"For the survivor who chooses to testify, it is clear: his duty is to bear witness for the dead and for the living. He has no right to deprive future generations of a past that belongs to our collective memory. To forget would be not only dangerous but offensive; to forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time."-An excerpt from Night by Elie Weisel, published in 1958
Born in a small Jewish community in Sighnet, Transylvania in 1928 (now a part of Romania/Hungary) Elie Wiesel grew up like many young children around him, he attended religious classes, was active in his small town, and had a personal relationship with God. During the early years of World War II, Sighnet was left peaceful and Elie's family held the belief that their small town would be untouched by the German Nazis.
Although, that hope was crushed in 1944, when Elie was sixteen. The Nazis deported the Jewish families to Poland, where the Wiesel Family was separated. Elie and his father were pulled away from Eli's mother and three sisters; his mother and youngest sister later died in the gas chambers. During his stay in the camps, Elie witnessed horrors which made him question how God could ever be so cruel to those so innocent. He lost his faith in humanity. In January 1945 Wiesel witnessed his father's last day, heard his father's last word. He recollects this memory quite clearly:
Elie felt guilt over his father's death, but also a quiet sense of relief. He no longer had to worry about his father's wellbeing. He knew his father was no longer in pain. In the four months between his father's death and his freedom from the camps, Wiesel does not describe his life. He was no longer living, he was merely surviving. But in April of 1945 fate crept in and Elie was released back into the free world.
"I have tried to keep memory alive. I have tried to fight those who would forget. Because if we forget, we are guilty, we are all accomplices."
After the liberation of the camps, Wiesel lived in France where, for ten years, he refused to speak of his life during the war. In 1955, at the counsel of a Catholic writer, Wiesel composed a 900 page memoir, And the World Kept Silent, which was first published in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The book was then condensed into a 127-page memoir entitled "Night", which was published in 1958, with little success.
Elie Wiesel moved to New York and was granted American citizenship. He continued to write, finishing other autobiographical works such as Dawn and The Accident. Soon his writing was getting him international acclaim. He chose to visit the Soviet Union after an increased interest in the difficulties that other Jewish families faced during the war. After returning Wiesel dedicated himself to helping to liberate those all over the world who have suffered in similar situations.
In 1976 Elie became the Andrew Mellon Professor of Humanities at Boston University and in 1978 President Carter appointed him to Chairman of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council. Though one of his biggest achievement since surviving the death was in 1986 when he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work.
Wiesel has authored over 36 works on the Holocaust, Judaism, and genocide, including "Night", a memoir of his time in Auschwitz, among other concentration camps.
To read a transcript of Elie Wiesel's Nobel Prize acceptance speech, please go here.
Sources:
Academy of Achievement
Elie Wiesel Biography Page
Jewish-American Hall of Fame
"Night" by Elie Wiesel
