Boegman: "Night" Stoody Guide

appelplatz

place or area for roll call

Auschwitz

Auschwitz concentration camp was a network of German Nazi concentration camps and extermination camps built and operated by the Third Reich in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany during World War II.

Birkenau

one of the camps in Auschwitz, sometimes referred to as Auschwitz II

Blockalteste

block elder, inmates in charge of a single concentration camp barrack

Buchenwald

a German Nazi concentration camp established near Weimar, Germany in July, 1937

Buna

The largest Auschwitz sub-camp

Dr. Mengele

Josef Mengele was an officer and physician in Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II, a notorious doctor responsible for the selection of victims to be killed in the gas chambers and for performing deadly human experiemnts on prisoners

Fascist Party

Italian political party created by Benito Mussolini, authoritarian & nationalistic government

Getaspo

abbreviateion of Geheime Staatspolizei, the Secret State Police of Nazi Germany

Gypsy

racial slur for Romani people

Jewish Police

Auxiliary police force organized within the Jewish ghettos of German-occupied Eastern Europe by local councils under the ultimte authrity of he Nazi occupiers

Kabbalah

method, discipline, and school of thought that originated in Judaism

Kapos

prisoners in Nazi concentration camps assigned by the SS guards to supervise forced labor or carry out administrative tasks in the camp

Kommandos

the basic unit of organization of slave laborers in German concentration camps

Lageralteste

implemented camp commandant's orders, ensured that the camp's daily routines ran smoothly

Lagerkapo

prisoner serving as head of the camp

Maimonides

Jewish philosopher and astronmer lived 1135-1204

Muselman

Deemed unfit to work, a condemned prisoner of a Nazi death camp

Nyila

members of the Hungarian Nazi party

Oberkapo

prisoner assigned as chief foreman

pipel

Among Nazi concentration camp detainees, an attractive male child who receives special favor or privileges by maintaining a relationship with another detainee who has been granted some authority over other detainees.

phylacteries

a small leather box containing Hebrew texts on vellum, worn by Jewish men at morning prayer as a reminder to keep the law.

Raus!

Out!

Rebbe

a rabbi, especially a religious leader of the Hasidic sect.

Red Army

A common name for the Russian National Military Forces

Reichsufuhrer HImmler

Henrich Himmler was the head of the SS and a leading member of the Nazi party

Rosh Hashanah

Jewish New Year

Shavuot

festical of Shavuot marks the end of seven-week counting period between Passover and Shavuot

Shekhinah

dwelling of settling of the divine presence of God

shtibl

small house for Jewish prayer

Sonder-kommando

work units made up of German Nazi deah camp prisoners who were forced, on threat of their own deaths, to aid w/disposal of gas chamber victims during the Holocaust

SS

Schutzstaffel, paramilitary orgnaization in Nazi Germany

Stubenaltests

senior member of a block

Syangogue

the building where a Jewish assembly or congregation meets for religious worship and instruction

Talmud

central text of Rabbinic Judaism

Yom Kippur

Day of Atonement, holy day in Judiasm, a day to atone for sins of the past year

Zionism

philosophy which supports Jews adhering to religious Judaism and the return of Jews to Israel as a means for Jews to be a majority nation in their own state

Zohar

foundational work in the literature of Jewish mystical thought known as Kabbalah

Elie Wiesel

The narrator, protagonist, and main character. Since he is a Jewish teenager living in Romania during Hitler's occupation and reign, he is persecuted and imprisoned. The book is really a telling of his experiences during the war.

Shlomo Wiesel

Elie's father. He is a considerate and religious man and shopkeeper who is respected by the villagers. He is arrested along with his son and imprisoned in a concentration camp, where he dies.

Moishe the Beadle

A poor and lonely religious man. He tells terrifying takes about the condition of the Jews in concentration camps, which Elie and the villagers find hard to believe.

Mrs. Wiesel

Elie's mother. She is a loving person who cares for her family and who works to infuse courage in others.

Hilda

Elie's oldest sister, who works in the family grocery store. She is arrested and deported to a concentration camp. Like her brother, she manages to survive the experience.

Bea

Elie's older sister, who is the second child in the family. She also manages to survive.

Tzipora

Elie's younger sister, who does not survive the concentration camp. She gives an impression of both innocence and stoicism.

Batya Reich

A relative who stays with the Wiesels in the Sighet ghetto; she is the 1st to hear the knock on the sealed window.

Stein of Antwerp

A relative who meets Elie and his father at Auschwitz. He is worried about his wife Reizel and his sons. Elie cheers him up by telling him the lie that his mother has been receiving letters from Stein's wife, though it is not true.

Madame Kahn

Wiesel's neighbor. She provides temporary accommodation to a German officer.

The Hungarian Police Officer

A kind officer who assures Elie's father that he will inform him if there is danger. He keeps his promise, but Elie's family misses the knock at the window.

Stern

A police officer in Sighet. He calls Shlomo Wiesel to attend a council meeting.

Maria

The considerate maidservant of the Wiesels, who offers them shelter and safety. Unfortunately Mr. Wiesel does not accept her offer.

Madame Schachter

A fifty year old deportee who has hallucinations of "fire and furnace" while traveling on the train.

Madame Schacter's Son

A ten-year old deportee who courageously watches his mother's break down and how other prisoners treat her.

Bela Katz

The son of a tradesman in Sighet. He is made to work in the crematory and places his father's body into the oven.

Yechiel

The brother of a Rabbi in Sighet. He weeps for Elie and his father when they arrive at Birkenau.

Akiba Drumer

A singer with a deep voice who has strong faith in God; he dies in the concentration camp after losing hope in God; no one prays Kaddish for him.

Juliek

A polish musician who plays the violin in Buna. He gives his final performance playing Beethoven when the prisoners arrive at Gleiwitz and dies the next day.

Louis

A Dutch violinist who regrets that Jews are not allowed to play Beethoven's music.

Hans

A Berlin musician who tries to relax Elie, who is suffering from tension due to his assignment in the electrical warehouse.

Franek

A former student from Warsaw. He demands the gold from Elie's tooth and tries to bully him. Since Elie does not give him the gold tooth, he tortures his father.

Yossi and Tibi

Czech brothers whose parents were killed. They work in the electrical warehouse with Elie and become his friends.

Alphonse

A kind German Jew who gives extra soup to the young and the weak.

The French Girl in the Factory

A woman who pretends to be an Aryan to keep herself safe. She works in the electrical warehouse and befriends Elie.

The Young Thief from Warsaw

A strong young man who blesses liberty and curses the Germans before he is hanged.

Dutch Oberkapo

A kind supervisor who is tortured for blowing up Buna's power station. In spite of the torture, he does not name his co-conspirators.

Pipel

A thirteen year old boy who looks angelic. He is an assistant to the Dutch Oberkapo. WHen he is hanged, it takes him more than thirty minutes to die since he is so light.

Elie's Blockalteste at Buchenwald

An experienced man who encourages Elie to consume his father's rations because he is going to die anyway.

The Polish Rabbi

A Rabgbgi from a small town in Poland; he is a sincere student of the Talmud but dismisses God's existence.

The Hospitalized Hungarian Jew

A patient with severe dysentery. He lies in a bed near Elie. He is sure that he will not pass the selection test and believes that all Jews will be killed before the end of the war. He has more faith in Hitler than in God.

The Jewish Doctor

A kind doctor who operates on Elie's foot.

Zalman

A worker in the electrical warehouse who dies during the journey from BUna after being overcome with dysentery.

Rabbi Eliahu

An aged Rabbi. He desperately searches for his son, whom he can't find during the journey from Buna. His son has left him behind.

Rabbi Eliahu's son

A survivalist. He leaves his father behind to save himself.

Meir

Kills his father for a crust of bread, but is then killed by others on the train.

Meir Katz

A strong gardener from Sighet. He helps to free Elie from an attacker on the train to Gleiwitz but is overcome by grief when he considers his lost family.

Idek

A violent Kapo in the Buna warehouse. He lashes Elie cruelly during one of his violent fits, because Elie has seen him lying on a mattress with a woman.

The Dentist from Czechoslovakia

A corrupt man who enriches himself by collecting gold teeth. He tries unsuccessfully to persuade Elie to give him his gold tooth.

The Dentist from Warsaw

A polish dentist who pulls out Elie's gold tooth using a rusty spoon instead of an extractor.

The Pole and the Frenchman

Beat Elie's father and steal his food because he is so sick and can't relieve himself outdoors.

Dr. Mengele

Nazi doctor who makes decisions on the selection.

What is the name of the town where Elie grew up?

Sighet

What Jewish scripture does Elie study with the help of Moishe the Beadle?

Cabbala

Which group of Jews is expelled from Sighet first, including Moishe the Beadle?

Foreign Jews

After being forced to leave their homes, where are the Jews in Elie's village first sent?

The ghetto

On the train to Birkenau, what does Madame Schächter "see"?

A fiery furnace

During the first selection at Birkenau, Elie and his father say they are how old?

18 and 40

What was the final step in the admission process to the camp?

A number tattooed on the prisoners arms

To whom did Elie lose his gold crown?

Franek

Why was Elie whipped by Idek in the warehouse?

He was caught spying on him

How did Elie describe the taste of the soup after the hanging of the "sad-eyed angel"?

It tasted of corpses

What is the name of the Jewish holiday celebrating the new year?

Rosh Hashanah

What does Elie's father give him, which Elie refers to as his "inheritance"?

A knife and a spoon

Who was lying underneath Elie in the barracks at Gleiwitz?

Juliek

What does Elie hear during the night at Gleiwitz?

A violin playing

How does Elie save his father on the second train journey?

He slapped him until he woke up

Of the 100 men who were in Elie's train car, how many survived the trip?

12

What is the name of the concentration camp in Germany where Elie and his father ended up?

Buchenwald

What disease was Elie's father suffering from?

Dysentery

What did Elie's father keep begging for even though it was "the worst poison" for him?

Water

Why does Elie say Akiba Drumer was selected for the crematoria?

He lost his faith in God