Night by Elie Wiesel
Storyboard Text
- Elie and His Family Move To the Small Ghetto
- "Mother, where are we going?"
- Elie and His Family (Along With Others) Are Transported to Birkenau
- The Family Is Seperated
- "Men to the left! Women to the right!"
- Oppression against the Jewish people recently became prominent. The Jews weren't even able to own anything valuable, so their own belongings were confiscated from them. Additionally, anyone who was Jewish had to wear a yellow star so that others could easily identify them. Two ghettos were established in Sighet, and Elie and his family were moved to one.
- Everyone Is Assigned To A Barrack
- *yelling*
- 80 Jews were put in each car, and one officer was put in charge of each. If anyone made an attempt to escape, they would be shot. The people were not permitted to lie down, and had to take turns sitting. There wasn't much air, so a few individuals stood or sat near a window. The people in this scene look quite unhappy and distressed because they are dehydrated, hot, and starving.
- The Men Arrive in Auschwitz
- Everyone has arrived at the camp in Birkenau. Many people had to leave their precious objects behind on the train. Faster than Elie and his family can process, the men and women must seperate as an SS man armed with a club yells, "Men to the left! Women to the right!" Little did he know that was the last encounter he would have with his mother and one of his sisters.
- The Men Are Sent To Buna
- Elie and his father are assigned to a barrack, and Elie describes it as an "antechamber of hell." It was not a calm environment, as many of the men were shouting and roughhousing. They were ordered to get rid of their clothes, and deal with the cold. Elie perceived this as "true equality." Afterwards, the men had to go to the barber and get all of their hair shaved off.
- After a half hour long march, the men approach Auschwitz. Elie's first thought about this place is that it's better than Birkenau, as the buildings are cement rather than wooden, and appear to be much more spacious. They had to leave their clothes at the previous camp, so after their hot shower, they were excruciatingly cold. The man in charge of them assures them that they will be liberated, and they must keep their head up, in the same breath, he assigns Elie and his father to block 17.
- After staying in Auschwitz for three weeks, the men must travel to Buna by foot. There were only around 100 simple laborers left, as the skilled workers were sent to other camps. Upon arrival, Elie said Buna looked as if "...it had been through an epidemic: empty and dead." The men were finally given new clothing, and were seperated into two tents. According to the inmates, the camp isn't half bad as long as they aren't assigned to the construction Kommando
- Elie Visits The Dentist
- "Uhhhh.. I'm not feeling well."
- "May I remove your gold crown?"
- The Hangings
- The Selection
- "Please son.. take my knife and spoon.. you'll need it."
- After returning from the warehouse, the block secretary informs Elie that he must go see the dentist. When he arrives, Elie says that the dentist was a Jew from Czechoslovakia, and that he, "...had a face not unlike a death mask." The dentist wanted to remove Elie's gold crown, but Elie pretended to be sick so he didn't have to have it removed. A few days after, the dentist was arrested, apparantely he had been selling prisoners' teeth in an attempt to become wealthy.
- The Men Evacuate
- Upon returning to the concentration camp, it was announced by the Lageralteste that two men and one boy would be sentenced to death for sabotage. They were forced to watch them as they died. Sadly, they had to watch the young boy slowly die for about half an hour as he was too light to die instantly. Elie questions his faith to God in this moment, even saying that He is "...hanging here from this gallows..."
- Trip to Buchenwald
- Not so long after Elie and his father are assigned to separate blocks, the selection begins, which was where any prisoners who were too unhealthy to work were killed off. Elie's father was chosen in the first selection, and he believes time is running out, so he gives Elie a knife and spoon, ensuring him he would need them. Luckily, he was not chosen in the more decisive selection.
- Elie's Father Suffers From Dysentery
- The red army had begun approaching Buna, so the men had to think fast. Elie and his father could either stay at the infirmary, or evacuate, and they chose to evacuate. They leave Buna, and with that, the death march began. The Jews had to run/march without any breaks for an extended period of time. Many individuals died, or were trampled by others.
- After staying in Gleiwitz for three days, the Jews are put on a train that would transport them to Buchenwald. 100 men were put in each car. The train made frequent stops to throw out people who had died. The volunteers mistook Elie's father for dead, as he was very weak from the death march. To their surprise however, he opened his eyes, so they let him be. They were given bread by civilians in a German town on the way.
- "Father! They are going to throw you out!! You must wake up!"
- When they arrive in Buchenwald, the men are sent to the showers. However, Elie's father is extremely worn out and doesn't want to go on. He was suffering from dysentery, which is an infection in the intestines, causing bloody diarrhea. Elie completely loses hope for his father, saying, "I no longer dared to believe that he could still elude Death."
- "Just let me be son..."
- "Father, you must get up!"
- Elie's Father Passes
- *murmurs*
- "Walk faster!"
- Camp Evacuations
- Elie Is Liberated
- "Is that...me?
- Elie's father was on the brink of death, and very weak. The other men stole his food, and beat him. On January 28th, 1945, Elie went onto his bunk to rest, above his father who was still alive. Unfortunately, the next morning, January 29th, 1945, he was gone. Elie assumed that they must've taken him to the crematorium. He says there was no funeral service for him, and "No prayers were said over his tomb."
- After his father's death, Elie was transferred to the children's block. He stayed in Buchenwald until April 11th, which is when the men had evacuated. Ten blocks were evacuated per day. As Elie and the others were approaching the Appelplatz, armed men appeared and tried to harm them. Thankfully, it didn't last long, so Elie was able to be liberated.
- The first thing the men decided to do after being granted their freedom was to get some food, they were starving. They had not thought of revenge, even after eating. Elie became ill three days following the liberation, and he was sent to a hospital where he fought for his life. When he had the ability to stand, he looked in the mirror, for the first time since the ghetto.. He says, "From the depths of the mirror, a corpse was contemplating me." In this quote he compares himself to that of a corpse, saying that he doesn't recognize himself,
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