Night Characters

The narrator, protagonist, and main character. Since he is a Jewish teenager living in Romania during Hitler's occupation and reign, he is persecuted and imprisoned. The book is really a telling of his experiences during the war.

Elie's father. He is a considerate and religious man and shopkeeper who is respected by the villagers. He is arrested along with his son and imprisoned in a concentration camp, where he dies.

A poor and lonely religious man.

He tells terrifying takes about the condition of the Jews in concentration camps, which Elie and the villagers find hard to believe.

Elie's mother. She is a loving person who cares for her family and who works to infuse courage in others.

Elie's oldest sister, who works in the family grocery store. She is arrested and deported to a concentration camp.

Like her brother, she manages to survive the experience.

Elie's older sister, who is the second child in the family. She also manages to survive.

Elie's younger sister, who does not survive the concentration camp. She gives an impression of both innocence and stoicism.

A relative who stays with the Wiesels in the Sighet ghetto; she is the 1st to hear the knock on the sealed window.

A relative who meets Elie and his father at Auschwitz. He is worried about his wife Reizel and his sons. Elie cheers him up by telling him the lie that his mother has been receiving letters from Stein's wife, though it is not true.

Wiesel's neighbor.

She provides temporary accommodation to a German officer.

A kind officer who assures Elie's father that he will inform him if there is danger. He keeps his promise, but Elie's family misses the knock at the window.

A police officer in Sighet. He calls Shlomo Wiesel to attend a council meeting.

The considerate maidservant of the Wiesels, who offers them shelter and safety. Unfortunately Mr. Wiesel does not accept her offer.

A fifty year old deportee who has hallucinations of "fire and furnace" while traveling on the train.

A ten-year old deportee who courageously watches his mother's break down and how other prisoners treat her.

The son of a tradesman in Sighet. He is made to work in the crematory and places his father's body into the oven.

The brother of a Rabbi in Sighet. He weeps for Elie and his father when they arrive at Birkenau.

A singer with a deep voice who has strong faith in God; he dies in the concentration camp after losing hope in God; no one prays Kaddish for him.

A polish musician who plays the violin in Buna. He gives his final performance playing Beethoven when the prisoners arrive at Gleiwitz and dies the next day.

A Dutch violinist who regrets that Jews are not allowed to play Beethoven's music.

A Berlin musician who tries to relax Elie, who is suffering from tension due to his assignment in the electrical warehouse.

A former student from Warsaw. He demands the gold from Elie's tooth and tries to bully him. Since Elie does not give him the gold tooth, he tortures his father.

Czech brothers whose parents were killed. They work in the electrical warehouse with Elie and become his friends.

A kind German Jew who gives extra soup to the young and the weak.

A woman who pretends to be an Aryan to keep herself safe. She works in the electrical warehouse and befriends Elie.

A strong young man who blesses liberty and curses the Germans before he is hanged.

A kind supervisor who is tortured for blowing up Buna's power station.

In spite of the torture, he does not name his co-conspirators.

A thirteen year old boy who looks angelic. He is an assistant to the Dutch Oberkapo. WHen he is hanged, it takes him more than thirty minutes to die since he is so light.

An experienced man who encourages Elie to consume his father's rations because he is going to die anyway.

A Rabgbgi from a small town in Poland; he is a sincere student of the Talmud but dismisses God's existence.

A patient with severe dysentery. He lies in a bed near Elie. He is sure that he will not pass the selection test and believes that all Jews will be killed before the end of the war. He has more faith in Hitler than in God.

A kind doctor who operates on Elie's foot.

A worker in the electrical warehouse who dies during the journey from BUna after being overcome with dysentery.

An aged Rabbi. He desperately searches for his son, whom he can't find during the journey from Buna. His son has left him behind.

A survivalist. He leaves his father behind to save himself.

Kills his father for a crust of bread, but is then killed by others on the train.

A strong gardener from Sighet.

He helps to free Elie from an attacker on the train to Gleiwitz but is overcome by grief when he considers his lost family.

A violent Kapo in the Buna warehouse. He lashes Elie cruelly during one of his violent fits, because Elie has seen him lying on a mattress with a woman.

A corrupt man who enriches himself by collecting gold teeth.

He tries unsuccessfully to persuade Elie to give him his gold tooth.

A polish dentist who pulls out Elie's gold tooth using a rusty spoon instead of an extractor.

Beat Elie's father and steal his food because he is so sick and can't relieve himself outdoors.

Nazi doctor who makes decisions on the selection.