torah and its laws
are divine and unalterable. Orthodox Jews rely heavily on the authority of scholars and religious leaders to inform
their practices.
_______________ Judaism a movement that originated in Eastern Europe in the 18th century. The Hasidic Jews felt
that most expressions of Jewish life had become too "academic.” A Polish worker named Israel ben Eliezer began
preaching that anyone could communicate with God, not just the learned men.
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Elie Wiesel

Born Eliezer Wiesel in 1928 in a small Jewish community in ________, Transylvania (now Romania, Eastern Europe).

He was the son of ___________ and ___________ Wiesel.

Sarah was the daughter of a celebrated ____________ leader and farmer from a nearby village.

Shlomo was an _______________ Jew of Hungarian descent, and a shopkeeper who ran his own grocery store. He
was active and trusted within the community.

It was Shlomo who instilled a _____________in his son, encouraging him to learn Modern Hebrew and to read
literature, whereas his mother encouraged him to study Torah and ______________.

Wiesel has said his father represented ___________, and his mother __________ (Fine 1982:4).

As a young man, Wiesel practiced his Jewish religion devoutly. He was a playful young boy and yet very mature and
wise for his age . . . .

He was only _______ when he was deported from Sighet. The year was 1943.
Hitler’s Germany

Nazi Germany and the ____________ _____________ are the English names for Germany under the regime of
Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers Party, which established a totalitarian dictatorship that
existed from __________________.

The Third Reich arose in the wake of the loss of land, the heavy ____________ and national embarrassment imposed
through the Treaty of Versailles, which ended ________________.

The National Socialist Party promised strong government, radical changes to economic policy, and a restored national
pride.
Anti-Semitism in Germany
•
In an effort restore a “_______” German state, the Nazi party gradually began to discriminate against any
“unacceptable non-Aryan” or other political opponents.
•
The government was especially ruthless toward Eastern European _____, many of whom had immigrated to the area.
They were seen as _____________ and a drain on Germany’s economy.
•
This prejudice against Jewish immigrants was complicated by state-sanctioned racism. The Nazi regime invented the
exclusive “________” race and incorrectly identified Jews as a “race” (rather than an ___________ or __________
group).
•
The regime went beyond stereotypes and racial profiling by creating guidelines for identifying the “Jewish” or
“gypsy” race, also known as the ___________________.
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Persecution of Jews
The Nazis began their campaign to forcibly expel Jews from Eastern Europe in the early 1930s. Some of the steps taken
to intimidate or control Jewish communities included:

Attacks on Jewish ____________ and _______________.

All public Jewish leaders arrested following _______________.

All Jews in required to wear a ________________ and follow curfew laws

Jews were banned from all public places.

Jews confined to state created _____________.
Persecution of Jews - The Camps
•
Prior to and during World War II, Nazi Germany maintained concentration camps throughout the territories
it controlled. The first Nazi concentration camps were intended to hold political prisoners and opponents of
the regime.
•
Holocaust scholars draw a distinction between concentration camps and extermination camps, which were
camps established for the sole purpose of carrying out the extermination of the Jews of Europe—the Final
Solution.
•
Additionally, forced labor camps, which were set up in German-occupied countries to exploit the labor of
all prisoners.
Important Settings

Memoir begins in central Transylvania/ Romania

Jews of Sighet are transported to __________________ concentration / extermination camp in the south of Poland.

Elie and his father are then transported to the ___________ labor camp.

Final destination is the ________________ camp just before liberation.
Night

Elie Wiesel published his memoirs in ___________. (autobiographies focused on a particular period in a person’s life.)

He was convinced to write the book after interviewing the publisher _______________ for a French newspaper.

Wiesel received the ______________________ for his novels and his activism.
Judaism Today

___________ – The plan for Jews in the late 1800s and early 1900s to establish or reclaim their homeland.

After nearly 2000 years of exile, Jews regained a Jewish homeland in the ________________ after World War II.

This return has been fraught with tension and warfare among neighbors (Palestine in particular).

Today, there are nearly 15 million Jews worldwide, with the largest group in the USA (approx. 6 million), followed
by Israel (approx. 5 million).
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