Night: Pages 3–22

by Elie Wiesel
In this unflinching memoir, Elie Wiesel describes his experience as a young man imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp during the Holocaust.

This list covers pages 3–22 in the 2006 Hill and Wang edition.

Here are links to our lists for the memoir: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4
15 words 80519 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. penury
    a state of extreme poverty or destitution
    He was poor and lived in utter penury.
  2. redemption
    the act of delivering from sin or saving from evil
    He sang, or rather he chanted, and the few snatches I caught here and there spoke of divine suffering, of the Shekhinah in Exile, where, according to Kabbalah, it awaits its redemption linked to that of man.
  3. mystical
    relating to a belief in communion with an ultimate reality
    There are a thousand and one gates allowing entry into the orchard of mystical truth.
  4. insinuate
    suggest in an indirect or covert way; give to understand
    But people not only refused to believe his tales, they refused to listen. Some even insinuated that he only wanted their pity, that he was imagining things.
  5. annihilate
    kill in large numbers
    Yes, we even doubted his resolve to exterminate us.
    Annihilate an entire people?
  6. diplomacy
    wisdom in the management of public affairs
    And thus my elders concerned themselves with all manner of things — strategy, diplomacy, politics, and Zionism — but not with their own fate.
  7. liquidate
    convert into cash
    I had asked my father to sell everything, to liquidate everything, and to leave.
  8. fascist
    relating to authoritarian hierarchical government
    Budapest radio announced that the Fascist party had seized power.
  9. disquieting
    causing mental discomfort
    The next day brought really disquieting news: German troops had penetrated Hungarian territory with the government’s approval.
  10. edict
    a legally binding command or decision
    First edict: Jews were prohibited from leaving their residences for three days, under penalty of death.
  11. ghetto
    the restricted quarter of European cities where Jews lived
    The street we lived on, Serpent Street, was in the first ghetto.
  12. delusion
    an erroneous belief held in the face of contrary evidence
    Most people thought that we would remain in the ghetto until the end of the war, until the arrival of the Red Army. Afterward everything would be as before. The ghetto was ruled by neither German nor Jew; it was ruled by delusion.
  13. rescind
    cancel officially
    My father was running right and left, exhausted, consoling friends, checking with the Jewish Council just in case the order had been rescinded.
  14. hysteria
    state of violent mental agitation
    There had been incidents of hysteria and harsh blows.
  15. expulsion
    the act of forcing out someone or something
    Saturday, the day of rest, was the day chosen for our expulsion.
Created on Thu Jan 23 14:54:39 EST 2014 (updated Fri Jun 27 16:26:15 EDT 2025)

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