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Elie Wiesel’s Night. The story of a Holocaust survivor. Elie Wiesel. Born 1928 Family was Jewish: both ethically and religiously Lived in the village Sighet, Hungary Deported in May, 1944 Rescued in April 1945 from Buchenwalk concentration camp. After His Rescue.
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Elie Wiesel’s Night The story of a Holocaust survivor
Elie Wiesel • Born 1928 • Family was Jewish: both ethically and religiously • Lived in the village Sighet, Hungary • Deported in May, 1944 • Rescued in April 1945 from Buchenwalk concentration camp
After His Rescue • Lived in France with his two surviving sisters • Worked as a French journalist • Would not speak about his Holocaust experiences for 10 years • Night first appeared in 1956 – much longer and written in Yiddish • Won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986
The Beginning • January 1933: Hitler is appointed Chancellor of Germany; Germany has a Jewish population of around 556,000 • March 1933: The concentration camps Dachau and Buchenwald are opened • Over the next two years, Jews are systematically stripped of power and privileges
The Nuremburg Laws • Enacted in September 1935 • Defined Judaism as a race rather than a religion • Set up strict laws such as • No citizenship • No intermarrying with “Aryan races” • Required to carry identification cards that clearly labeled them as Jewish
The Makings of War • March 1938: German troops “peacefully” occupy Austria • November 1938: Kristallnacht: The Night of Broken Glass • September 1939: Germany invades Poland – WWII starts • November 1939: Polish Jews required to wear the yellow Star of David • June 1940: Germany occupies Paris
“The Final Solution” • July 1941: “The Final Solution” begins over the next 4 years 6 million Jews will be murdered
Why? “But if I would show the good that came of it I must talk of things other than good.” OR “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.” ~Dante’s Inferno
Night • Based on Elie Wiesel’s experience but not an exact account • Contains many literary elements • First published 1956 • First written in Yiddish, then French, then English