“No one may speak for the dead, no one may interpret their mutilated dreams and visions. And yet, I
sense their presence. I always do - and at this moment more than ever. The presence of my parents,
that of my little sister. The presence of my teachers, my friends, my companions...This honor belongs
to all the survivors and their children and, through us to the Jewish people with whose destiny I have
always identified.
I remember: it happened yesterday, or eternities ago. A young Jewish boy discovered the Kingdom of
Night. I remember his bewilderment, I remember his anguish. It all happened so fast. The ghetto. The
deportation. The sealed cattle car. The fiery altar upon which the history of our people and the future
of mankind were meant to be sacrificed. I remember he asked his father: "Can this be true? This is the
twentieth century, not the Middle Ages. Who would allow such crimes to be committed? How could
the world remain silent?”
And now the boy is turning to me. "Tell me," he asks, "what have you done with my future, what have you
done with your life?" And I tell him that I have tried. That I have tried to keep memory alive, that I
have tried to fight those who would forget. Because if we forget, we are guilty, we are accomplices.
And then I explain to him how naïve we were, that the world did know and remained silent. And that is
why I swore never to be silent whenever wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation.
We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the
tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered,
when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever
men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must - at
that moment - become the center of the universe.”
Excerpt from Wiesel’s Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech,
1986:http://www.eliewieselfoundation.org/nobelprizespeech.aspx
 Born: 1928, Sighet, Transylvania
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(now Romania)
Only son, three sisters
Before Holocaust, studious and
religious, focused on study of sacred
Jewish texts
1944, age 15, deported by Nazis (first
in Auschwitz), family broken apart.
Elie and father stay together, but
mother and younger sister died in
Auschwitz, liberated in April, 1945.
Older sisters survive Holocaust.
 http://www.eliewieselfoundation.or
g/eliewiesel.aspx
 After war, Elie studied in Paris,
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journalist.
Wrote and published work, but
initially refused to write about
Holocaust until he began work
on Night ten years after
liberation
Moved to US in 1956, married
fellow Holocaust survivor in
1969
Teacher at Boston University,
Humanities
1980, Founding Chairman of the
United States Holocaust
Memorial Council
President of The Elie Wiesel
Foundation for Humanity,
created by him and his wife to
combat indifference, intolerance
and injustice.
Novel Peace Prize in 1986 for
activism
 WWII 1939-1945, started with German aggression
 Born out of conflicts after WWI—Germany “broken” government, economy,
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military, transportation system, etc.
Nazi (National Socialist German Workers Party)—originated late 1920s, led by
Adolf Hitler after WWI.
Hitler was anti-Semitic (hated Jews), called them an inferior race (Jewish is not
a race).
Promised to restore Germany, mainly blamed Jewish people (and others—
Gypsies, people with handicaps, mental illness, homosexuals) for this broken
state, asserting they were not true Germans.
Elected German Chancellor in 1933, first concentration camp opened soon
after.
Employed Gestapo (secret police) in years leading to war to imprison Jews.
Many began to flee the country.
1941, Germany invaded Russia, first big push of war began. Need for
supplies=concentration work camps.
Invasion, control, ghetto, deportation to concentration camps (cattle cars)
1942: Hitler and allies developed “Final Solution” policy=extermination of Jews
 Once the
prisoners arrived,
they were
“selected” to stay
in the work camp
or were
exterminated.
 Dr. Mengele
 http://www.ushmm.
org/wlc/en/article.ph
p?ModuleId=1000706
0
 11 million people were killed at the hands of the Nazis under Hitler’s leadership
and the quest for the eradication of those who were not “Aryan”
 Approximately 6 million of the victims were Jewish
 Other groups were persecuted for their genetic “impurity” or due to cultural
background. Additionally, certain groups were seen as undesirable due to their
religious or political backgrounds. Some of these groups/individuals included:
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Gypsies
Homosexuals
Those with mental illness or disability
Polish and other Slavs
Jehovah’s Witnesses
Dissenting clergy
Communists
Socialists
Political “enemies”
http://fcit.usf.edu/holocaust/people/victims.htm
It’s important to note that
other concentration camps
existed in the Pacific Rim
at the hands of the
Japanese. Though less
historical attention is paid
to these victims, nearly 1
million, civilians living in
these areas, and many
prisoners of war perished
during WWII in these
work camps as well.