Printable View
Elie Wiesel, who wrote Night recounting his survival of Auschwitz as a teenager and who, as the NY Times puts it, "became an eloquent witness for the six million Jews slaughtered in World War II" and who won the Nobel Peace Prize died on Saturday at his home in Manhattan.
Rest in Peace, as you lived in peace.
Elie Wiesel played an important role in bringing to the public an eye-witness account of the war against the Jews in Europe, at a time when most people either had little knowledge of it, or, indeed, little real interest.
The book that made his name, Night, was first published in Yiddish in 1956 (called And the World Stayed Silent); an edited version appeared in French as La Nuit in 1958 and then in English as Night in 1960. Wiesel produced more than one version and as happens with 'true histories' in subsequent years Night was subjected to various critiques from all sides which claimed to have exposed those parts of it which were fiction, those that were true, and those parts which were embellished. For all his love of humanity, Wiesel then became entangled with controversies created by Israel and its relations with the Palestinians, the 1982 war in Lebanon, and thus for some his moral stature was diminished by his tendency to 'take sides' where one side or the other in that conflict is morally acceptable or unacceptable, depending on your politics.
It should also be said that while Night was a pioneering text in its day, since then more studies have been made and published that not only provide more accurate accounts of the war against the Jews, but reveal it was even worse, more cruel, more disgusting than Wiesel ever experienced. In the end, Night may now be see more as a work of literature than history, and it may be that in the end Wiesel himself was not as important as the history to which he contributed.
Thanks, Stavros, for that interesting and well-written perspective
It's very sad that Elie Wiesel has died. First person narratives of atrocities by survivors are an invaluable resource to those who are not just interested in the logistics of an atrocity but who want a richer understanding of the observations and subjective experience of survivors. In my opinion, the best objective study on the genocide of Jews during WWII was written by Raul Hilberg, and is called The Destruction of the European Jews. It describes in detail the mechanics and logistics of the Holocaust, but as an objective historical work it is a denser, more challenging, and less emotional work than a personal memoir can be.
For those who are interested in the subject, the best account of life in Auschwitz was written by Primo Levi, called Survival in Auschwitz. I do not write this as an insult to Wiesel, who was at times very eloquent in Night, but I believe that Survival in Auschwitz provides a better and more analytical description of daily life in the camps. It also contains much of the same pathos that one expects from this type of memoir.
Wiesel was one of the last of his generation who bore witness. He was 87 years old and had been 15 when he was transported to Auschwitz. Amazing that he survived such horrors to live such a long and full life. RIP.
Sad to hear that, I can remember reading Night in english class in High School and after we were finished Mr Wiesel visited our class, I think he was actually in town visiting the local university, but he made time to come and see us, I can remember seeing his ID number tattooed on his arm, and just thinking how does one go on after living through the things he did and after seeing and hearing the things he did. RIP