“Night” VocabularyBy Dillon McKinley

surnameA hereditary name common to all members of a family, as distinct from a given name.

Cattle trainstrain that transports cattle (used to transport Jews in the book "Night")

GestapoThe German internal security police as organized under the Nazi regime, known for its terrorist methods directed against those suspected of treason or questionable loyalty.

swineA person regarded by the speaker with contempt and disgust

melancholyA deep, pensive, and long-lasting sadness.

Auschwitzan industrial town in S Poland; site of a Nazi concentration camp during World War II. Pop.: 45 400 (latest est.) Polish name Oświȩcim

BirkenauBirkenau was Auschwitz II, which contained the main gas chambers and also the women's camp.

Petrolany one of various volatile flammable liquid mixtures of hydrocarbons, mainly hexane, heptane, and octane, obtained from petroleum and used as a solvent and a fuel for internal-combustion engines.

Kapoa privileged prisoner who served as a barracks supervisor/warder or led work details in a Nazi concentration camp

FurnaceAn enclosed structure in which material can be heated to very high temperatures, e.g., for smelting metals.

CrematoryA place where a dead person's body is cremated

GliewitzA city of south-central Poland west-northwest of Katowice. Chartered in 1276, it was ceded by Austria to Prussia in 1742 and assigned to Poland by the Potsdam Conference in 1945

blandishmentsomething, as an action or speech, that tends to entice.

BunaThe largest Auschwitz sub-camp, located there from 1942 to 1945

CauldronA large metal pot with a lid and handle, used for cooking over an open fire

ThineUsed to indicate the one or ones belonging to thee.

ChimneyA passage through which smoke and gases escape from a fire or furnace; a flue

InfirmaryA place for the care of the infirm, sick, or injured, especially a small hospital or dispensary in an institution

liberatorsTo set free, as from oppression, confinement, or foreign control

mountebanksA hawker of quack medicines who attracts customers with stories, jokes, or tricks

BuffoonsA ludicrous or bumbling person; a fool.

embarkationTo set out on a venture; commence

BuchenwaldA Nazi concentration camp in World War II, near Weimar in central Germany.

BeseechingTo address an earnest or urgent request to; implore

spasmodicallyRelating to, affected by, or having the character of a spasm; convulsive