LESSON: Exploring
Night
as Literature: Bearing
Witness to History
GRADE LEVEL: Secondary Level
SUBJECT: Multidisciplinary
TIME REQUIRED: This lesson is highly
adaptable. Teachers can choose to use all
or sections of the 3-part lesson, depending
on the context in which the students read
Night
, and the desired outcomes in the
classroom. At minimum, teachers should
prepare for at least one classroom session
per segment of the lesson you wish to
include (three in total).
This is a thematic lesson that builds
on fundamental knowledge and
provides in-depth exploration of a
topic.
RATIONALE
Elie Wiesel’s memoir, Night, has become a standard text used in
many classes to both teach about the history and human impact
of the Holocaust. This lesson will help teachers and students
understand the fuller historical context of the events described
in Wiesel’s writing.
In addition, students will examine the purpose of a memoir and
concept of bearing witness while examining Night for both its
historical and literary contexts. Finally, unique resources allow
students to learn about the later life and legacy of Elie Wiesel.
OVERVIEW
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
● How were Elie Wiesel’s Holocaust experiences shaped by his own individual
circumstances (his age, where he lived, his family)? How did events of World War II
impact what happened to him and his family?
● What is the purpose of memoir?
● What reasons did Elie Wiesel give for writing this memoir?
● How was Elie Wiesel changed by the Holocaust experiences he describes in Night
(change over time)?
● How does Elie Wiesel purposefully employ the dynamic character technique as a writer
to convey his real life experiences during the Holocaust?
● How did Elie Wiesel's work after the Holocaust reflect his experiences in the Holocaust
and his desire to act as a witness?
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LESSON: Exploring
Night
as Literature: Bearing
Witness to History
EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES
At the end of this lesson, students will:
● Have a nuanced understanding of the life of Elie Wiesel and the events that affected him and his family.
● Explore how Elie Wiesel conveys his purpose for writing Night and the changes he undergoes over the
course of the memoir.
● Consider how Elie Wiesel’s experiences during the Holocaust shaped his post-liberation life and work.
TEACHER PREPARATION
● Read Night
● Read USHMM Holocaust Encyclopedia articles “Elie Wiesel” and “Sighet”
● Watch Bearing Witness: Elie Wiesel and Night (8:04)
● Read NY Times article, The Story of Night
● Watch series of five short videos (approx. 2 minutes each), The Many Legacies of Elie Wiesel
● Review concept of dialectical journal [A double-entry journal (either physical or digital) or a reader-response
journal that records a dialogue, or conversation, between the ideas in the text (the words being read) and the
ideas of the reader (the person who is doing the reading)]
MATERIALS
● Copies of Night (recommended version: Wiesel, Elie. Night. New York: Hill And Wang, 2006.)
● Printed or digital sharing of Elie Wiesel timeline cards
● A method for students to record reflections (paper journals or online program) (for Part II)
● Printed or digital copies of Wiesel speech excerpts (for Part III)
LEARNER VARIABILITY MODIFICATIONS AND ACCOMMODATIONS
The lesson is intentionally flexible to allow for individual teacher modifications to achieve educational
outcomes. Technology and teaching strategies are suggested in the instructional sequence; please use other options if
they support the learning needs of your students. Consider utilizing graphic organizers, note-taking strategies, reading
choices, and online engagement tools.
This lesson is intentionally flexible, recognizing that Night is taught in many settings with various educational goals.
Teachers may choose to use all or parts of this lesson, and can modify it as desired.
Educators may choose to use learner variability modifications specific to this lesson:
● Teachers can provide students with choices as to how they access information throughout lessons,
i.e. read print alone, read print with a partner, read along while the teacher reads aloud, etc.
● Define terms that would clarify understanding for students. Reference the Glossary in the Holocaust
Encyclopedia for definitional support.
● Use online discussion or engagement tools that work best in your classroom, such as Padlet.
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LESSON: Exploring
Night
as Literature: Bearing
Witness to History
● Holocaust Encyclopedia articles are available in various languages; refer to the word “Language”
and select the Globe icon available on the lefthand side of the article.
● Closed captions are provided for videos.
● Incorporate strategies such as think-pair-share and jigsaw to enhance student engagement.
● Provide an audiobook of Night for students with reading difficulties.
● Any writing tasks can be done individually, in mentor pairings, or in groups; or use technology to
support writing (i.e. voice to text)
This lesson is available as an online, asynchronous experience for students, which can be accessed through a web
browser or LMS files. The online lessons are accessible to all students for in-person and virtual learning, and they
provide specific support for students using screen readers.
INSTRUCTIONAL SEQUENCE
PART I: SETTING HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Essential Questions:
● How were Elie Wiesel’s Holocaust experiences shaped by his own individual circumstances (his age,
where he lived, his family)?
● How did events of World War II impact what happened to him and his family?
Teachers planning to use this lesson should complete steps 1 and 2 prior to the class reading
Night
. Step 3
should be completed as the class is reading; this step is also included (with additional questions) as a
classroom activity option in Part II.
PRIOR TO READING
NIGHT:
1. Definition of the Holocaust
Read the definition of the Holocaust to the class, defining terms and answering questions. (Teachers should
use the Holocaust Encyclopedia to assist in answering more challenging questions.)
The Holocaust was the systematic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of approximately six million
European Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators in the years leading up to and during World War
II. They believed that the Germans belonged to a race that was "superior" to all others and that the Jews
belonged to a race that was "inferior," who threatened the so-called German racial community. During the
era of the Holocaust (1933-1945), German authorities also targeted other groups because of their
perceived “racial inferiority”: Roma, people with disabilities, some of the Slavic peoples (Poles, Russians,
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LESSON: Exploring
Night
as Literature: Bearing
Witness to History
and others), and Black people . Other groups were persecuted on political, ideological, and behavioral
grounds, among them Communists, Socialists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, men who were accused of
“homosexuality,” and people whom the regime identified as “asocials” and “professional criminals.”
2. Historical Context: Timeline Activity
a. Distribute the first twenty-two timeline cards to the students (from September 30, 1928 “Elie
Wiesel Born” to March 19, 1944 “Germany Occupies Hungary”).
b. Have students with a card, preview/silently read through their cards. Ask a partner for any
clarification needed.
c. In chronological order, have the students read the cards and then place it on the wall or have
students read the cards as part of a gallery walk. Leave these cards on the wall as reference
throughout the unit. [Note: The Elie Wiesel timeline cards duplicate several cards from the
USHMM’s foundational Timeline Activity. If teachers are already using this lesson, swap in the
Elie Wiesel cards in place of the main cards for duplicated events/laws.]
Teacher Note: The classroom video Bearing Witness: Elie Wiesel and Night (8:04) may be used in
support of or instead of the Timeline Activity for historical context.
d. Discuss:
ASK THE STUDENTS
● What does this timeline reveal about the Holocaust? (sample answers: that it
happened over a long period of time; that it began with laws and decrees; that mass
murder began after the start of World War II; that Jews tried to fight back)
● How did geography and the events of World War II affect how Jews were impacted
by the Holocaust? (sample answers: that Jews were persecuted once their countries
were occupied by Nazi Germany; that as the war continued, Germany heightened
the killing)
● What events in the timeline directly affected the Wiesel family? (sample answers:
antisemitism in Romania; Sighet given to Hungary; the deportation of “foreign”
Jews, German occupation of Hungary)
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LESSON: Exploring
Night
as Literature: Bearing
Witness to History
AS THE CLASS IS READING
NIGHT
1. Adding Historical Context: Timeline Activity
a. Ask students to add the next set of timeline cards (April 18-20, 1944 “Sighet Ghettos Created” to May 7,
1945 “German Forces Surrender”) to the wall.
b. Assign small groups a timeline card related to the events in Night (any card between “Sighet Ghettos
Created” and “Buchenwald Liberated”). Do not assign the cards “D-Day, June 6, 1944” or “Auschwitz
Report in U.S. Newspapers, November 26, 1944” as they are not mentioned in Night.
Teacher Note: The classroom video Bearing Witness: Elie Wiesel and Night (8:04) may be used in support
of or instead of the Timeline Activity for historical context.
c. Discuss as a whole group:
● What does this timeline show us about how the Holocaust happened in Hungary? (the
persecution and deportation happened very quickly, it was close to the end of the war)
d. Students work together to answer the questions below and then present to the class:
● How does Elie Wiesel describe the event on students’ assigned timeline card in Night?
● What additional details and perspective does Elie Wiesel include in the book about the event(s) on
the timeline card?
e. Use the questions below for a class discussion or student written reflection: Or complete a
think/write/pair/share.
● How does personal testimony enhance our understanding of historical events?
● What details does Wiesel provide that might not be included in history books?
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LESSON: Exploring
Night
as Literature: Bearing
Witness to History
PART II: ENGAGING WITH THE MEMOIR AS LITERARY TEXT
Essential Questions:
● What is the purpose of memoir?
● What reasons did Elie Wiesel give for writing this memoir?
● How was Elie Wiesel changed by the Holocaust experiences he described in
Night
(change over
time)?
● How did Elie Wiesel use the dynamic character technique as a writer to convey his real life
experiences during the Holocaust?
Note: Teachers should feel free to adjust the individual components of this lesson, which includes an introduction,
two options for student writing and reflection as they read, and optional classroom activities and discussion
questions. Suggested discussion questions could also be used as journal or essay prompts.
Introduction:
1. Definitions
Prior to reading Night, define or review the following terms for the class:
a. Dynamic Character: a character that undergoes an important inner change over the course of a story; can be a
fictional character or a real person who changes over the course of a literary work
b. Memoir: the word comes from the French for “memory,” a memoir is a written work about a period of the
author’s life. It is like an autobiography, but often only covers a specific period of time, rather than the
author’s entire life.
2. Purpose of a Memoir
ASK THE STUDENTS
● What is the purpose of testimonies or memoirs? (a way that people can
share their experiences and make sense of them; to convey their
experiences to others)
● What kind of choices do people make when sharing their stories? (you
can’t share everything about what happens to you; people have to make
decisions about how to describe conversations if they can't remember all
the details; recognizing need to retain essence of a conversation)
● Why might a Holocaust survivor want to write a memoir? (to memorialize
their family, to make sure it never happens again, to describe what
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LESSON: Exploring
Night
as Literature: Bearing
Witness to History
happened to them and how it changed them, to provide a personal
perspective on a historical event or time)
3. Dialectical Journal Prompts
Select one of the following two options for prompts for use in a dialectical journal as students read Night:
Option 1: What is the purpose of memoir? What reasons did Elie Wiesel give for writing this
memoir?
a. Students will read the preface of Night by Elie Wiesel. (To complete this part of the lesson sequence,
the 2006 version of Night needs to be used.)
b. Ask students in small groups or for a free-write response: What do you think Elie Wiesel is trying to
convey to the reader in his preface ? (reasons for writing the book, context for writing the book, his
process of writing, his struggle to make sense of his experiences)
c. Highlight the following excerpts from the preface in which Wiesel reflects on the purpose of writing
this memoir.
● “Did I write it so as not to go mad or, on the contrary, to go mad in order to understand the nature of
madness, the immense, terrifying madness that had erupted in history and in the conscience of
mankind?”
● “Or was it simply to preserve a record of the ordeal I endured as an adolescent, at an early age when
one’s knowledge of death and evil should be limited to what one discovers in literature?”
● “However, having survived, I needed to give some meaning to my survival. Was it to protect that
meaning that I set to paper an experience in which nothing made any sense?”
● “I only know that without this testimony, my life as a writer—or my life, period—would not have
become what it is: that of a witness who believes he has a moral obligation to try to prevent the
enemy from enjoying one last victory by allowing his crimes to be erased from human memory.”
d. As students read Night, they should use their dialectical journals to record evidence which support
the concepts/themes found in Wiesel’s preface questions. Students may also work in pairs or groups.
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LESSON: Exploring
Night
as Literature: Bearing
Witness to History
e. Students should then write brief reflections in each entry on why they chose this evidence and how
they think it supports or relates to Wiesel’s questions.
f. Teachers can conduct ongoing assessments by having small groups discuss the evidence they’ve
recorded or by collecting and reviewing these journals.
g. Summative assessment: Have students return to the preface of Night and their original response
(from b above), and review the question below and explain how their understanding of Wiesel’s
reason for writing Night is more complex.
Based on the evidence you have chosen, what seems to be the primary reason that Elie Wiesel wrote the
memoir Night?
Option 2: How was Elie Wiesel changed by the Holocaust experiences he described in
Night
(change
over time)? How did Elie Wiesel use the dynamic character technique as a writer to convey his real
life experiences during the Holocaust?
a. Introduce this quotation from Elie Wiesel to the students:
"All Was Lost, Yet Something Was Preserved,"
New York Times Book Review
, 1984 August
19, section 7, page 15.
The Nazis' aim was to make the Jewish universe shrink - from town to neighborhood, from
neighborhood to street, from street to house, from house to room, from room to garret, from garret
to cattle car, from cattle car to gas chamber. And they did the same to the individual - separated
from his or her community, then from his or her family, then from his or her identity, eventually
becoming a work permit, then a number, until the number itself was turned into ashes.
Elie Wiesel
b. As students read Night, they should continue to reflect on this quote and use their dialectical journals
to record evidence they read related to how the Nazis force Wiesel’s universe - both physical and
individual - to shrink.
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LESSON: Exploring
Night
as Literature: Bearing
Witness to History
c. They should then write brief reflections in the journal, answering the questions: How does Wiesel
describe his response to those actions? How do these actions affect his inner thoughts and feelings?
d. Summative assessment: Using evidence from Night, from the timeline activity, and from their
journals, students should assess:
How does Elie Wiesel change over the course of the events described in Night? How does Elie Wiesel, the
writer, convey his inner changes to the reader?
Some potential themes might be: relationship with God (loss or struggle with faith); father/son relationship;
Elie’s changing relationship with himself; survival and circumstance; human condition changed by external
events
5. Optional classroom activities while the students are reading
Night
The first activity listed below is also included in Part I of this lesson (Setting Historical Context) with alternative
questions.
1. Adding Historical Context: Timeline Activity
This activity is also included in Part I of this lesson (Setting Historical Context) with alternative questions.
a. As students continue to read Night, add the timeline cards (April 18-20, 1944 “Sighet Ghettos Created”
to May 7, 1945 “German Forces Surrender”) to the wall.
b. Split students into small groups. Assign each group a timeline card related to the events in Night (any
card between “Sighet Ghettos Created” and “Buchenwald Liberated”). Do not assign the cards “D-Day,
June 6, 1944” or “Auschwitz Report in U.S. Newspapers, November 26, 1944” as they are not mentioned
in Night.
c. Ask students to work together and then present to the class:
● How does Elie Wiesel describe this event noted on the timeline card in Night?
● How does he remember and describe his feelings about the event?
● Does he use any of the themes we discussed (or any new themes you have identified) in his
description of this event?
d. Have a class discussion:
● How does personal testimony enhance our understanding of a historical event?
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LESSON: Exploring
Night
as Literature: Bearing
Witness to History
2. Class Discussion or Journal Prompts
As students continue to read, use the following questions for small group or class discussion, journal
prompts, essay responses, etc.:
● What themes have you identified in this book?
● How does Elie Wiesel use foreshadowing in Night?
● What early events signal that the experiences of the Jews of Sighet will be much worse than they
think?
● How do relationships between and among the prisoners of the camps change over time?
● How does Wiesel describe the changes in his relationship with his father?
● How does the fact that Night is a memoir affect the story? What might Wiesel have included or
excluded if Night was a diary written at the time?
● Why do you think Elie Wiesel’s memoir is titled Night?
3. Viewing the Memoir as Literature
a. After the class has finished reading Night, have the class read The Story of Night from the New York
Times and watch the USHMM’s special features on Elie Wiesel as Literary Craftsman and Teacher (two
short films, approx. two minutes each). Citing examples from the above resources and their dialectical
journals, the class will discuss or write about:
● Why has Night remained a powerful memoir and testimony on the Holocaust?
● How does the reading of testimony help us to understand the impact the Holocaust has on an
individual?
Note: Teachers may need to define unfamiliar vocabulary words in the New York Times article.
Part III: Beyond the Memoir: The Act of Bearing Witness
Essential Question:
● How did Elie Wiesel's work after the Holocaust reflect his experiences in the Holocaust and his
desire to act as a witness?
1. Adding Greater Context: Timeline Activity
a. Finish placing the timeline cards (June 2, 1945 “Elie Wiesel sent to Children’s Homes” to July 2, 2016
“Elie Wiesel Dies”) on the wall. Either have students read the cards out loud, or read them as part of a
gallery walk.
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LESSON: Exploring
Night
as Literature: Bearing
Witness to History
b. Discuss: how did Elie Wiesel use his experiences to memorialize the Holocaust and to draw attention to
the victims of other genocides?
2. Analyzing Elie Wiesel's speeches
a. Hand out copies or distribute digital copies of Elie Wiesel speech excerpts.
b. Ask three students to each read one of the speeches out loud. While listening, students should underline
sentences or phrases where they hear Wiesel discussing the idea of being a witness and the responsibilities
of a witness.
c. [Alternative: have students watch the five short videos The Many Legacies of Elie Wiesel and write down
examples of Wiesel acting as a witness.]
d. Ask students to share what they identified, and reflect on how Wiesel described the importance of
witnessing.
e. Summative assessment: Based on the following prompt, have a class discussion, Socratic Seminar, or
assign as an essay:
Using examples from Night, from Elie Wiesel’s life (as displayed in the timeline cards), and from his
speeches, what does Elie Wiesel feel are the responsibilities of bearing witness? How did he use his
writing and his life to bear witness?
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