Night Characters

Front 1

The narrator of Night and the stand-in for the memoir’s author. Night traces Eliezer’s psychological journey, as the Holocaust robs him of his faith in God and exposes him to the deepest inhumanity of which man is capable. Despite many tests of his humanity, however, Eliezer maintains his devotion to his father. It is important to note that we learn Eliezer’s last name only in passing, and that it is never repeated. His story—which parallels Wiesel’s own biography—is intensely personal, but it is also representative of the experiences of hundreds of thousands of Jewish teenagers.

Back 1

Eliezer

Front 2

Even though he is the only character other than Eliezer who is present throughout the memoir, Eliezer’s father is named only once, at the end of Night. He is respected by the entire Jewish community of Sighet, and by his son as well. He and Eliezer desperately try to remain together throughout their concentration camp ordeal.

Back 2

Chlomo

Front 3

Eliezer’s teacher of Jewish mysticism, Moshe is a poor Jew who lives in Sighet. He is deported before the rest of the Sighet Jews but escapes and returns to tell the town what the Nazis are doing to the Jews. Tragically, the community takes him for a lunatic.

Back 3

Moshe the Beadle

Front 4

A Jewish Holocaust victim who gradually loses his faith in God as a result of his experiences in the concentration camp.

Back 4

Akiba Drumer

Front 5

A Jewish woman from Sighet who is deported in the same cattle car as Eliezer. She is taken for a madwoman when, every night, she screams that she sees furnaces in the distance. She proves to be a prophetess, however, as the trains soon arrive at the crematoria of Auschwitz.

Back 5

Madame Schächter

Front 6

A young musician whom Eliezer meets in Auschwitz. He reappears late in the memoir, when Eliezer hears him playing the violin after the death march to Gleiwitz.

Back 6

Juliek

Front 7

Two brothers with whom Eliezer becomes friendly in Buna. Tibi and Yosi are Zionists. Along with Eliezer, they make a plan to move to Palestine after the war.

Back 7

Tibi and Yosi

Front 8

When he arrives at Auschwitz, Eliezer encounters the historically infamous... He was the cruel doctor who presided over the selection of arrivals at Auschwitz/Birkenau. Known as the “Angel of Death,” His words sentenced countless prisoners to death in the gas chambers. He also directed horrific experiments on human subjects at the camp.

Back 8

Dr. Josef Mengele

Front 9

Eliezer’s Kapo (a prisoner conscripted by the Nazis to police other prisoners) at the electrical equipment warehouse in Buna. Despite the fact that they also faced the cruelty of the Nazis, many Kapos were as cruel to the prisoners as the Germans. During moments of insane rage, He beats Eliezer.

Back 9

Idek

Front 10

Eliezer’s foreman at Buna. he notices Eliezer’s gold tooth and gets a dentist in the camp to pry it out with a rusty spoon.

Back 10

Franek

Front 11

A devout Jewish prisoner whose son abandons him in one of many instances in Night of a son behaving cruelly toward his father. Eliezer prays that he will never behave as His son behaves.

Back 11

Rabbi Eliahou

Front 12

One of Eliezer’s fellow prisoners. Zalman is trampled to death during the run to Gleiwitz.

Back 12

Zalman

Front 13

Eliezer’s father’s friend from Buna. In the cattle car to Buchenwald, Katz saves Eliezer’s life from an unidentified assailant.

Back 13

Meir Katz

Front 14

Eliezer’s relative from Antwerp, Belgium, whom he and his father encounter in Auschwitz. Trying to bolster his spirit, Eliezer lies to Stein and tells him that his family is still alive and healthy.

Back 14

Stein of Antwerp

Front 15

Eliezer’s youngest sister.

Back 15

Tzipora

Front 16

An old Gentile servant of the Wiesel family. When the Wiesels are moved into the smaller ghetto, she offers to hide the family in the country. Eliezer's father refuses to flee, and Eliezer decides to stay with the rest of his family.

Back 16

Martha

Front 17

A German Jew who is head of the musician's block at Buna. He is very kindly and tries to give his charges extra soup whenever he can.

Back 17

Alphonse

Front 18

A fellow prisoner at Auschwitz and Buna, Akiba Drumer is a deeply devout mystic with a beautiful baritone voice. He loses his faith at Buna and, simultaneously, his will to live. He is sent to the crematories after the selection at Buna.

Back 18

Akiba Drumer

Front 19

A young man who had worked with Eliezer in the warehouse at Buna. Eliezer later sees him in the run to Gleiwitz. Zalman has a stomach cramp, and when he tries to stop to go to the bathroom, he is trampled underfoot by the crowd behind him.

Back 19

Zalman