Task #1: Section 3 (pp.

29-46) Comprehension

1. As they arrived at Auschwitz, why do you think Elie was apprehensive when the women
went one way and the men went the other way? Were his fears realistic? Explain.
a. He didn’t want to be separated from his mother and Tzipora. Yes because many
people were separated from their families and loved ones.
2. “Behind me, an old man fell to the ground. Nearby, as SS man replaced his revolver in
its holster.” What had actually happened in this scene?
a. The man had been shot.
3. Explain why the prisoner told Elie to say that he was eighteen, not fifteen.
a. He needed to be older to not be sent to the chambers/killed.
4. Why, when the young men with the knives tried to incite the others to revolution, did the
wind of revolt die down.
a. The older men told them to have hope and told them not to be foolish.
5. What was Dr. Mengele’s role at Auschwitz?
a. To determind who got to live and who got to die/be experimented on.
6. What was in the truck that was brough to the ditch? How did Elie react to what he saw?
a. Babies and children. Elie started to panic.
7. What was the first sign that Elie was beginning to question God?
a. When they were about to enter the crematorium and he heard the men praying.
He thought his God was not doing anything about situation.
8. Elie made up his mind what he would do if he were forced into the ditch with the burning
bodies. What was his plan of action? What kept him from doing it?
a. To jump onto the barbed wire. Before they reach the crematoriums, they were
told to go to the barracks.
9. As Elie and the others made their way into the barracks, why were some of the prisoners
armed with sticks and ready to use them?
a. They were Kapo members, prisoners acting as guards for more privileges.
10. What was the job of the men of the Sonderkommando? How were they chosen?
a. Chosen by strength (appearance), they were to put the bodies in the
crematorium.
11. Beginning with giving up their clothes, describge the process all new prisoners went
through when they came to the camp. WHy do you think they had to do this?
a. Give up their clothes
b. Shave their body hair
c. #s tattooed
d. Go to work place
e. To give to the German citizens and the war effort. Also to dehumanize them.
12. Why do you suppose Elie did nothing when the Roma in charge gave his father a clout
that knocked him to the ground?
a. He didn’t want to be slapped as well. He was in shock and also desensitized.
13. Why do you think the young Pole, the prisoner in charge, spoke those “first human
words”?
 a. He either felt sympathy/empathy or treid to make them feel more comfortable.
14. Why did Elie lie to Stein, Reizel’s husband?
a. To give him hope.
15. Do you think Elie and his father belieived that Tzipora and Elie’s mother were still alive.
Explain.
a. I think they had a guy feeling that they may have not been alive but they told
themselves that to remain optimistic.

Task #2: Analysis

Instructions: Select a theme from the list below. Then in a SPEPES paragraph, respond to the
following: ​How does the author develop the theme in Chs. 1-3?

● People are likely to conform rather than act on their own individual values.
● Faith can carry people through the worst of conditions.
● Sometimes differences can make someone less likeable.
● People need something to believe in.
● Traumatic experiences force people to mature faster.

Through the constant reminders of hope and family, Wiesel reminds us that faith can
carry people through the worst of conditions. In the text, Elie tells of when Stein said that “ ‘The
only thing that keeps me alive… is to know that Reizel and the little ones are still alive. Were it
not for them, I would give up’ “ (Wiesel 45). Stein’s story, as well as him finding out the real
news, shows that his driving force behind his continues existence was knowing that his family
was alive. Earlier in the book, Elie, Shlomo, and other prisoners were being sent to the
crematoriums. Elie states that “...Someone began to recite Kaddish, the prayer for the dead…
no men have ever before recited Kaddish for themselves” (Wiesel 33). The men in the line were
well aware of their fate but still continued to pray and worship their God, making religion their
driving factor. Overall, the use of men reciting Kaddish and Stein asking about his family’s
whereabouts help build the claim that faith can carry people through the worst of conditions.