Reflection on the Night Unit
1. What did you learn about Judaism? I learned it religion
2. What did you learn about the Holocaust? How brutal it was
3. Do you think you increased your own empathy, integrity, and compassion, and how? Yes it taught me what was happing
4. Which activities did you enjoy the most? I enjoyed the reading
5. What recommendations do you have for Mrs. Torley to change anything if she is teaching this again next year? nothing
Elie Wiesel's memoir 'Night' is the record of his memories of the Holocaust. He uses a range of techniques such as alliteration, metaphor, and first-person narration. His writing had a big emotional impact on me, making me feel bad, sorry, and annoyed.
One event that made me react emotionally was the air raid. Elie was sitting in the barracks as the soup sat there outside. He watched an inmate crawl out and put his face in the soup before he was shot, "His face stained by the soup." Elie uses alliteration with the repeated sound of 'stained/ soup' to focus our attention on the man lying there motionless, dying with soup on his face. It made me feel bad for him because he was starving and desperate for food.
Another event that made me feel emotional was the death march when the Jews had to run from Auschwitz to a more central camp. The SS officers told the Jews, "Run faster, you dirty dogs!" Elie recorded a metaphor used by the Nazi offser who compared the Jews to dogs. It made me feel sorry for the Jews that were running because people should not be treated like that.
Another event that made me feel emotional was Elies' father getting a beating from the SS officer when his father was dying, “My father no longer felt the club’s blows; I did. And yet I did not react. I let the SS beat my father, I left him alone in the clutches of death. Worse: I was angry with him for having been noisy, for having cried, for provoking the wrath of the SS.” Elie used the first-person point of view with the pronoun I, which showed that he experienced it personally. This made me feel annoyed to read that he had seen his dad being beaten by the SS officer.
'Night' by Elie Wiesel is a story of a Jewish boy that lived through the Holocaust in World War II. He was taken to a concentration camp controlled by the Nazis. It really shows the horrors of the war and how racist people really were. All the black people and Jewish children instantly got sent to the crematoria unless they were fit and strong later on they all got liberated and were freed by Americans. Through techniques such as alliteration, metaphor, and first-person narration, Elie Wiesel's writing had a big emotional impact on me, making me feel bad, sorry, and annoyed.
List at least 3 questions you have about Elie's life after the war. These could be things like: Did he have a family? What jobs did he do? What else did he write? Why did he win the Nobel Peace Prize? or others. List your questions below:
Q1: Did he recover?
yes
Q2: how was his life in Auschwitz?
it was roughf
Q3: was he sad that his dad died?
yes
[You can do more than three questions if you like.]
Using the links on the next slide, research Elie's life and record the answer to each question on a new slide. You must do at least THREE questions.
Some resources
Here are some links to help you find information, but you are welcome to use other sites too:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elie_Wiesel
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1986/wiesel/biographical/
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/elie-wiesel-timeline-and-world-events-1928-1951?parent=en%2F10502
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/elie-wiesel-timeline-and-world-events-from-1952 https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1986/wiesel/acceptance-speech/
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1986/wiesel/interview/
