Night Background Research

 

Background research to help you gain a more in-depth understanding of the historical context of Elie Wiesel's Holocaust memoir, Night. Topics are arranged basically chronologically.

At the end of each topic, the "On the book cart" section points out some titles from our book cart that might be most helpful. Citing a book in MLA 9 is really easy: Author lastname, Firstname. Title. Publisher, Year.

All Topics

• Holocaust Timeline : A really extensive timeline from the Florida Center for Instructional Technology. Click on the hyperlinks for a detailed timeline of each period.
• Facing History and Ourselves

This Bay Area educational organization focuses on the teaching of the most difficult periods of history.

• U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum

  The United States' museum dedicated to the Holocaust is in Washington, D.C. and has amazing resources for learning about the Holocaust.

• World War II (History Channel)

  History Channel

• World War II (USHMM)

• World War II (WWII Museum New Orleans)

• Holocaust-related videos from the National WWII Museum, New Orleans

• World War II: Defeat of Axis Powers (Britannica)

• On the book cart: Check out Voices and Visions; The Holocaust: The World and the Jews; Moral Responsibility in the Holocaust; History in Dispute: The Holocaust; Remembering the Holocaust

Kabbalah (Jewish Mysticism)

 

• Kabbalah (Britannica)

• Kabbalah: An Overview--written by a rabbi (currently at the Los Angeles Synagogue for Performing Arts), graduate of Columbia University, who has written a lot of books about Jewish history and culture and won several awards including the National Jewish Book Award. 

• Kabbalah (Chabad.org)

  Chabad.org is a website to share information about Judaism that has been around in different forms since the late 1980s. Most of the articles are written by rabbis and religious scholars so it definitely has a religious rather than a neutral perspective, but it's a well-reviewed site by more neutral sources like the Washington Post and US News and World Report.

• Kabbalah (World History Encyclopedia)

• Kabbalah and Hasidism (The Pluralism Project at Harvard University)

• A Newcomer's Guide to Kabbalah (written by a law student at Cleveland State University)

• The Rise of the Holy Spirit in Kabbalah (Harvard Divinity Bulletin)

• Jewish Mysticism, Kabbalah... (an interview with a professor at University of Colorado, Boulder)

• On the book cart: Check out Judaism; Religions of the World; Islam, Christianity, and Judaism.

Nazi Expansion in Europe

• Nazification of Germany 1933-1939 (Florida Center for Instructional Technology)

• See the section on the left called "Rise to Power"

• Rise of Hitler and Nazi Party (USHMM)

• The War Against Poland: Speed and Brutality (Facing History and Ourselves)

• Dividing Poland and Its People (Facing History)

• Colonizing Poland (Facing History)

• Hitler (Biography in Context database)

  If you have a public library card, you're lucky because you have access to this amazing biographical database that includes tons of articles, websites, e-books, videos, interviews, etc. about pretty much every famous person you can think of. It also provides citations.

  If you don't have a public library card, sign up for an e-card at this link 

• Hungarian Politics WWII

  From History channel

• Hungarian Politics WWII

  An interesting Smithsonian magazine article on the modern legacy of Hungary's role in the Holocaust.

• Hungarian Politics WWII (USHMM)

• Jewish Life in Poland Before the Holocaust (Facing History and Ourselves)

• On the book cart: Check out Forever Outsiders; Smoke to Flame; The Blaze Engulfs; The Holocaust: The World and the Jews

Groups targeted during the Holocaust

 

• Groups Targeted During the Holocaust (USHMM page 2)

• Groups Targeted During the Holocaust (USHMM)

• Non-Jewish victims of the Holocaust (from the United Kingdom's nonprofit group that runs the UK's Holocaust Memorial Day)--click on the names of specific groups on the left of this page

• Polish victims of the Holocaust (USHMM)

• The War Against Poland: Speed and Brutality (Facing History and Ourselves)

• Dividing Poland and Its People (Facing History)

• Colonizing Poland (Facing History)

• Non-Jewish Victims (Yad Vashem)--Yad Vashem is the Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem, Israel.

• Victims of the Holocaust (Florida Center for Instructional Technology)

• On the book cart: Check out Branded by the Pink Triangle

Ghettos During the Holocaust

• Ghettos (USHMM)

• Timeline of the ghettos (Florida Center for Instructional Technology)

• Ghettos and Camps (this resource from the Holocaust Center for Humanity in Seattle includes video clips from survivors about life in the ghettos. Let Ms. McAuley know if you need to borrow headphones!)

• Ghettos (Yad Vashem)

  Yad Vashem is the Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem, Israel. Make sure you click on the names of specific ghettos (ie; "Warsaw Ghetto") on the left-hand toolbar for more information).

• Ghettos and Deportation (from a British Holocaust memorial organization)

• Daily Life in the Warsaw Ghetto (British Imperial War Museum)

• Voices from the Warsaw Ghetto (Facing History and Ourselves)

• Art of the Ghettos and Camps (Florida Center for Instructional Technology)

• The Warsaw Ghetto (from the U.S. National World War II Museum in New Orleans)

• On the book cart: Check out Life in the Nazi Ghettos; The Holocaust: The World and the Jews

Living Conditions in Concentration Camps, Forms of Resistance in Concentration Camps, Liberation of Concentration Camps

• Concentration Camps (Auschwitz-Birkenau museum)

• Concentration Camps (Yad Vashem)

• Yad Vashem is the Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem, Israel. Make sure you click on the sub-categories (ie; "Daily Life in the Camps") on the left-hand toolbar for more information).

• Ghettos and Camps (this resource from the Holocaust Center for Humanity in Seattle includes video clips from survivors about life in the ghettos. Let Ms. McAuley know if you need to borrow headphones!)

• Resistance

• Resisters (Florida Center for Instructional Technology)

• Resistance timeline (Florida Center for Instructional Technology)

• Timeline of the camps (Florida Center for Instructional Technology)

• Timeline of Liberation (Florida Center for Instructional Technology)

• Liberation of the Concentration Camps (Britain's Imperial War Museum)

• On the book cart: Check out The Holocaust: The World and the Jews; Occupation and Resistance; Living and Dying in Nazi Concentration Camps; Beyond Courage; The Bielski Brothers

Dr. Joseph Mengele

• Nazi medical experimentation (from The Lancet medical journal)

•  

• Mengele, Dr. Josef (Biography in Context database)

  If you have a public library card, you're lucky because you have access to this amazing biographical database that includes tons of articles, websites, e-books, videos, interviews, etc. about pretty much every famous person you can think of. It also provides citations.

  If you don't have a public library card, sign up for an e-card at this link.

• Mengele, Dr. Josef (Britannica)

• Mengele, Dr. Josef (USHMM)

• Revisiting Mengele's Malignant 'Race Science' (this New Yorker article discusses Mengele's life in the context of 2 books published about it)

Who knew what about Holocaust atrocities (internationally, in occupied countries, in Germany, etc.)

What Did The World Know? (Facing History)--also click "next reading" at the bottom, the next few pages are really helpful

"It's Not That The Story Was Buried" (TIME magazine, re: what America knew)

Americans and the Holocaust (USHMM)

"Early Warnings: How American Journalists Reported the Rise of Hitler" (Atlantic magazine)--you need to be logged in w/ your school Google account to view

Voyage of the Saint Louis (USHMM)

Voyage of the Saint Louis (Facing History)

Voyage of the Saint Louis (History channel)

Voyage of the Saint Louis (Britannica)

World Responses to the Holocaust (Facing History)

Smithsonian magazine--a really interesting article about ordinary Americans like you helping researchers find documents about what Americans knew at the time!

• On the book cart: Check out The Holocaust: The World and the Jews; see also books listed under "All Topics" at top of this page

 

Elie Wiesel and His Life After the War

• Elie Wiesel (Biography in Context database)

  If you have a public library card, you're lucky because you have access to this amazing biographical database that includes tons of articles, websites, e-books, videos, interviews, etc. about pretty much every famous person you can think of. It also provides citations.

  If you don't have a public library card, sign up for an e-card at this link:

• Elie Wiesel (Britannica)

  Our school has a subscription to Encyclopedia Britannica, which has articles on most of your topics as well as links to outside websites that are helpful. Log in using these credentials:

  Username: fremont

  Password: student

• Elie Wiesel (Nobel Prize website)

  Click on the links on the left for more info.

• Elie Wiesel (USHMM)

• On the book cart: After The Darkness

Nuremberg trials

 

• Nuremberg Trials (Britannica)

• Nuremberg Trials (UMKC)

  The "Famous Trials" site is written and managed by a law professor from the University of Missouri, Kansas City, school of law.

• Nuremberg Trials (USHMM)

• Nuremberg Trials primary sources (Library of Congress)

  Documents from the actual trials

• "Aftermath" timeline (Florida Center for Instructional Technology)

• On the book cart: Check out The Nuremberg Trials, Crimes Against Humanity, The Nazi Hunters, The Trial of Adolf Eichmann