1) This chapter provides background on Moishe the Beadle and introduces Elie Wiesel and the setting of Sighet, Hungary. It describes how Moishe was deported and later returned to warn the townspeople about the Nazis, though no one believed him. 2) The Jews are crammed into cattle cars for deportation. The journey is terrible with lack of food, water and suffocating heat. Passengers start to lose their humanity. 3) At Auschwitz, the Nazis immediately begin the systematic dehumanization and humiliation of the Jews. Elie is separated from his family. He witnesses horrific scenes including the burning of babies. The camps are designed to strip

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Night
by Elie Wiesel

2. (Chapter 1(pages 1-20
This part of the book begins with the description of a man called Moishe
the Beadle. This man was a mentor to Elie, teaching him the Cabbala
against his father's will. One day, Moishe was deported , along with the
other Sighet Jews. They were all soon forgotten, until Moishe 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
Moishe 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. Elie’s 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

3. BIG TAKEAWAY
•This is the book’s basic situation
where we meet the characters, and
.learn setting
•I found it shocking that no one
believed Moishe when he warned
.them
3

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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 some engaged in private behavior, 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.

5. :BIG TAKEAWAY
This chapter showed how terrible the
journey was to the camp
We are just seeing people start to lose
their humanity, minds, and conscience
5

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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. It’s
then when the first question in god rose in him.
Interesting though, that while questioning
God’s mercy and refusing to bless him, he had
never questioned his existence.

7. 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 treated 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 7

8. • 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 Elie’s 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 Elie’s 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… 8

9. Big Take Away
These camps are designed
(sadly) to strip people of their
dignity
Elie is having to make some
big and quick thinking
decisions to survive
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14. PLEASE STOP HERE
14

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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 Elie’s
father- and Elie wasn’t 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 Elie’s 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
didn’t 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 wasn’t 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. Elie’s
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 didn’t. 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 didn’t 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 couldn’t 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 couldn’t 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
father’s presence- Elie had to continue suporting him.
When the Jews were given the order to rest, Elie’s father
didn’t 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.
Elie’s 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 neighbor’s 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 didn’t think of the Jews as of
human beings.
In Buchenwald, Elie’s father had fallen ill , and the doctors didn’t 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 that’s 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 family’s 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 I’ve learned anything new about the Holocaust from the book, since I’ve 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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I’m very gald I got to share opinions with a foreign student, since it was very
interesting for me to see how an outsider’s 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 I’m glad we
went through with it.

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Bibliography
•http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/
wie0bio-1
•”The book “Night