Night

Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key narrative points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Chapters 1-2

Reading Check

1. Which type of Jewish teaching is Wiesel interested in learning?

2. What is Moishe’s message that people do not believe or listen to?

3. What is a ghetto?

4. What does Wiesel’s family do together on their last night before their expulsion?

5. What is the name of the camp that Wiesel and his family are sent to?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Describe Moishe the Beadle and his relationship to Wiesel. Why do people like him?

2. Describe the Jewish people of Sighet’s initial reaction to the Nazis’ arrival. Why does this reaction change?

3. Who is Madame Schächter? Describe what happens to her while she is being transported along with Wiesel and his family.

Paired Resources

“Life in Nazi-Controlled Europe: Hungary”

• This source discusses the Nazi invasion of Hungary (where Wiesel’s village of Sighet was located at the start of WWII) as well as the consequences for its Jewish population.
• Connects to the theme of Dehumanization
• Describe the changing political relationship between Hungary and Nazi Germany. Based on both the article and Wiesel’s memoir, what was the effect on Jewish populations?

“Sighet”

• This article from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum shares information regarding the town of Sighet, the birthplace of Elie Wiesel, in the context of WWII.
• What was the impact of Nazi Germany’s invasion on the town of Sighet?

Chapters 3-4

Reading Check

1. What eight words does Wiesel recall the Nazi guards speaking “indifferently, without emotion”?

2. What group of people do Wiesel, his father, and fellow Jewish inmates meet in their new barracks?

3. What inscription is written in German on an iron gate leading to Auschwitz?

4. Which harrowing fact does Wiesel learn much later about the guards in Buna camp?

5. What is Wiesel’s main request as he is assigned different work and living quarters?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. For those men who survive initial inspection in the camp, is it better to appear stronger or average? Why?

2. Wiesel recalls a “Pole” who gives them important information when he and his father arrive at Auschwitz. Who is this man, and why are his words so memorable to Wiesel?

3. Describe Wiesel’s three weeks in Auschwitz. How does his time there end?

4. Why is Wiesel summoned to the camp dentist? Describe what eventually happens to his tooth.

5. Chapter 4 ends with a description of a public execution that particularly bothers Wiesel and his fellow inmates. Briefly describe what happens and Wiesel’s reaction.

Paired Resources

Historical Pictures of Auschwitz-Birkenau

• This page at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum website presents primary sources from the concentration camp.
• How do these images compare with Wiesel’s description in his memoir?

“Buna-Monowitz”

• This resource highlights information about the Buna-Monowitz (or “Auschwitz III”) camp, including the role that music played in the camp.
• Connects to the themes of Dehumanization and The Power of Illusion
• Using this resource as well as the memoir, describe the role that music played in the lives of inmates at Buna.

Chapters 5-6

Reading Check

1. Why does Wiesel go to the infirmary?

2. In Chapter 5, according to Wiesel’s neighbor in the infirmary, who is the only person to have kept “all his promises […] to the Jewish people”?

3. What news sends Buna camp into a frenzy?

4. What music is played for the dead and dying men in Gleiwitz?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Compare and contrast Wiesel’s mindset as he celebrates Rosh Hashanah in 1944, as opposed to previous years.

2. Describe the tense moment surrounding the selection of inmates in Chapter 5. What is the outcome for Wiesel and his father?

3. Describe what Wiesel and his fellow inmates from Buna are forced to do after leaving the camp. What does Wiesel’s father caution Wiesel from doing? Why?

Paired Resource

“Liberation of Nazi Camps”

• This 3-minute video from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum website provides a timeline with information and pictures regarding the liberation of concentration camps in Europe. (Content Warning: The video includes disturbing photographs of human remains and emaciated victims.)
• What were some ways the Nazi regime tried to prevent Allied Liberation Forces from finding their concentration camps?

Chapters 7-9

Reading Check

1. What do Wiesel’s fellow inmates throw out of the train?

2. As he argues with his father in Chapter 8, whom does Wiesel feel he is really speaking to?

3. After his father’s death, what does Wiesel mainly think about?

4. What happens on April 10, 1945?

5. When Wiesel looks into the mirror at the end of the memoir, what does he see?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Wiesel witnesses a harrowing scene between a father and his son in the train car. What causes the conflict, and what is the result?

2. What challenges does Wiesel experience with his father in Chapter 8?

Recommended Next Reads

Dawn by Elie Wiesel

• Elie Wiesel’s second book in the Night trilogy follows a young man living in Palestine at the end of WWII.
• Share themes include Dehumanization.
• Dawn on SuperSummary

Day by Elie Wiesel

• Elie Wiesel’s third book in the Night trilogy follows a Holocaust survivor who reflects on WWII after his own near-death experience.
• Shared themes include Religion and the Loss of Faith.