"In every area of human creativityindifference is the enemy;

indifference of evil is worse than evil, because it is also sterile."

Elie Wiesel

A-7713

Elie Wiesel appears as the fourth child in the left

column in this photo of child survivors of

Buchenwald, a concentration camp.

1928--born in Sighet,

Romania 1944—deported to Auschwitz

Jan.1945--father dies in Buchenwald

Apr.1945--liberated from concentration camp

1948--moved to Paris to study at the Sorbonne 1948--work in journalism begins

1954--decides to write about the Holocaust

1956--hit by a car in New York

1958--Night is published

1963--receives U.S. citizenship

1964--returned to Sighet

1965--first trip to Russia

1966--publishes Jews of Silence1969--married Marion Rose

1972--son is born

1978--appointed chair of Presidential Commission on the Holocaust

1980--Commission renamed U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council

1985--awarded Congressional Gold Medal of Achievement

1986--awarded Nobel Peace Prize

1995--publishes memoirs

A holocaust survivor!

He was born in the town of Sighet, Romania in 1928.

In 1944 the German Nazi’s deported Wiesel and his entire family to Auschwitz, a concentration camp.

Wiesel survived Auschwitz, Buna, Buchenwald and Gleiwitz, all Nazi commanded concentration camps.

At 15 yrs old

In 1963 he became a citizen of the United States.

He was appointed a professor of humanities at Boston University in 1976.

From 1980 to 1986, Wiesel served as chairman of the U.S. President's Commission on the Holocaust.

He received the Congressional Gold Medal in 1985.

He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986.

Wiesel has written and lectured widely about the Jewish tradition and other Jewish issues, as well as about human rights in general.

Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky.

Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my faith forever.

Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me, for all eternity, of the desire to live. Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never. (Elie-Wiesel)

Let us remember, let

us remember the

heroes of Warsaw,

the martyrs of

Treblinka, the

children of

Auschwitz. They

fought alone, they

suffered alone, they

lived alone, but they

did not die alone, for

something in all of

us died with them.

Elie Wiesel

I spent most of my time talking to

God more than to people.

- Elie Wiesel

Genocide

Apathy can be more detrimental to society than pure hatred.

One’s spirit drives the soul to survive.

The light of faith in humanity can overcome the darkness of hate.

Even in despair, man searches for meaning.

Eliezer Wiesel (identification number A-7713)

*The narrator of the book, Elie is taken to concentration camps in Czechoslovakia and Germany at the age of

fourteen.

Eliezer's father (Chlomo Wiesel) *Eliezer's father is very respected within the Jewish community

of his hometown, and he spends most of his time occupying himself with community affairs

Moché the Beadle: A poor, humble man who works at the Hasidic synagogue in Sighet

Tzipora: Eliezer's seven-year-old sister

Eliezer's mother: Eliezer is separated from his

mother upon arriving at Birkenau.

The original title Elie Wiesel gave the novel was And the World Has Remained Silent.

He wrote this book after 10 years of silence.

By the end of the Holocaust, over 6 million Jews had been killed.

There are five motifs to look for while reading Night: Night – pay attention to what happens at night and what

that might symbolize. Remember what we learned when we talked about archetypes and what night might symbolize.

Bearing Witness – Pay attention to which characters are witnesses and to what they bear witness.

Motifs (continued): Father-son Relationships – Pay attention to how Elie and

his father’s relationship develops; in addition, notice other father-son relationships in the book.

Loss of faith – Notice how Elie’s faith in God changes as the book progresses. Write on your study guides where these changes occur.

Motifs (continued): Voice vs. Silence – Who has a voice and who chooses to

remain silent? Why might Elie Wiesel title his novel what he did originally, and why did he no longer remain silent?

From the 10 Core Concept notes, we will learn that Poland had the largest population of Jews in Europe.

In Poland, 90% of the approximately 3,000,000 Jews were murdered in the Holocaust.

As you read, look for times that Wiesel mentions the people in surrounding towns.

There are several groups who contributed to the Holocaust, persecutors and by-standers included.

Why are by-standers just as important as the persecutors?

Chapter 1:

1. When and where did Elie Wiesel grow-up?

1928-1943; Sighet, Transylvania

2. Who was Moshe the Beadle?

Poor man who lived in the synagogue

What did the other people in the community think of him?

He was well-liked

Why did Elie spend a lot of time with him?

He was willing to teach Elie the mysticism of Judaism.

3. What was Elie’s father like?

“…Cultured, but rather unsentimental man” (1).

What was his position within the Jewish community?

“Held in great esteem” (1); people went to him for advice.

4. What happened to Moshe that caused great change in him?

Deported and witnessed a great slaughter in the forest

How did he change?

No longer happy; wants to tell his story

How did the rest of the community react when he told them what he experienced?

They thought he had gone crazy!

5. Why were the Jews of Sighet heartened by the news on the radio in 1942-1943?

The allies were winning even as Germany invaded Hungary.

6. Why did the Jews of Sighet think they were being deported?

The front was moving closer; moved for their own safety.

Why do you suppose their destination was kept secret from them?

Prevent rebellion; keep them calm.

7. Could the Jews of Sighet have escaped the Germans?

Perhaps some could have; remember the knocking?

How did they prepare for deportation?

Baked, packed, buried valuables

8. Who offered Elie’s family safe refuge?

Martha

9. On what day of the week was Elie’s family expelled?

Saturday

What was ironic about that day?

Jewish Sabbath—day of rest

What were the 24 hours in the synagogue like?

Horrible, unsanitary, packed

Chapter 2:

1. Who was Madame Schachter? Woman on the train who kept yelling, “Fire!”

Why was she so upset?

She had been separated from her family.

How did the others treat her?

Bound, gagged, kicked her

What was the first thing the prisoners saw upon arriving at Birkenau?

The fires of the crematories

Chapter 3:

1. Who were the SS men?

Hitler’s private army

How did Elie and his father get separated from Mother and Tzipora?

Dr. Mengele’s selection

What was Elie’s last view of them?

His mother patting Tzporia’s fair hair

2. Why did some of the younger men want to escape?

The prisoners told them of the crematories

Why didn’t they go ahead?

The older men told them to refer to their religious teachings—to stay calm

3. Why did Elie and his father lie to Dr. Mengele?

He gave an older age to avoid the furnace.

Why did his father wish Elie has gone with his mother? Why is this ironic?

So he would not be burned alive. Ironic because his mother and Tziporia went to the crematories.

4. What is the Kaddish?

Jewish prayer for the dead

Why didn’t Elie join his father in reciting this?

He rebelled against a god that would allow babies to be murdered before his eyes.

5. Why did the gypsy strike Elie’s father?

His father asked to go to the lavatory

How did Elie react?

He stayed silent

6. To what new camp were the prisoners marched?

Buna—the work camp in Auschwitz

Who was in charge of the block?

Young Polish man

What was his advice? Why was he replaced?

To treat each other well; he was too kind

7. Who was Stein?

A relation of Wiesel’s family

Why did Elie lie to him?

To keep his hope alive

Why did Stein stop coming?

He found out his family died, presumably.

8. Akaba Drumer’s believed God was testing the Jews. What did Elie think of his theory?

He did not believe that merciful God could allow so much suffering why the world kept silent to the horrors he witnessed.

Chapter 4:

1. Where was music played in the camp?

On the march to the warehouse

Why couldn’t the musicians play Beethoven?

Beethoven was a German composer, and the Jews were not permitted to play his music.

2. Who beat Elie in front of the French girl?

Idek in one of his fits of madness

Why was she afraid to speak to him?

She was a German Jewess disguised as an Aryan

What did her advice show about her?

She shows the kindness and patience that is lacking in the camps.

3. Who ended up with Elie’s gold tooth?

Franek

How did this person get the tooth from Elie?

Began to beat Elie’s father for marching out of step

4. Why did Elie laugh at Idek?

Caught him having relations with a young girl in a closet

What was the result?

25 whip lashings

Chapter 5:

1. What is Rosh Hashanah?Jewish New Year’s Eve

2. What is Yom Kippur? Why didn’t Elie fast?

Jewish New Year’s Day! Day of Atonement; he felt he fasted everyday

3. What sort of “inheritance” gifts did Elie’s father give him?

Knife and spoon

Why did Elie give the presents back?

His father survived the second selection

4. What happened to many prisoners when they lost faith?

Lost their will to live. Example: Akaba Drumer

5. How did Elie end up in the hospital?

Infected foot

What decision did he face there?

Whether to stay, or leave with the evacuees

How did he make his choice to leave the hospital so soon after the operation?

The man with dysentery told him the camp was to be mined, and the ones left in the infirmary would be a “final batch for the crematory.”

6. Why was the camp being evacuated?

The Russians were advancing

Why did the prisoners want the Russians to arrive first?

They would be liberated!

Chapter 6:

1. What happened to Zalman? Had intense stomach pains and had to stop as the prisoners evacuated. Trampled to death.

2. How did Elie and his father help each other stay alive?

They were each other’s will to live, keeping each other awake in the snow.

3. Why does Elie tell the story of Rabbi Eliahou?

To show the betrayal of his son

Why was he glad the rabbi “should continue to look for his beloved son”?

It showed his persistence and love for his son.

4. How did Wiesel avoid suffocation?

He clawed and bit the “dead flesh”

Why do you think Juliek played the violin in this terrible situation?

Chapter 7: 1. Why did the two men try to throw Wiesel’s father from the

carriage?Thought he was dead

Why did the living “rejoice” when the order came to throw out the corpses?

Created more room for the prisoners

2. How did the prisoners in the wagon act like animals? Fought over bread with nails and teeth

Why did the German workmen take a “lively interest in this spectacle” when they had merely stopped and stared at the marching prisoners before?

Tossing the bread into the cars was a game to the Germans

3. Why didn’t Wiesel join in the scramble for food?

He knew he would not survive as a 15-year-old boy

How were Mier and his son like the other fathers and sons Wiesel has described?

There is both protection and betrayal

4. How did Mier Katz save Elie’s life?

He saves him from strangulation

How did Elie’s father try to save Mier Katz?

Mier Katz had lost his will to live

How do you know he didn’t succeed?

Meir Katz was unable to get out of the train

Chapter 8:

1. Why is it that Wiesel “could have wept with rage” when his father begged for rest upon arrival at Buchenwald?

They had come so far, only to give up at the final leg

Why did Wiesel feel like he was “arguing with death itself”?

His father just wanted to rest, but Elie knew that was to die in the snow.

2. What emotions did Wiesel experience ashe watched his father die the last week?

Conflicting emotions. Was told to take his father’s rationfor himself, but he continued to feed his father out of love.

Chapter 9:

1. What were Wiesel’s thoughts during the months after his father’s death?

Numbness and secret relief

How did he “cope”?

He tries to forget and focuses all his energy on finding food.

2. On what note did this book end?

Incredibly tragic

• Moshe chooses to live in poverty, doing odd jobs so that most of his time can be spent devoted to religious study.

• Eliezer wants to study Jewish mysticism (against his father’s wishes).

• Moshe becomes Eliezer’s respected teacher and role model.

• All foreign born Jews are deported, including Moshe.

• Moshe returns and tells the story of mass execution by the Nazis.

• Moshe escapes and is a changed man; a man without faith or joy.

• He warns the townspeople, but they refuse to believe him.

• Even Eliezer doubts him and feels pity on his old teacher who people believe has gone mad.

• The war has not yet touched them directly.

• They feel their remote village is insignificant to the Nazis.

• The end of the war is in sight, and the Jews of Sighet are optimistic that the Russian army will liberate them.

• There are two ghettos in Sighet.

• All Jews must live in one and wear a gold star.

• The Jews soon feel a false sense of autonomy in the ghettos as they set up councils to handle health care, communication with captures, law enforcement and sanitation.

• The Jews hope that they will live out the rest of the war in this fashion.

• Before the Nazis occupy Sighet, Eliezer urges his father to sell his shop and move to Palestine. His father refuses; he feels he is too old to start over in a new place.

• The Weisels' former servant, Martha, begs the family to live with her; the elder Wiesel is too proud to accept.

• Shortly before the evacuation of the ghetto, someone knocks on the Wiesels window, but is gone before anyone can answer. Eliezer later finds out that the police inspector was trying to warn his family to flee.

• The Hungarian police mercilessly beat the Jews during the evacuation.

• The Jews are forced to sit or stand long hours in sweltering heat without food or drink.

• Jews are packed 80 to a cattle car; they can barely breathe, let alone sit or stand.

• The journey takes several days and nights. Madame Schachter screams about an all consuming fire that is invisible to the rest of the passengers.

• The deportees are sympathetic toward Madame Schachter when she begins her decent into madness, but as her hysteria increases, some become less tolerant of her. They beat her into submission.

• Madame Schachter’s cries were prophetic.

• Upon arriving at Auschwitz the deportees are shaken by the sight of the black smoke from the gigantic chimney.

• They are seeing the crematory, and its purpose becomes the central source of horror throughout their time in the camps.

• Selection is the process by which it is decided which prisoners will live as laborers and which will feed the crematory.

• Selections are conducted quickly and dispassionately.

• First, men and women are segregated.

• Groups march toward the infamous Dr. Mengele; he questions them about age, health, and occupation.

• The questions are cursory and the decisions are random.

• Eliezer and his father lie to save their lives.

• While marching toward Mengele, another prisoner asks their ages and corrects their reply; “Eighteen and forty” he orders.

• If the two were truthful, they would be too young and too old for labor.

• Eliezer quickly lies about his occupation calling himself a farmer. A student may be considered useless.

• Birkenau is euphemistically described as the “reception center” for Auschwitz, the death camp where Jews and others are slaughtered and burned.

• The prisoners are selected for either labor or death at Birkenau.

• Being subjected to one atrocity after another takes its toll physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

• But, it is the ditch filled with babies that forever shakes Eliezer’s steadfast faith in God.

• Eliezer never questions God’s existence, but he condemns a God that permits such atrocities.

• Eliezer sees a second ditch and it seems that he is being directed toward it.

• Deciding that he wishes to be the master of his own fate he quickly plans to break ranks and throw himself against the electrified fence.

• He offers a final prayer.

• Two steps before the ditch, the prisoners are herded into the barracks instead.

• The prisoners are quickly stripped of independence and individuality and are left naked and vulnerable as their captors examine them.

• Kept awake through the first cold night, broken, sickened, and weeping, prisoners are forced to run for what seems like an eternity the next day.

• They are dosed with disinfectant, showered and dressed in ill-fitting prison garb.

• Eliezer’s father receives a savage beating for asking to go to the bathroom; even Eliezer does nothing to help his father.

• They are to work and if their work is not satisfactory they will die.

• The prisoners offer total submission to their captors.

• They lose the independent will to object to their treatment, and they are willing to turn on other prisoners to save themselves.

• In using prisoners to maintain order, the Nazis are able to easily control large groups of people.

• An unidentified prisoner advises Eliezer and his father on the ages they must reply to survive the selection.

• Many prisoners cling to hope and humanity through religion. They are able to accept the existence of the camps by rationalizing that God is testing them.

• Often the prisoners in charge are as brutal as their captors. The Polish block leader is an exception; he offers kind words and emphasizes that prisoners must not lose their faith or abandon each other.

• Eliezer lies to a relative who asks him about his wife and children. Eliezer gives the man the last happiness he ever knows by saying that he has not heard from them.

• Buna is a labor camp and the two Wiesels are selected for labor.

• Upon leaving Auschwitz the prisoners march for hours to Buna.

• With so many Germans fighting in the war the workforce has been depleted; the workforce is supplemented with prisoners, and Eliezer works at a warehouse with civilians.

• As the child dies, one of the prisoners asks, “Where is God?” At that moment the child, who is silently suffering a prolonged, agonizing, public death on the gallows, symbolizes God to Eliezer.

• Kapos are prison officials in charge of the work crews.

• They are characterized as being brutal, sadistic, and having enough power to be corrupt.

• The prisoners realize that a single bomb could kill hundreds of prisoners, but they welcome the bombs joyfully.

• Periodic air raids mean that the war is moving closer to the camp, and when the front line reaches the camp the surviving prisoners will be liberated.

• One air raid lasts an hour and Eliezer wished it would last one hundred hours. Prisoners cheerfully clear away the ruins of the raid.

• Upon facing the possible death by Allied bombs Eliezer says, “…we were no longer afraid of death, at any rate, not of that death.”

• A death that would also bring about the death of their captors is not frightening after what they endured.

• Eliezer’s anger towards God deepens.

• Eliezer admonished God for tormenting the other prisoners’ minds with his continued presence.

• Eliezer accuses God of active responsibility for torturing the Jews.

• Eliezer’s rebellion against God leaves a profound void in his heart.

• The prisoners run about in preparation for the display to get some color in their flesh.

• They run past Mengele to create an illusion of strength and to prevent Mengele from being able to note their identification numbers.

• Father gives Eliezer his only belongings: a knife and a spoon.

• Eliezer’s father believes that this will be his final good-bye to his son.

• Eliezer tries to refuse them, but his father insists, and Eliezer takes his “inheritance.”

• Eliezer’s foot becomes painfully swollen during the January cold.

• The doctor says the he needs an operation. Another patient warns him that being hospitalized makes one prime target for selection.

• Faced with possible amputation if the foot is not cured, he accepts the danger of the hospital.

• The operation is done without anesthetic. He learns that his foot will heal, but he must recover for two weeks, making him vulnerable to the next selection.

• Two days after the operation, rumors spread that the Russian army is on its way to liberate Buna.

• The prisoners learn that they will be marched from the camp.

• Eliezer leaves the hospital to find his father.

• They must choose either: Eliezer leaving the hospital and joining the father in the march, or his father joining Eliezer in the hospital. They choose the march believing that the Nazis will surely kill any prisoners left behind.

• The realization that his death would leave his father alone helps Eliezer summon the strength to continue.

• The two Wiesels take turns inspiring each other to continue.

• Eliezer prays that he should not do the same to his father.

• It is difficult for Eliezer to fight the feelings that his own chances for survival would increase without his father to support.

• Speaking with the abandoned Rabbi helps refocus Eliezer’s commitment to his father.

• As the elder Wiesel is sent to the left with the obviously weak, Eliezer creates a confusion that allows him to bring his father back to the right.

• Since the Nazis are pressed for time because of the approaching Russian army, the selection process breaks down.

• Many prisoners are killed in the process, but Eliezer and his father survive.

• An elderly man’s son lunges at him for a morsel of bread, even as the father tries to share it with him.

• The two incite the other hungry prisoners, and after the fight, the father and son are both dead.

• If the bond between father and son is broken, then genocide is realized even if the crematory fires are extinguished; they no longer need the fires to kill them; they are destroying each other.

• Eliezer’s father suffers from dysentery and will surely die; the doctors see no point in treating him.

• Caregivers are no longer willing to “waste” any resources on the dying.

• Eliezer feels intense guilt and blames himself for doing nothing when the guard attacks his father.

• Eliezer’s father is gone after their phenomenal struggle, yet Eliezer cannot cry. Worst of all he cannot fight the feeling that he is “…free at last.”

• Eliezer cannot save his father, so his feelings of guilt are irrational.

• As the front approaches the surviving Jews are ordered to gather in the camp. News spread that they will be executed on the spot.

• The camp resistance movement interferes with the execution, and instruction is given to ignore the order.

• Five days later the resistance movement stages a rebellion , freeing the prisoners shortly before liberation by the American army.

• The prisoners eat.

• “Our first act as free men was to throw ourselves onto the provisions. We thought only of that. Not of revenge, not of our families. Nothing but bread.”

• After surviving the selection, the abuse, and the starvation of the camps, Eliezer nearly dies of food poisoning after liberation.

• Ironically, the very sustenance he needs to survive almost kills him when he finally gets it.

• Eliezer has not looked at himself in the mirror since deportation from the ghettos.

• When he finally regains enough strength to look at himself in a mirror, he says he sees a corpse.

• Physically he is alive, but Eliezer’s spirit has died.

An autobiography is a sketch of the author’s entire life, often from birth up until the time of the writing.

A memoir focuses on one aspect of the writer’s life. Memoirs usually cover a relatively short span of time, and their main purpose is to draw the reader’s attention to a specific theme or circumstance.

A biography is the story of a life from another person’s perspective.

An essay is a short nonfiction work that addresses a specific subject.

A speech is a talk or an address presented to an audience.

Autobiographical, memoir

Focus on observation - describes an event that the writer witnessed firsthand.

Elie Wiesel - Bearing Witness - invites us to listen, and to remember. “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Prewar European population: 9.5 million

Most Jews lived in eastern Europe, primarily in the Soviet Union and Poland.

The Nazi party came to power in Germany in 1933.

The Germans moved to extend their power in central Europe, annexing Austria and destroying Czechoslavkia.

Germany invaded Poland in 1939, beginning World War II.

Over the next two years, German forces conquered most of Europe.

The Germans established ghettos in occupied eastern territories, isolating and persecuting the Jewish population.

Nazi anti-Jewish policy expanded with the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941.

Mobile killing units murdered Jews, Roma (also called Gypsies), Soviet political commissars and others.

The Germans and their collaborators deported Jews to extermination camps in occupied Poland.

At the largest extermination camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau, transports arrived almost daily from across Europe.

By war’s end, almost six million Jews and millions of others had perished in the Holocaust.

Postwar European Jewish Population, ca. 1950: 3.5 million

Holocaust

Genocide

Ghetto

Prejudice

Discrimination

Kapo

Los

Gestapo

Race

Ethnicity

Anti-Semitism

Euphemism

Fascism

Death camp

Concentration camp

Holocaust means “complete destruction by fire.”

The term is now associated with the murder of more than six million Jewish people during World War II.

Genocide is a word that combines the Greek word “genos” (meaning race, people, or nation) and the ending “cide” (meaning to kill).

Genocide refers to the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group.

The confinement of Jews in a set-apart area of the city.

Prejudice comes from the word “prejudge” (pre-judge, or judge beforehand).

A prejudice is a preconceived opinion or feeling formed without knowledge, thought or reason.

Prejudices are often based on stereotypes.

Discrimination is when actions are based upon prejudices, stereotypes, and biases.

Camp prisoner forced to oversee other prisoners.

German for “Go on!”

Any people united by common history, language, or cultural traits.

The Dutch race.

A shared and distinctive cultural characteristic pertaining to the language, religion, background, etc. of a group of people.

Ethnicity generally refers to a minority within a larger society.

Hostility toward or discrimination against Jewish people.

A mild or vague term that is substituted for one that is harsh or offensive.

“To pass away” is a euphemism for “to die.”

A system of government with centralized authority under a dictator, stringent socioeconomic controls, suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship and usually a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism.

Camps dedicated to the efficient murder of Jews and other victims;

E.g. Auschwitz-Birkenau, Belzec, Chelmo, Madjanek, Sobibor, Treblinka.

The terms was also used for concentration camps where thousands died of starvation and disease.

Camps that were primarily used for slave labor

Holding camps or

Transit camps

Adolf Hitler

Heinrich Himmler

Adolph Eichmann

Rudolph Hess

Dr. Mengele

Aryan Race

Third Reich

SS

Gestapo

Dachau

Aushwitz

Theresienstadt

Selection

Ghetto

The Final Solution

“The Fuhrer,” dictator of Germany (Chancellor – 1933,

President – 1934), a demagogue and tyrant who obtains

power by appealing to the emotions and prejudices of

the masses.

The head of the SS.

Devised the plan for the Final Solution.

The commander of Auschwitz.

“The Angel of Death,” a doctor who performed

brutal, unnecessary experiments and

operations upon prisoners.

The pure Germanic race, used by the Nazis to

suggest a superior, non-Jewish Caucasian

typified by height, blonde hair, blue eyes.

The Third Republic of Germany which began

with Hitler’s rule in 1933 and ended with his

defeat in 1945.

“Schutz-Staffel” (literally defense echelon),

established in 1929 as Hitler’s blackshirted

bodyguards. They became the elite guards of

the Nazis trained in brutality and put in charge

of concentration camps.

•The secret police organized in 1933 to uncover and

undermine political opposition.

•German acronym for the German Secret State Police

•Part of the SS

•Notorious for terrorism against enemies of the state.

A concentration camp used

as a model for the death camps.

The largest death camp, located in Poland.

The “model” concentration camp used to deceive the

visiting International Red Cross. Many artists were

imprisoned here and later killed.

The plan devised in 1941 to speed up the

system of killing the Jews and “undesirables.”

The previous method of shooting and burying

the dead was too “costly and inefficient.” This

final method used an efficient system of gas

chambers and crematories to kill the Jews.

Six of these death camps were built and often

were kept working round the clock, killing

thousands per day.

Term used when the SS

forced prisoners to line up

for inspection and decided

which prisoners would live

and which would be killed.

Cabbala

Hasidism

Job

Kaddish

Maimonides

Messiah

Zohar

Passover

Pentecost

Rosh Hashana

Lazarus

Synagogue

Talmud

Temple

Yellow star

Yom Kippur

Zionism

Jewish mysticism, including numerology.

Movement of Orthodox Judaism with strong mystical and emotional elements.

Biblical figure who has come to symbolize suffering.

A prayer in Aramaic praising God. The mourner’s Kaddish is said for the dead.

Jewish rabbi

Physician

Philosopher

Greek translation of Hewbrew Mashiach

The anointed one.

From the Hebrew meaning light or splendor.

One of the major works of the Cabbala.

Greek word for the celebration of the exodus of Jewish people from Slavery in Egypt.

The celebration of the giving of the Torah.

Jewish New Year.

A man described in the Books of John and Luke as having been raised from the dead by Jesus.

A Jewish house of worship and study.

The most important compilation of Jewish oral tradition.

Holiest place in Judaism, located in Jerusalem. Biblically ordained sacrifices were performed here. Built and destroyed twice.

Nazis forced Jews to wear a cloth badge with the word Jew written in the center of a yellow six pointed star.

Day of Atonement.

Holiest day of Jewish year.

When the Jews fast and pray for forgiveness of their sins.

Political movement advocating the establishment of a Jewish state.