Night
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Chapter 1
Moishe the Beadle is a homeless man in the book Night. He is described as “living in a life of penance”. He is a man of the church that spends his time on the steps of the synagogue. He is well mannered and does not often beg. Elizer askes him for his teaching but he says “every person must walk through their own door”. He doesn’t teach Eliezer, but they often have biblical conversations on the steps of the synagogue.
Eliezer states that he doesn’t know why he prays when Moishe asks him. He also says he is unsure of the reason he cries, but he simply feels something inside of him that wants to cry. He is moved by his faith emotionally.
When Moishe returns he tells of the train ride, then the trucks going into the forest before they (the Jews) were ordered to dig trenches before they were shot one by one. He says he escaped because he was only injured. He also talks of a little girl who was slowly dieing and a father requesting to be killed before his sons.
The Jewish people didn’t believe him because they thought he was looking for sympathy and money. Also many people had thought he had gone mad as he was crying, rambling, etc.
Curfew was put into place.
Jews were not allowed to posses gold or silver.
Curfew was put into place.
German officers move into Hungary (and soon into Jewish homes)
Jews are forced to wear the yellow star.
Two ghettos were created.
Germans enslave Jewish men to load coal into their trains.
Germans move Jews from large ghetto into the smaller ghetto before deporting them.
Ghetto – a part of some cities where Jews were required to live. (Webster’s dictionary 2004)
The Jews ignored the truth due to their hope. They thought the red army would get to them or defeat Germany before the Nazis could try and eliminate them.
The train is packed with people, there’s no where to sit. The windows are sealed and it’s almost impossible to move.
Chapter 2
The phrase was used to explain how the Jews of sighet had realized their fate only after they had been rounded up, put in cattle cars and sent off. The train had crossed the Hungarian border.
Madame Schacter’s vision foreshadows the crematorium.
Madame Schacter had begun to scream about a fire. Many found it frightening and began to beat her until she was silenced. The soon bound and gagged her to stop her seemingly pointless banter.
The train stops in Auschwitz, though Elie is transferred to Birkenau almost immediately.
Chapter 3
Elie was told by an older inmate to lie about his age, he also lies about his job so he seems stronger. He lies because he knows people who are too young, old, or weak will be sent to death.
The first event that made Elie doubt the accuracy of his eyes was a truck with a cargo of babies that were being thrown into a fire.
When Elie said this he means that the holocaust, especially the crematorium, killed his belief in a God.
Elie notices changes in himself over a short period of time. His father is slapped by a guard, and he doesn’t so much as blink. Where as, before he had the will to defend him practically to his death.
“Better than Birkenau. Cement buildings with two stories rather than wooden barracks. Little gardens here and there.” is Elie’s first impression of Auschwitz.
The “compulsory formality” at the entrance to all camps was all had to go through the showers.
The only identification used for prisoners was the numbers tattooed on their forearms.
One bowl of thick soup is their first ration but later they’re also given bread with it.
Bela Katz was forced to work in the crematorium, leading to him putting his own father in the furnace.
Chapter 4
The purpose of the exams were to find gold fillings in the mouths of the Jewish prisoners.
Beethoven was German, and thus it was disgraceful for Jewish musicians to play German music.
Idek is prone to sudden outbursts of rage. When Elie crosses his path , Idek beats him mercilessly, but he soon ceases and moves on.
To avoid having his gold crown stolen from him, Elie tells the dentist he is sick with fever, and that he’ll return when he’s healthy.
Elie meets the French woman who comforted him after Idek’s beating, in Paris metro years later.
During an alert, one man crawls to two unattended soup cauldrons. He gets to them, with other prisoners watching. He screams before diving face first into them, before getting shot by an SS guard.
Juliek asks Elie when the hanging will be over, because he’s hungry, it suggests he really doesn’t care for the boy being hanged, or the though of death itself.
The prisoners cried at