Night
Elie Wiesel
Study Questions – Answer all questions in complete sentences on lined notebook paper. (The underlined questions mark the separate sections of the book.)
1. Who is Moche the Beadle? Describe him. Why isn’t the community bothered by him?
2. Describe Elie’s father. Who else was in his family?
3. What is the Zohar?
4. What story did Moche the Beadle tell when he came back after being deported?
5. How had Moche changed?
6. Why did people refuse to listen to his stories?
7. Why does Moche keep telling his story, even though no one is listening?
8. Why didn’t Elie’s father want to move away?
9. What incidents gave the Jewish people in Elie’s hometown (Sighet) hope that rumors of the war would not affect them?
10. What was the first step taken against the Jews of Sighet?
11. What other decrees (laws) were made?
12. Why did Elie think that they were well off when they first were forced to live in the ghetto?
13. What news had Elie and some of his neighbors waiting up all night to hear?
14. Where were they going?
15. What was each person allowed to bring?
16. Describe the conditions of role call?
17. What good news did Elie’s father receive?
18. When did Elie begin to hate the Hungarian police?
19. Why does Elie think that the people who once lived in the little ghetto were driven out unrepentantly?
20. Why was Elie and his family allowed to be one of the last families to leave?
21. What optimistic conversations did the people still living in the ghetto begin to have?
22. Why do some of the ghetto residents think that maybe they are being deported for their own good?
23. Describe the last 24 hours Elie and the other ghetto residents spent before they were to be deported:
24. Describe the conditions on the cattle wagon.
25. Describe Madame Schachter.
26. What did Madame Schachter cry out in the middle of the night?
27. What shook up Elie more than Madame Schachter’s screams?
28. At what point did the people on the cattle car begin to lose their poise and turn against each other?
29. Where did the train finally stop?
30. What information did they receive by giving the guards a gold watch?
31. What did they see and smell when they were finally told to get off of the train?
32. How did Madame Schachter react to this?
33. At what point did the illusions of protection finally leave the minds of Elie and the other Jewish passengers?
34. Why does one of the prisoners yell at Elie and ask what they (him and his father) are even doing in the camp?
35. Why do the other prisoners not want the younger ones to revolt?
36. Who is Dr. Mengele?
37. What was burning in the ditch?
38. What does Wiesel say that he will never forget?
39. What did Bela Katz have to do, as a result of a job given to him due to his strength?
40. How did Elie feel about the other people in his life, neighbors, friends, etc.?
41. Why would they have roared with laughter had the situation not been so tragic?
42. Describe the conditions in the barracks:
43. According to the SS officer, what were the two choices the prisoners had?
44. How has Elie changed in just one day?
45. Why was the “Danger of Death” sign a form of mockery?
46. What was Elie’s new name?
47. How did Elie avoid having to do work in his first 3 weeks at Auschwitz?
48. Why did Reizel stop visiting Elie and his father?
49. Why do you think Wiesel told the story about the German guards and the giggling German girls?
50. Where were Elie and the rest of the men getting marched to?
51. Why does Elie think that the men in charge are interested in taking care of the younger boys?
52. Why wasn’t Louise allowed to play Beethoven on his violin?
53. What did Elie, Yossi and Tibi talk about while they worked?
54. Why did Elie get ordered to go to the dentist?
55. What eventually happened to the dentist?
56. Why doesn’t Elie feel any pity for him?
57. How did Elie react when his father was getting beat? Why did this change in him occur?
58. What was Elie’s weak point?
59. Why did Elie burst out laughing when out on his walk?
60. What was his punishment?
61. Why did the bombs dropping fill the inmates with joy?
62. Why did the hanging of one man affect Elie, even though thousands had already been burned?
63. Why did Jewish prisoners help the SS officers with their jobs?
64. What aspects of the child, or little angel, being hung were so horrifying?
65. What reasons does Elie give for being mad at God?
66. What does Elie need to do in order to pass selection?
67. Why is Elie in a panic?
68. At what point does Elie think that men break down and mentally begin to die?
69. Describe life in the cold, winter conditions:
70. What aliment put Elie in the camp hospital?
71. What bad news did Elie receive while recovering in the hospital?
72. What decision did Elie and his father make?
73. W hat happened to the people who stayed in the hospital?
74. Why does the head of the block make a big deal about cleaning the blocks before the liberators come?
75. How does Elie think his friend Zalman died?
76. How far had Elie traveled by the time he saw the morning star?
77. How did Elie’s father look when he was waking up Elie?
78. Why doesn’t Elie fall asleep in the shed?
79. What did Elie remember about the Rabbi’s son?
80. What terrible thought crossed Elie’s mind as he thought about the Rabbi and his son?
81. Why was Elie so glad to finally reach the barracks of Gleiwitz?
82. How does Elie get water, as he is not allowed to bend over or sit down?
83. Why do the guards find this funny?
84. While on the cattle car, what is the difference between the men who were alive and the men who were dead?
85. Why did the living men rejoice when the SS guards stopped the train and directed them to throw out the dead?
86. How many days and nights did Elie spend on the train after he left Gleiwitz?
87. How old was Elie when he witnessed the son killing his father for a piece of bread (only to be killed himself moments later)?
88. How many people were finally to leave the cattle car when Elie arrived at Buchenwald?
89. Why did Elie want to not find his father?
90. What piece of advice does the head of the block give to Elie?
91. Why couldn’t Elie shed any tears when he realized that his father was dead?
92. Why doesn’t Elie have anything to say from January 29th 1945 to April 11th?
93. What was Elie’s one desire?
94. What was the prisoners’ first act as free men?
95. Why didn’t the prisoners think of revenge, even after they got food?
96. What did Elie see when he finally looked into the mirror?