Night
Glossary
Developed in
collaboration with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
and Hill and Wang, the publisher of Night
Sources:
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum www.ushmm.org;
The Columbia Encyclopedia Sixth edition, www.bartleby.com;
www.merriamwebster.com; American Heritage
Dictionary; www.chipublib.org
From:
http://www.oprah.com/obc_classic/featbook/night/book/book_glossary_01.jhtml
anti-Semitism:
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Aryan: __________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Auschwitz: the largest Nazi Concentration Camp complex, located 37 miles
west of Kraków, Poland. The Auschwitz Main Camp
(Auschwitz I) was established in 1940 as a concentration camp. In 1942, a
killing center was established at Auschwitz-Birkenau (Auschwitz II). In 1941,
Auschwitz-Monowitz (Auschwitz III) was established as
a forced labor camp and included among its inmates prisoners who worked for the
I.G. Farben synthetic rubber plant, called Buna
Works. More than 100 subcamps and labor
detachments were administratively connected to Auschwitz III.
Beadle, Moishe the: a beadle ushers and
preserves order during services. Everyone in Sighet
refers to Eliezer's instructor in the Kabbalah as "Moishe the Beadle" rather than by
his last name to denote his function at religious services.
Boche: a derogatory French
slang term for a German
concentration camp:
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crematory (or crematorium): _______________________________________________________________________________
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deportation:_____________________________________________________________________________________________
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fascism:
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Gestapo:
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ghetto: _________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Himmler, Heinrich: (1900–1945) Reichsfüehrer-SS and Chief of German Police, a position
which included supreme command over the Gestapo, the concentration camps, and
the Waffen-SS. After 1943, Minister of the Interior
of Nazi Germany; principal planner for the attempt of Nazi Germany to kill all
European Jews.
Hitler, Adolf: (1889–1945) Führer
of the National Socialist Movement (1921–1945); Reich Chancellor of Germany
1933–1945; Führer of the German Nation (1934–1945)
Holocaust:______________________________________________________________________________________________
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kapo: a concentration camp prisoner
selected to oversee other prisoners on labor details. The term is often used
generically for any concentration camp prisoner whom the SS gave authority over
other prisoners.
Mengele, Dr. Josef: (1911–1979) SS
physician assigned to Auschwitz Concentration Camp; notorious for conducting
so-called medical experiments on inmates, especially twins and dwarves
pipel: a young boy in the service of a kapo in the concentration camps
pogrom:_______________________________________________________________________________________________
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Red Army:
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Rebbe: rabbi, usually refers to a
Hasidic rabbi
Rosh Hashanah: the festival of the New Year in Judaism. Rosh Hashanah, Yom
Kippur and the eight days in between are special days of penitence.
Shoah:_________________________________________________________________________________________________
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SS: German; abbreviation for Schutzstaffel
(literally, protection squads.) A paramilitary formation of the Nazi Party
initially created to serve as bodyguard to Hitler and other Nazi leaders. It
later took charge of domestic and foreign intelligence, the German police and
the central security apparatus, the concentration camps and the systematic mass
murder of Jews and other victims.
synagogue: ___________________________________________________________________________________________
Talmud: collections of rabbinic commentary on biblical texts that form,
with the Torah, the foundation for the religious laws of Judaism
Transylvania: a historical region of western Romania bounded by the
Transylvanian Alps and the Carpathian Mountains. Part of Hungary from 1867 to
1918, it became part of Romania after World War I. The province was divided
between Romania and Hungary in 1940, with northern Transylvania going to Hungary.
Northern Transylvania was restored to Romania after World War II.
truncheon: a short stick or club carried by police
yellow star:
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Yom Kippur: a Jewish holy day
marked by fasting and prayer for the atonement of sins
Zionism:
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