Characters
This is the protagonist's name, who is also the author.
Who is Elie Wiesel?
The protagonist and his father survive the first selection by lying about this. (Two things)
What are their jobs and ages?
The woman on the train in chapter two sees visions of this.
What is a fire?
Name two of the four camps that the protagonist is imprisoned in over the course of the novel.
What are Auschwitz-Birkenau, Buna, Gleiwitz, and Buchenwald?
What is Aryan/Nordic/blond hair and blue eyes?
This character is a friend of the protagonist's father, very cheerful, and he saves the protagonist when he is attacked. He eventually dies on a train ride.
Who is Meir Katz?
The protagonist reports feeling angry with his father when this happens, which is illogical.
What is his father gets beaten?
This is when the prisoners are separated into sick and healthy. The sick are killed.
What is "selection"?
"Kommandos" refer to these places at concentration camps.
What are labor assignments/sites?
These were places within cities where Jews were separated from others and kept in unsanitary and impoverished living conditions. The protagonist is forced into one briefly at the start of the novel.
What are ghettos?
This kapo randomly beats prisoners in fits of rage.
Who is Idek?
The protagonist witnesses this happen to Rabbi Eliahou, and he prays that he won't ever do the same.
What is abandon his father? (Due to being a burden)
The protagonist at the start of the story is studying this in Sighet, Romania, his hometown.
What is Judaism/Jewish mysticism?
"Kapos" were those who served this role in concentration camps.
What are prisoners in charge of supervising other prisoners at work sites?
These people were targeted and hunted by Nazis during the Holocaust (name three groups).
Who are Jews, the disabled, political dissidents, Gypsies (Roma), homosexuals, and Soviet POWs?
This character is a religious figure in the protagonist's hometown who is known for "not bothering anyone" and helping out at the local synagogue.
Who is Moche/Moishe the Beedle?
The protagonist witnesses this horrific father-son moment on a train ride later in the novel.
What is a son kills his father for a piece of bread?
The passage of time is partially measured through the passing of which Jewish holidays? (Name two of three)
What is Passover, Rosh Hashanah, and Yom Kippur?
"Pipel" refer to young prisoners who serve this role. One is hanged in the novel for allegedly helping smuggle in weapons.
What is assisting Kapos?
These policies were put in place by the German government to begin to turn the public against Jews.
What are marriage laws, boycotts of businesses, and race-based citizenship laws?
This character beats the protagonist's father to get the protagonist's gold crown (from his teeth).
Who is Franek?
This is the protagonist's father's name.
What is Chlomo?
This is why the protagonist loses faith in God. Provide two instances where this is evident in the text.
What is too much cruelty and pain for a loving God? Ex. initial burnings, Passover, hanging of little boy, etc.
"Appelplatz" are locations at concentration camps that are used for this purpose.
What is "role call" or large gatherings?
This man was famous for conducting experiments on prisoners in concentration camps, particularly twins. He is also present at a selection in the novel.
Who is Dr. Mengele?