Night by Elie Wiesel

Miss Swank, 11th Grade English Literature

Kristallnacht
Night of Broken Glass or the literal translation Crystal Night November 9 & 10, 1938

Over 1,000 synagogues burned

Over 7,000 Jewish businesses destroyed or damaged At least 91 killed, another 30,000 arrested and incarcerated in concentration

The Holocaust
Approximately 6 million European Jews were exterminated
Genocide the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group Carried out execution in concentration camps, mass shootings, extermination camps, gas chambers

Nazi Party idealism under Adolf Hitler wanted a pure, Aryan race characterized by blonde hair and blue eyes

Did You Know?

The European Jews were not the only people to be persecuted and killed in the Holocaust. Others that Hitlers men targeted included but were not limited to:
- Gypsies - Handicapped people - Communists - Socialists

- Jehovahs Witnesses
- Homosexuals - Catholics

The Holocaust (cont.)

Ghettos established by German Nazis to confine Jews to tightly packed areas of cities Transported from ghettos in freight cars many died before reaching camps

Forced to wear colored badges on clothes designating their category:

Red triangle Communist/political prisoner Green triangle common criminal Pink triangle homosexual man Purple triangle Jehovahs Witness Black triangle Gypsy Yellow triangle - Jew

The Holocaust (cont.)

Concentration camps large numbers of political prisoners or members of persecuted minorities
Auschwitz Birkenau Dachau And many, many more

Many prisoners died through maltreatment, disease, starvation, overwork, or executed as unfit for labor

The Holocaust (cont.)

Did You Know?

* The words above the gate at Auschwitz read Arbeit macht frei, which translates to labor makes (you) free.

Elie Wiesel Author

Full name is Eliezer Elie Wiesel Born September 30, 1928 Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986 Author of 57 books Wrote for French and Israeli newspapers Close friend convinced him to write about his experiences And The World Remained Silent first publication about experiences during the Holocaust

Elie Wiesel - Survivor

Family was placed in larger of 2 Sighet ghettos Community deported to Auschwitz Separated from mother and sister presumed to have died at Auschwitz With father, sent to work camp, but somehow stayed together through shuffling between 3 concentration camps father died Jan. 29, 1945 from dysentery, starvation, and exhaustion