Learn about Chapter 1 of Night by Elie Wiesel. Read a Night Chapter 1 summary and meet the main characters of the book. Explore Night Chapter 1 quotes.
Updated: 11/21/2023
Night by Elie Wiesel Chapter 1 | Summary, Characters & Quotes
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Frequently Asked Questions
What happens to Moishe in the beginning of Chapter 1 of Night?
At the beginning of Chapter 1, Moishe, a foreign Jew, is taken by the Hungarian Police to the Polish border where the Gestapo force the Jews to dig their own graves. He is able to escape from the Gestapo, so he comes back to Sighet to warn the other Jews what he has witnessed so they can protect themselves.
What is the tone of Chapter 1 of Night by Elie Wiesel?
The tone of Chapter 1 is mournful as none of the Jews accept or listen to the warnings about the Germans' motives. For the Jews, it seems horrific, even unbelievable, that someone could want to eradicate a whole race.
What is Chapter 1 of Night about?
Chapter 1 is about the warnings (foreshadowing) given to the Jews about the German invasion. It sets the stage for the upcoming atrocities the Jews will face.
Table of Contents
ShowNight by Elie Wiesel was first written in Yiddish and published in 1956. It was then published in French in 1958 and finally in English in 1960. Elie tells a story of his experience throughout the Holocaust through a literary memoir (a nonfiction piece of writing).
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In Night Chapter 1, Eliezer is one of four children in his family; he is the only boy. The family lives in their hometown of Sighet, located in Transylvania (now formally known as Romania). Elie is raised with an Orthodox Jewish upbringing, and it is expected that he will follow the religion closely and study the Talmud, Jewish law. Both of Elie's parents are devout Jews and respected members of their community. Despite Elie's Orthodox Jewish upbringing, he is interested in studying the Kabbalah, a mystical interpretation of the Bible, which goes against Orthodox Jewish beliefs. Since Elie wants to learn more, he turns to his friend, Moishe the Beadle, for knowledge on the Kabbalah.
The Hungarians force all foreign Jews, including Moishe, from Sighet, signifying the first anti-Semitic act. When Moishe returns months later by escaping from his captors, he tries to warn the Jews about Nazi brutality, but instead, he is faced with laughter. He informs the Jews that the deportation trains are controlled by the Gestapo (German Secret Police) at the Polish border, and he describes with detail how Jews were forced to dig their own graves, only to be killed thereafter by the Gestapo. Yet, despite the warnings given, the Jews do not believe his stories, and Moishe becomes known as being foolish.
In 1944, the Hungarian government falls to the fascists, resulting in Germany occupying Hungary. At this point, even though the Holocaust began in 1941, the Jews hold on to a belief that Nazi anti-Semitism will be confined to Budapest, the capital city of Hungary; however, they are wrong. When the Nazis enter the town of Sighet, Martha, the Wiesels' servant, offers to help the family hide from the Nazis, but Elie's father declines the offer. The Nazis push into Sighet, beginning a series of oppressive measures placed on the Jews:
- Every Jew has to wear a yellow star.
- No Jew can wear gold, jewelry, or any valuables.
- All community leaders are arrested.
- All the Jews are confined in small ghettos, crowded behind barbed wire.
The Nazis break the community into two ghettos: a smaller ghetto and a larger ghetto. Elie and his family are in the larger ghetto and are expelled to cattle cars a couple of days after the Jews in the smaller ghetto are taken away. The Jews are put in crowded cattle cars and thus their journey begins to the concentration camp, Auschwitz.
Concentration camps were aimed to eliminate people (mostly Jews) and to exploit the forced labor of the prisoners. Millions of Jews were imprisoned and murdered in these camps. At Auschwitz, the largest concentration camp, there were four gas chambers that aimed to kill in mass quantities.
Characters in Night Chapter 1
- Shlomo Wiesel - Elie's father, a respected member in the Jewish community, is deeply religious. He is an Orthodox Jew who expects Elie to study the Torah (Jewish Bible) and the Talmud.
- Elie's mother - His mother is a shopkeeper, and her three daughters help out in the shop.
- Elie Wiesel - The only boy in his family, he has three sisters. Elie is 12 years old, very religious, and wants to study the Kabbalah, so he seeks a teacher in his friend, Moishe the Beadle.
- Moishe the Beadle - Moishe is known as the pauper of the town and has a spiritual nature. He is expelled by the Hungarian Police because he is a foreign Jew. He is able to escape the Gestapo and comes back to Sighet to warn the other Jews of what is happening, but they do not believe him; instead, they laugh at him.
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"'You don't understand,' he said in despair. 'You cannot understand. I was saved miraculously...I wanted to return to Sighet to describe to you my death so that you might ready yourselves while there is still time...I wanted to come back to warn you. Only no one is listening to me.'" - Moishe tries to warn the Jews of the Nazis coming in order to protect them, so they can prepare for their safety, but instead, they ignore him and laugh at him.
"Afterward, life returned to normal. The London radio, which we listened to every evening, gave us heartening news: the daily bombardment of Germany; Stalingrad; preparation for the second front. And we, the Jews of Sighet, were waiting for better days, which would not be long in coming now." - Elie describes the complacency of the Jewish people after the foreign Jews are deported from Sighet. It is not until they experience the horrors of deportation themselves that the reality of the warnings becomes clear.
"The race toward death had begun. First edict: Jews were prohibited from leaving their residences for three days, under penalty of death. Moishe the Beadle came running to our house. 'I warned you,' he shouted. The race toward death had begun." - Moishe tries to warn the Jews that they will be killed by the Nazis, but they do not listen. After the Nazis enter Sighet, the Jews cannot leave their homes, and their freedoms start to be infringed upon.
"My father's view was that it was not all bleak, or perhaps he just did not want to discourage the others, to throw salt on their wounds: 'The yellow star? So what? It's not lethal...'"- Eliezer's father is not alarmed or depressed at this point; it is likely that he puts on this front to not alarms others. However, the simple act of wearing a yellow star is a mark of death and used to identify the Jews to send them to concentration camps. Elie does not think anything of it at first because he feels proud of his religion.
"We even doubted that he wanted to exterminate us. Was he going to wipe out a whole people? Could he exterminate a population scattered throughout so many countries? So many millions!"- The Jews do not see the warnings in front of them because the reality of exterminating a whole race is so out of reach. They do not comprehend how an act like this is possible, so they ignore the warning signs.
Analysis of Night Chapter 1
Night by Elie Wiesel: Chapter 1 quotes demonstrate the series of acceptance of warnings given to the Jews. The tone throughout this chapter is mournful as the Jews ignore all foreshadowed clues, starting from Moishe the Beadle's experience with the Gestapo.
Moishe's warning of what he witnesses when he is expelled by the Hungarian Police, digging his own grave, and escaping from the Nazis foreshadow the later atrocities and events in the book. Foreshadowing is a warning or an indication of a future event. The Jews of Sighet do not listen to Moishe's warnings.
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In the memoir Night by Elie Wiesel, in Chapter 1, Elie recounts the beginning moments of the Holocaust. Elie and his family live in a town called Sighet in Transylvania, known now as Romania. Elie, a religious 12-year-old boy, seeks out a teacher in his friend, Moishe the Beadle, who is later taken away for being a foreign Jew. Moishe, after seeing the demise of the Jews by the Gestapo and Nazis, returns to Sighet to warn the Jews; however, no one believes him. The people of Sighet also do not believe the warnings of the impending concentration camps as it seems too unbelievable for consideration. Eventually, Sighet is raided by the Nazis, the Jews are forced to wear yellow stars, their valuables are taken away, and they are forced into ghettos. The chapter ends with Elie and his family being forced into cattle cars and taken to the concentration camp, Auschwitz. Quotes in Night by Elie Wiesel: Chapter 1 show the direct moments where the Jews ignore warning signs, showing that they do not realize the atrocities occurring, before the Nazis come to their hometown.
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Video Transcript
Chapter One of Night
Twelve-year-old Eliezer was one of four children in his household and lived a somewhat ordinary life as a young boy in Sighet, Transylvania (modern day Romania). Both of his parents were respected and hardworking shop owners, as well as devout Jews. With a strict Orthodox Jewish upbringing, it was expected from Elie's father that he follow the Jewish religion closely and study Jewish law. Eliezer wanted to study the Kabbalah, which is the study of Jewish Mysticism and the essence of God, but his father thought it to be too complex for his age. So Moishe the Beadle became his teacher on Kabbalah.
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Wiesel opens the first chapter with a devastating recount of what happened to Moishe. Hungarians shipped out foreign Jews from Sighet, including Moishe, to the border of Poland. Once at the border, the Jews were handed over to the Germans to be killed and buried in mass graves. Moishe managed to escape a brutal massacre and made his way back to Sighet to warn others of his brush with death and pure evil. He experienced firsthand the Nazi brutality against Jews and lived to tell about it. Nevertheless, to his surprise, no one in the community took his warnings seriously. Therefore, the people of Sighet cast Moishe aside and dismissed his claims as absurdity.
1944: Yellow Stars & Barbed Wire
At this point, the Fascists, regimes of the Nazis in Germany, took over Hungary, and German armies made their way into Sighet. While the people of Sighet had heard rumors, they felt the German soldiers were polite and posed little threat. You see, the people of Sighet tried to remain optimistic, finding it impossible to believe the Germans would try to annihilate all Jews. Some also believed that any anti-Semitic acts against Jews were only temporary, or that they would remain isolated in the capital of Budapest.
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Suddenly, decrees were put into place restricting Jews of Sighet from non-Jewish institutions, areas, and citizens, even forcing them to remain in their homes or risk being shot. Eventually, Jews, now required to wear yellow stars, were forced to live in overcrowded and unsanitary ghettos surrounded by barbed wire. When things couldn't seem to get worse, the Germans came back to relocate them to concentration camps, where the Jews would face even more cruelty than they could ever imagine.
Deportation to Auschwitz
A brave servant of the Wiesel family named Martha put her life on the line and offered to help them hide from the Nazis. She knew by doing this, she would also be at risk for deportation. Despite witnessing the ghettos and ill-treatment of the Fascists, Eliezer's father declined Martha's offer and decided to remain in Sighet with his family. Shortly after Martha's offer, Eliezer's family was one of the last groups to be deported from Sighet to Auschwitz, one of the largest and most infamous concentration camps in Poland. This was the beginning of the end for Wiesel's childhood, and it also forced him to question his deep-rooted faith.
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Lesson Summary
The book Night begins with a detailed recount of Eliezer ''Elie'' Wiesel's mentor's tale of survival and warnings of the looming Holocaust. His friend, Moishe, was one of the few to make it out alive and comes back to Sighet, Transylvania (modern-day Romania), to provide an imperative warning well before the city endured massive losses. Sadly, no one knew (or wanted to know) how valuable his warnings were. Eliezer's devout Orthodox Jewish family was forced out of Sighet by Fascists, regimes of the Nazis in Germany, and deported to Auschwitz, one of the largest and most infamous concentration camps in Poland, to live the same nightmare Moishe spoke of. It is Elie Wiesel's hope to spread awareness of the Holocaust through this novel to prevent such evil acts from taking place again.
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Night by Elie Wiesel Chapter 1 | Summary, Characters & Quotes
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