The Perils of Indifference

Write a historical analysis of the St. Louis that outlines President Roosevelt’s actions regarding its fate. What became of the passengers once they returned to Nazi Germany? How complicit in their collective fate do you think President Roosevelt was?

Choose one of the 20th-century conflicts that Wiesel mentions. Outline how indifference enabled the suffering that occurred in that event. In first-person accounts or interviews with victims, look for mentions of despair and hope. How do the victims’ reflections relate to the concept of indifference?

Read Wiesel’s Holocaust memoir Night. Using close reading of key passages, analyze how Night embodies Wiesel’s insistence to remember those who can no longer speak for themselves.

President Bill Clinton played a key role in global conflicts of the 1990s. Choose at least one conflict and evaluate Clinton’s handling of the conflict based on Wiesel’s criteria for reducing indifference.

Wiesel says that the future will judge the 20th century harshly. Using secondary sources, write an essay in which you evaluate the legacy of the 20th century. Consider the “good things” listed by Wiesel that have occurred “in this traumatic century” (Paragraph 19). Ultimately, do you agree or disagree with Wiesel that the 20th century will be judged harshly?

Choose one of the Nazi death camps to research in depth. What was daily survival like for Jewish prisoners there? What dangers did they face? How did the Nazis incorporate erasure into the suffering they inflicted?

Wiesel calls Kristallnacht “the first state sponsored pogrom, with hundreds of Jewish shops destroyed, synagogues burned, thousands of people put in concentration camps” (Paragraph 16). What was the function of Kristallnacht for the Nazis, and how did it represent a turning point in the war?

Wiesel comments, “When adults wage war, children perish” (Paragraph 23). Gather a few writings by children of the Holocaust. Read them closely and analyze the effects of World War II on them. How does their suffering appear to differ from that of adults?