"Night" Important Terms
Kapo
"cop" A Jew in concentration camps appointed to manage other Jews
Rabbi
A Hebrew title of respect for a Jewish scholar or teacher Elie's previous persuasion
Akiba Drumer
A Jewish Holocaust victim who gradually loses his faith in God as a result of his experiences in the concentration camp. "God is testing us."
Madame Schachter
A Jewish woman from Sighet who is deported in the same cattle car as Eliezer. She is taken for a madwoman when, every night, she screams that she sees furnaces in the distance. She proves to be a prophetess, however, as the trains soon arrive at the crematoria of Auschwitz.
Talmud
A collection of authoritative Jewish writings that comment and interpret biblical laws.
the French girl
"Aryan" (Blonde hair, blue eyes people) - They met at Paris metro years later Elie asked her if she was Jew - she was
Meir Katz
A strong gardener from Sighet. He helps to free Elie from an attacker on the train to Gleiwitz but is overcome by grief when he considers his lost family.
Juliek
A young musician whom Eliezer meets in Auschwitz. He reappears late in the memoir, when Eliezer hears him playing the violin after the death march to Gleiwitz.
"Work is liberty."
An important sign on one of the camps' gates
Preface
An introductory statement or essay at book's beginning in which author introduces work to the reader, provides information needed to understand book's purpose, and makes acknowledgments
Elie Wiesel
Author of "Night"
Buchenwald
Concentration camp in North Central Germany The last stop for Elie and his father, the place where Elie was freed and his father got killed
Yossi and Tibi
Czech brothers whose parents are killed. They work in the electrical warehouse with Elie and become his friends. They promised with Elie that if they survived they were going to get on a boat and leave for Haifa
Idek
Eliezer's Kapo (a prisoner conscripted by the Nazis to police other prisoners) at the electrical equipment warehouse in Buna. Despite the fact that they also faced the cruelty of the Nazis, many Kapos were as cruel to the prisoners as the Germans. During moments of insane rage, Idek beats Eliezer.
Oberkapo
German for "overseer"; supervised other kapos
Kabbalah (cabbala)
It is an esoteric method, discipline, and school of thought that originated in Judaism
Gestapo
It was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and German-occupied Europe
Rosh Hashanah
Jewish New Year
synagogue
Jewish place of worship
Zionist
Jews who believed in a country of their own in Palestine
Ghetto
Limited areas for Jews
Zalman
One of Eliezer's fellow prisoners. Zalman is trampled to death during the run to Gleiwitz.
Musulman
People who have given up "Walking dead"
Kaddish
The Jewish prayer for the dead
Dr. Mengele
When he arrives at Auschwitz, Eliezer encounters the historically infamous Dr. Mengele. Mengele was the cruel doctor who presided over the selection of arrivals at Auschwitz/Birkenau. Known as the "Angel of Death," Mengele's words sentenced countless prisoners to death in the gas chambers. He also directed horrific experiments on human subjects at the camp.
Kahn family
When the Germans first came, one of them lived in Kahn's house. They were very friendly, and the one in Kahn's family sent him a box of chocolate.
Moshe the Beadle
Who tries to ward the Jews of Sighet of what the Nazis are doing
Francois Mauriac
Writer of section "Foreword"
Auschwitz
a Nazi concentration camp for Jews in southwestern Poland during World War II (Largest one) Elie and the villagers were first brought here
Sighet
a town in Transylvania, this is where Eliezer lived and grew up in before he was transported into the camps. in Hungary
Deportee
expelled from home or country by authority