Oprah/ Elie Wiesel Interview

How old was Elie Wiesel when he arrived in Birkenau? _____

15

How long would it take for people to die in the gas chambers? ________________

15 minutes

Military intelligence suggests that the Allies were aware of the concentration camps by the summer of ____________. The camps were not liberated for _________ years later. During this time, approximately 5,000,000 victims were murdered.

1942, 3

During the winter of _______________, how many Jews were murdered in Auschwitz alone? _______________

1944, 15,000

In May ____________, Wiesel was moved to Auschwitz I, which was the ________ headquarters and a _________________ center for political prisoners.

1944, SS, torture

In __________, Auschwitz was liberated.

1945

Auschwitz, the most infamous of the concentration camps, was 6720 acres or just over the size of ______ football fields.

5,000

Approximately how many Jews were killed in the Holocaust? ___________________________

6 million

Approximately _______% of arrivals were immediately sent to the gas chambers. Those who were allowed to live became ____________________.

75, slaves

By 1944, __________________ Hungarian Jews a day arrived at Auschwitz.

8,600

As Wiesel reflects with Oprah on the miracle of his survival, he lists several factors that would have made it seem like he was an unlikely candidate to survive the harshness of Auschwitz. List a minimum of four.

He was timid, frightened, bashful, never pushed himself, never volunteered, stayed alive for his father.

Describe the scene in which Oprah and Wiesel examine the shoes on display.

Mountains of shoes serve as somber evidence of Nazi war crimes. Each pair tells a story of a human being who once lived—elegant shoes, poor shoes, dancing shoes, children's shoes.

As Wiesel got off the train and smelled the stench of burning human flesh, he tells Oprah that he thought of Mrs. ________________________.

Schachter

World War II began on ______________________, 1, 19 ____ when Germany invaded ___________________.

September, 1939, Poland

What was Hitler's private army called? ____________________

The SS

Why were the heads of prisoners and corpses shaved? _______________________________________________

The hair was sold to German factories to make cloth.

At the end of the interview, a message appears on the screen. It states: "To Those Who Lost Their Lives ____________________________________ To Those Who Survived ___________________________________To The Next Generation _______________________________________________________________________"

We Remember, We Hear You, We Must Never Forget

The last time that Wiesel saw his little sister Tzipora, what was she wearing? _____________________________

a red coat

Wiesel recalls that the Nazis first deprived the Jews of their _____________________________, then their _____________________________, then their ____________________, their ________________________, their ____________________, and finally their ____________________.

address, citizenship, home, family, name, life

Jewish concentration camp prisoners who worked in the "special unit" were given the task of ___________________

burning bodies

Wiesel tells Oprah that prisoners did not __________ in Auschwitz, why? _______________________________

cry, if they started they wouldn't be able to stop

Wiesel states that the God of Auschwitz was the God of _________________ because _____________________

death, there was so much death

Wiesel refers to Auschwitz as a "______________________ of _________________."

factory, death

As a result of the harsh conditions, the average life span of a camp laborer was ________ months.

four

Auschwitz II or Birkenau contained _________ gas chambers.

four

In Block 4, a sixty-seven foot long display case holds ________________________________________________.

human hair

Zyclon B was the chemical used in the gas chambers. What was its original purpose? _______________________

insect killer

Wiesel explains to Oprah that he once heard that "When a __________ person dies, God sheds _____ tears, and when they fall into the ___________________, they reverberate throughout the _____________________." What does this make Wiesel wonder? ____________________________________________________________.

just, two, ocean, universe; if God does that for one person, how many tears did He shed for all these people?

Auschwitz is the site of the largest mass ___________________ in the ______________________ of ____________________.

murder, history, mankind

Over sixty years after the Holocaust, what answers does Wiesel say he has found? ________________________

no answers

Block 11 is where the Gestapo tortured _______________________________ prisoners. Wiesel explains to Oprah that they were taken to the _____________ and killed one at a time. Individual deaths, according to him, were a __________________________.

political, wall, privilege

Due to _________, _____________, and other vermin, disease was rampant in the camps.

rats, lice

Wiesel explains to Oprah that most Jews went to their deaths unknowingly, and states "If we had known, we would have ________ into the _____________________."

run, forest

Wiesel recalls that he cannot remember ever walking. He was always _________________________. Why?

running, slaves run

The process that the SS used to determine who would live and who would die was known as _____________________.

selection

How much hair was discovered when the Allies liberated the camp? ____________________________________

seven tons

Auschwitz was divided into ________ sub camps: Auschwitz I, Birkenau (Auschwitz II), and Buna (Auschwitz III).

three

Approximately how many people were assigned to one barrack? __________________

two-three

The iron gate at Auschwitz read Arbeit Macht Frei. Translated from German to English, this means

work makes you free

Oprah asks Wiesel, "What did you do with your anger?" How does Wiesel reply? __________________________

writes, teaches, tries to sensitize readers