Encountering Evil: Night (2020)

• Book: Night by Elie Wiesel  pp. 34 – 46

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• Wiesel uses the word "gypsy" on page 37, which is considered to be an offensive slur by many Roma people. The Roma are an ethnic group that lives primarily in Europe. They are a nomadic people, meaning that they generally do not settle in one place, but rather move frequently. They have—and continue to—faced significant discrimination. During the Holocaust, an estimated 250,000 Roma were murdered in Nazi concentration camps because of their perceived racial inferiority. Read "Genocide of European Roma (Gypsies), 1939–1945" to learn more.
• Explain that when we talk about how the Nazis dehumanized Jews and other prisoners of concentration camps, we must be mindful of the fact that they did these things very deliberately. It was part of a larger plan to exercise complete control over the prisoners.
• Students may struggle to understand and keep track of the various leadership positions in the camp. Many positions of power – blockälteste, foreman, kapo, etc. — were held  by other prisoners, who were assigned those jobs by Nazi leadership. According to the Wikipedia article on "Prisoner functionaries," "the system was also designed to turn victim against victim, as the prisoner functionaries were pitted against their fellow prisoners in order to maintain the favor of their SS guards. If they were derelict, they would be returned to the status of ordinary prisoners and be subject to other prisoner functionaries. Many prisoner functionaries were recruited from the ranks of violent criminal gangs rather than from the more numerous political, religious and racial prisoners; those were known for their brutality toward other prisoners. This brutality was tolerated by the SS and was an integral part of the camp system. Prisoner functionaries were spared physical abuse and hard labor, provided they performed their duties to the satisfaction of the SS guards. They also had access to certain privileges such as civilian clothes and a private room."

To ensure that students are prepared for the next lesson, have students complete the following reading for homework. Use guidance from the next lesson to identify any additional language or background support students may need while independently engaging with the text.