The Holocaust and Elie Wiesel

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The Holocaust and Elie Wiesel

• An introduction to a unit on Night
• By Jane Rieder

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What do you know?

• Think a minute.
• Turn to your partner.
• Get ready to discuss what you already know about
  the Holocaust.
• What questions do you have?

Entrance to Auschwitz
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What happened?

• During the Holocaust, 11 million people died in
  concentration camps in Germany and Poland.
• Hitlers ideology called for the imprisonment of
  Jews, gypsies, political dissenters, the mentally
  ill, and homosexuals.
• Holocaust Encyclopedia

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Why did this happen?

• After the First World War, Germany was in chaos,
  and Hitler was a strong leader who promised a
  better life for Germany.
• European fascism merged with anti-semitism.
• The western world was unaware of the true extent
  of Germanys persecution of Jews and others.

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Holocaust Memoirs

• Some victims of concentration camps survived to
  publish their memoirs.

Elie Wiesel addresses the U.S. Congress.
Famous authors who wrote about their experiences
include Primo Levi, Anne Frank, Simon Wiesenthal
and Elie Wiesel.
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Elie Wiesel and the holocaust

• Taken from his hometown with his family in spring
  1944, when he was a teenager.
• Transported to Auschwitz, Poland with his family.
• He never saw his mother or younger sister again.
• His father died after a forced march to
  buchenwald.

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A photo of prisoners arriving at Auschwitz, May
1944

• This took
• place
• around
• the time
• when Elie
• Wiesel
• arrived at
• Auschwitz.

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Liberation of Buchenwald
Wiesel is the seventh man from the left on the
second row. April 16, 1945
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Elie Wiesel after the Holocaust

• Became a U.S. Citizen in 1955
• Published his memoir of Auschwitz
• Teaches humanities at various universities
• Won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986 for speaking
  out against racism and intolerance around the
  world.

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An Evening With Elie Wiesel

• Let's watch part of this video...

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From his Nobel Lecture

• For me, hope without memory is like memory
  without hope. Just as man cannot live without
  dreams, he cannot live without hope. If dreams
  reflect the past, hope summons the future. -
  December 11, 1986
• Acceptance Speech

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What are your reactions?

• Think for a minute about your reaction to these
  historical events.
• Then write a dialectical response in your journal
  please include questions, thoughts and emotions.

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The Holocaust and Elie Wiesel

• An introduction to a unit on Night
• By Jane Rieder