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Activities to Do With the Book Night

Elie Wiesel's famous book "Night" is a powerful book taught to young adults in middle school and high school about the persecution of the Jews, among other people, during the Holocaust. There are several different activities included in the curriculum when teaching this book, which will help students understand how the Holocaust happened and why it should never happen again.
  1. Isolate the Blond Students

    • Group together all of the students in class with blond hair and make them sit together for a few classes. The teacher will not answer any of their questions and no one in class will be allowed to speak to them. This "shunning" will convey how the Nazis isolated and persecuted the Jews. Make sure the blond students understand this is just an activity to demonstrate what the Nazis were doing. Discuss with the whole class how it felt to have one group unfairly treated as unworthy and the reasons some people might go along with it.

    Watch the Auschwitz Episode of "Oprah"

    • Oprah Winfrey and the author of "Night," Elie Wiesel, traveled to Auschwitz in Poland to see the concentration camp where he was held during World War II. This episode can be ordered for teaching use and can also be watched online on the Oprah.com website. Documentary television episodes are excellent teaching tools. If possible, show it to the students before they read "Night" to provide context.

    Watch "Schindler's List"

    • The Academy Award-winning film "Schindler's List" is one of the more historically accurate films made about the Holocaust and could be screened for students in class after reading Elie Wiesel's "Night." As this film is rated R and will need parental consent before children under 17 can watch it, this may be an activity that is best done after school or outside the classroom. Ask students to summarize in a report what happened in the film and what Oscar Schindler's and the Nazis' motivations were.

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