Characters
This poor and kind man returns to Sighet with a warning about the Nazis.
Who is Moshe the Beadle?
The Jews are forced into this kind of living area before deportation.
What is a ghetto?
“Our eyes were opened, but too late.” What does this quote signify?
What is the Jews realizing the horror of their situation too late?
This word refers to a person forced to help supervise other prisoners.
What is a Kapo?
This injury causes Elie to go to the hospital, eventually leading to a decision about whether to stay in the hospital or leave during the camp’s evacuation.
What is a foot infection/swollen foot?
He (and his father) lies about his age to survive the first selection.
Who is Eliezer (Elie)?
Elie’s first sight in Birkenau that shook his faith.
What is children and babies being burned?
“Never shall I forget these flames which consumed my faith forever.”
What does this quote reveal about Elie?
What is he lost his faith after seeing the horrors of the camp?
This term refers to mass killing of a people group.
What is genocide?
This condition, caused by prolonged lack of food and nutrients, was common in the camps and led to severe weight loss, weakness, and eventual death if untreated.
What is starvation?
This person was beaten because Elie wouldn’t give up his gold crown.
Who is Elie’s father?
This woman had terrifying visions of fire on the train.
Who is Madame Schächter?
What does “Arbeit Macht Frei” mean, and why is it ironic?
What is “Work sets you free” – it’s ironic because it was placed at a death camp, so no one gets "free".
This refers to a hidden or sealed way, like how the train cars were sealed.
What is hermetically?
Elie’s father suffers from this after the selection, causing Elie to help him survive.
What is exhaustion?
This person comforts Elie after a beating and later meets him in Paris.
Who is the French woman?
The purpose of the medical exams at Auschwitz.
What is to check for valuables or physical fitness for labor?
What does the phrase “living corpse” symbolize at the end of the book?
What is Elie’s emotional and physical destruction?
The word used to describe someone showing no emotion.
What is apathy?
After witnessing Idek with a woman, what punishment causes Ellie injury?
What is whipping?
This person plays the violin one last time before dying.
Who is Juliek?
What happened to those who stayed behind in the hospital during the evacuation?
What is they were liberated by the Russians?
What does Elie mean when he says, “I was nothing but a body. Perhaps less than that: a starved stomach”?
What is Elie describing the complete loss of identity and humanity in the concentration camps?
A term for a long wooden stick used for beatings.
What is a truncheon?
This disease, caused by dehydration and often resulting in diarrhea, affects many prisoners during the death march, leading to severe weakness and death.
What is dysentery?