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Assignment #1: The Preface of //Night// ​
Elie Wiesel, the author of //Night//, experienced great soul-searching and doubts about his ability to accurately describe the years that he spent in the Germans’ concentration camps. There are three reasons behind the original copy of //Night,// which was entitled “And the World Remained Silent.” One reason why Wiesel wrote about his experiences in the camps was so that he could essentially go mad through his writing and therefore attempt to understand the Germans’ evil state of mind. Second, Wiesel sought to leave behind a legacy of words and memories to prevent history from repeating itself. The third and final reason behind Wiesel’s memoir is to simply record an ordeal of what he endured at the death camps, in part because his experience was so much more evil and traumatic that what an ordinary adolescent should ever witness. The reasons behind such an important book were so significant that Elie Wiesel was concerned about many things that could happen if he did not write his novel, //Night//. Ironically, Wiesel was worried about writing too much. He believed that if his narratives were too long, then some descriptions and stories would become superfluous. Thus, the book’s impact on readers would be less than it would otherwise be if the reader were forced to imagine the real horror that existed at the camps. Given all of these concerns, Wiesel had genuine reasons for writing the new translation. Wiesel himself admits that he wrote the original story when he was an unknown writer who was just getting started, whose English was far from good and whose literary credibility was not yet worldwide. Additionally, Wiesel has surrounded himself with trusted friends, editors, and loved ones who know him well and can now translate his original words into a more accurate version of his initial thoughts and feelings. As more Holocaust survivors die as the years go on, we need books like Elie Wiesel’s //Night// to remind us of what happened during those darkest years of 1939 to 1945.

Assignment #2: Using Figurative Language Through Poetry
Hungarian Police

Hungarian Police Knavish and barbaric Demanding, commanding, and unforgiving As heartless as a hungry predator and like a solid cement wall Literal faces of death Barking At the people of Sighet

Assignment # 3: Found Poem
Moving From Sighet to Hell

My father was a cultural man Involved with the welfare of others My parents ran a store Held in the highest esteem My place was in the house of study

Police lashing out with their clubs “‘Move, you lazy good-for-nothings”’ Faces of hell and death My first oppressors The windows had to be sealed

Every few yards stood an SS man His machine gun trained on us “‘Men to the left”’ “‘Women to the right”’ This is what the antechamber of hell must look like.

Resources
[|Sighet Ghetto] [|Birkenau Barrack] [|Hungarian Police Photo] [|Elie Wiesel Image]