Teaching Night

Teaching “Night” interweaves a literary analysis of Elie Wiesel’s powerful and poignant memoir with an exploration of the relevant historical context surrounding his experience during the Holocaust.

The guide draws on videos, historical photographs, and a wide range of primary and secondary sources to help students develop a nuanced understanding of this complex and disturbing period of history, including Wiesel’s time in Auschwitz.

Throughout the guide, students will revisit the central questions that ask How is our identity shaped and reshaped by the circumstances we encounter? How do tragedy and trauma influence an individual’s identity and choices? Using this framework to explore the memoir, students will build literacy and historical-analysis skills, while also fostering critical social-emotional competencies like empathy and perspective-taking.

This guide is part of Witnesses to History, a series that helps students access the past through the voices of real people recalling experiences from their youth.