The Devil’s Arithmetic



Night Introductory Web quest

By Elie Wiesel

The following experience is designed to make your reading of the novel more meaningful. Since much of the story is set during the Holocaust and involves many Jewish customs, a basic understanding of the history and the culture is necessary to fully appreciate it. Enter this experience with an open and thoughtful mind. A journey into this history will expose you to both the best and to the worst of humanity. It is both a journey into the potential evil that we as humans can perpetrate on our fellow man and into the potential power of the human spirit when faced with that evil.

Step #1 – View the Introductory PowerPoint Presentation making sure to read all of the given text before proceeding to the next step.

What do you expect from a story set in this historical background? Explain.

I expect it to be a very sad novel, putting into consideration that the narrator is Jewish. The conflict is going to be man vs. man, man being our main characters and the Nazi regime

Step #2 – Enter the United States Memorial Holocaust Museum Student Learning site and the various headings. Answer the

following questions as you go, but don’t limit your experience here to the questions themselves.

How were schools used to spread Nazi ideas and antisemitisim? __Schools in Germany consisted of purely German students, who were being taught that any race other than their own is inferior.______________________________________________________

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Explain Hitler’s attitude towards the “handicapped.”Hitler saw them as “undeserving” of life, since they could not function like other normal people. _________________________________________________________________

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Why do you think that many people didn’t notice the harassment of German Jews before the war? Hitler and others in charge tried their best to suppress any complaints that came from the country; they kept it from being public._____________________________

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What were the Nuremberg Laws? Nuremberg laws were laws set in place to discriminate, mainly, against Jews in Nazi Germany. Anybody who was not purely German was not allowed citizenship and Jews were not allow to marry Germans.___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What is meant by “ARBEIT MACHT FREI,”and where might one have seen it? ARBEIT MACHT FREI means work makes one free and is generally seen outside of an old concentration camp .__________________________________________

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What was the difference between the “concentration camps” and the “extermination camps? In concentration camps the captured were either instantly killed OR worked to death. Extermination camps were mobile and instantly killed people by large numbers._________________________________

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What was the Sonderkommando? The Sonderkommando was the job some people had; those that had it cremated or dragged bodies to their cremation. ________________________________________________________________________________

After you have completed your exploration of this site, what is your reaction to something that you learned from the experience? I learned nothing new but was reminded of what some humans have the potential of doing. Hitler managed a whole nation into a land of hateful people and kill people by the millions._________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Step #3 – Browse the links under the Concentration Camps tab to find maps to help you label the map on the next page. In order to complete this task you will have to use several different maps. There is no one map that has all of the following items on it. Take your time and use a pencil for this task.

1. Label the following bodies of water on the map: Atlantic Ocean, Black Sea, Baltic Sea, North Sea, English Channel, and the Caspian Sea.

2. Draw the borders for and then label the following Axis Powers (Nazi German) controlled countries in Europe and North Africa: France, Belgium, Netherlands, Norway, Finland, Germany, Italy, Austria, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Sicily.

3. Mark and label the following Death Camps/Extermination Camps: Auschwitz, Chelmno, Treblinka, Sobibor, Maidanek, and Belzec.

4. Mark and label the following Concentration Camps: Bergen-Belsen, Ravensbruck, Dachau, Buchenwald, Gross-Rosen, and Flossenburg.

Step #4 - Visit the Jewish Culture tab and use the links to browse the Passover Traditions and Yiddish Phrases sites in order to find the answers to the following questions:

What historical event is celebrated by the Passover ?Th freedom of Jews in ancient Egypt and the everyday struggle that Jewish people may find._________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________When does the next Passover begin? _The next Passover begins in May.____________

What is the Haggadah? ______Text where the seder for Pesach is found,; it tells the story of the Exodus__________________________________________________________________________________

What Prophet plays a significant symbolic role in the Passover seder? Explain? _The Prophet Elijah has some traditions dedicated to him, such as leaving the door open and reciting prayer, people pour a cup of wine for him and he comes by to check if people are circumcised. _________________________________________

What six items are found on the seder plate and what does each one symbolize?

1.Zeroah used to symbolize the night ancient Jewish peoples fled Egypt.2Beitzah, represents new found life of freed Jews

3.Karpas, Used as a sign of new springing life 4.Salt water, symbolizes tears shed by ancient enslaved Jews

5.Maror symbolize bitter taste of slavery in Egyptian times 6. Charoset, symbolizes mortar used to construct bricks for Egyptians.

What appears to be the main theme of this holiday?

Although it’s more celebrated “for the present”, its mainly to pay homage to Jews enslaved in ancient Egypt.

What Yiddish expression might you hear at a party before a toast? L’chayim

What does it mean? It is the Yiddish equivalent to English’s cheers

Step #5– Visit the 36 Questions about the Holocaust site and look at questions #19, 20, and 21 to see how American and European allies responded to the Jewish Holocaust. Discuss your findings here: The answers to the questions were actually pretty shocking considering how most people out it sometimes. They glorify nations by saying they had huge responses. It also shows how well Hitler’s tactics worked against the Jews and how manipulated people were by Nazi Germany.________

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Name: Milton Munoz

Class: period 7

Date: 4/16/24

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