Vocabulary - Night By Elie Wiesel

Front 1

Talmudic (adj.)
Talmud (n.)

Back 1

collection of ancient writings constituting the basis of religious authority in Orthodox Judaism

Front 2

Hasidic (adj.)
Hasid (n. sing.)
Hasidim (n. pl.)

Back 2

A member of a Jewish mystic movement

Front 3

antechamber (p. 34)

Back 3

Entryway

Front 4

Raus! (p. 35)

Back 4

German - Get out!

Front 5

Sonder-Kommando (p. 35)

Back 5

The group of inmates assigned to work in the crematoria

Front 6

lucidity (p. 36)

Back 6

Clarity

Front 7

oblivion (p. 36)

Back 7

The state of being completely forgotten or unknown

Front 8

Kapo (p. 36)

Back 8

A Nazi concentration camp prisoner who was given privileges in return for supervising others: often a common criminal and frequently brutal to fellow inmates

Front 9

harangued (p. 38)
past tense of harangue

Back 9

Scolded in a long, intense verbal attack

Front 10

remorse (p. 39)

Back 10

Deep and painful regret

Front 11

compulsory (p. 41)

Back 11

required

Front 12

eluded (p. 41)
past tense of elude

Back 12

avoided or escaped

Front 13

liberation (p. 41)

Back 13

freedom

Front 14

camaraderie (p. 41)

Back 14

good fellowship

Front 15

wizened (p. 43)

Back 15

withered, shriveled

Front 16

abstraction

Back 16

a generality, idea or thought separated from concrete reality

Front 17

Achtung

Back 17

German for attention

Front 18

Aden

Back 18

Former Middle Easter British colony, now part of Yemen

Front 19

Aryan

Back 19

In Nazi ideology, the pure, superior Germanic race

Front 20

Annihilate

Back 20

destroy completely, exterminate

Front 21

apathy

Back 21

lack of interest or emotion, indifference

Front 22

appeasing

Back 22

satisfying; relieving

Front 23

Austerlitz

Back 23

Parisian railroad station for eastbound trains. Austerlitz was the name of a Czech city.

Front 24

Babylonian captivity

Back 24

Babylonians destroyed the first temple in Jerusalem in 86 B.C.E. and exciled the Jews to Babylonia

Front 25

barometer

Back 25

literally, an instrument for measuring atmospheric pressure; an indicator of change

Front 26

beastial

Back 26

like a beast; cruel and savage

Front 27

boche or bosche

Back 27

WWI derogatory French slang for a German, usually a soldier

Front 28

the captivity of Babylon

Back 28

from 597 B.C. to 538 B.C. when Jerusalem was conquered by King Nebuchadnezzar and the Jewish people were sent into captivity in Babylon

Front 29

billeted

Back 29

lodged; used to refer to temporary lodging of military personnel in private homes or other private establishments

Front 30

base

Back 30

ignoble, inferior, undignified

Front 31

Cabbala or Kabbalah

Back 31

Jewish mysticism

Front 32

benediction

Back 32

a formal blessing; act of calling upon God during a religious service

Front 33

Calvary

Back 33

literally, the place near Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified; used metaphorically to mean an experience of intense agony or grief

Front 34

blandishment

Back 34

flattering remarks that are meant to be persuasive

Front 35

charnel house

Back 35

A building used to house corpses and bones

Front 36

compulsory

Back 36

required

Front 37

compatriots

Back 37

fellow contrymen

Front 38

concentration camp

Back 38

camps that were primarily used for slave labor

Front 39

constraint

Back 39

restriction, especially of feelings and behaviors

Front 40

countenance

Back 40

face or features of the face

Front 41

crucible

Back 41

container or vessel made of a substance that can withstand extreme heat; a severe trial or test

Front 42

death camp

Back 42

Camps dedicated to the efficient murder of Jews and other victims.

Front 43

Death's head

Back 43

Skull insignia for SS brigades working in concentration camps

Front 44

derision

Back 44

scorn, ridicule

Front 45

the destruction of the temple

Back 45

King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon captured the Jewish city of Jerusalem and destroyed the temple in 587 B.C.

Front 46

dysentery

Back 46

intestinal inflammation causing abdominal pain and severe diarrhea; often fatal if untreated

Front 47

edict

Back 47

an official public proclamation

Front 48

emigration

Back 48

the act of leaving one country or region to settle in another

Front 49

expounding

Back 49

explaining

Front 50

expulsion

Back 50

driving out, especially by force

Front 51

fascism

Back 51

a system of government with centralized authority under a dictator, stringent socioeconomic controls, suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship and usually a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism

Front 52

functionaries

Back 52

people who perform certain expected duties

Front 53

Gestapo

Back 53

German acronym for the German Secret State Police, part of the SS notorious for terrorism against enemies of the state

Front 54

guerillas

Back 54

small groups of soldiers, often volunteers, who make surprise attacks and raids behind enemy lines

Front 55

gypsy

Back 55

pejorative term for Roma or Romany, an ethnic group with roots in India which suffered large losses in the Holocaust

Front 56

harangued

Back 56

scolded in a noisy and bullying way

Front 57

hermetically

Back 57

in an airtight way

Front 58

Heinrich Himmler

Back 58

Head of SS and principal planner of Jewish extermination

Front 59

Adolf Hitler

Back 59

Dictator of Germany 1933-1945

Front 60

Admiral Miklos Horthy

Back 60

Regent of Hungary who was forced by Nazis to relinquish power to the Nylias Hungarian Fascist party

Front 61

implored

Back 61

begged

Front 62

incite

Back 62

to provoke, to urge to act

Front 63

inconsiderable

Back 63

unimportant, small

Front 64

indeterminate

Back 64

indefinite, vague, subtle

Front 65

inert

Back 65

motionless, lacking the ability

Front 66

interminable

Back 66

endless or seemingly endless

Front 67

Job

Back 67

Biblical figure who has come to symbolize suffering

Front 68

Kaddish

Back 68

A prayer in Aramaic praising God. The mourner's Kaddish is said for the dead.

Front 69

kapos

Back 69

Nazi concentration camp prisoners who were given special privileges in return for supervising other prisoners on work crews

Front 70

knell

Back 70

the sound of a bell, especiaally of a bell run slowly at a funeral; often used metaphorically to mean a bad omen