The two poems “Never Shall I Forget” and “We Remember Them”, written by Elie Wiesel and Rabbi Sylvan Kamens, have their fair share of similarities and differences. These poems are both highly influenced by the Holocaust, the genocide of over 11 million people, 6 million of them being Jews, during World War II. In “Never Shall I Forget”, Elie Wiesel talks of his sufferings in a concentration camp and “We Remember Them” pass on the memory of those who died during the Holocaust. “Never Shall I Forget” and “We Remember Them” both have a shared theme of remembrance, but Elie Wiesel wrote of what he would rather forget than remember, whereas Rabbi Sylvan Kamens wrote of what he wishes to never forget. The themes of “Never Shall I Forget” and “We
Writer, Elie Wiesel in his metaphorical speech “The perils of Indifference” argues that the future will never know the agony of the Holocaust and they will never understand the tragedy of the horrific terror in Germany. Wiesel wants people to not let this happen but at the time many modern genocides that are occurring and people shouldn’t be focused on just the Holocaust, they should focus on making this world a better place; moreover, Wiesel expresses his thoughts about all the genocides that has happen throughout the years. He develops his message through in an horrifying event that took place 54 years ago the day “ The perils of Indifference” was published. Wiesel illustrates the indifferences of good vs evil. He develops this message
“Keep Memory Alive” is an award acceptance speech delivered by Elie Wiesel. The speaker recalled the events and personal experiences during the unfortunate and penetrating event known as the Holocaust. Wiesel gave an example of a little young boy asking his father: “Who would allow such crimes to be committed? How could the world remain silent?” (Wiesel, 544). That young boy turns out to be Wiesel. Wiesel proceeds to emphasize his belief that everyone should remember the significant events in history and learn to speak up when necessary. Therefore, it is important to commemorate history in order to prevent society from becoming ignorant and often times, repeating identical mistakes as our ancestors did.
With this book, Wiesel has helped to ensure that the holocaust is never forgotten. The events that he and the other Jews endured and put in this book are memorable to any reader. Jews whose job were to help in the crematories, sometimes even help with putting others to death is pretty memorable. One man had to put his own father into the furnace (35). This is very memorable because they had to watch others just like them being burned to death, and one day others might have to do the same to them. They had to work in a place full of the dead, until they themselves were put to death. Another memorable event was when the dead bodies were thrown off the wagon (94) as if they were useless weight. That was memorable because those people had a previous life, with families that loved them, and their dead body meant absolutely nothing to the SS. It is moments like these must be remembered, in honor of the diseased. As Wiesel said, “For the survivors who chooses to testify, it is clear: his duty is to bear witness for the dead and the living...to forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time” (XV). Using good imagery and drilling the suffering of those who lived in these camps into the reader's mind, he has helped assure that
As said by Audrey Hepburn; “Living is like tearing through a museum, not until later do you really start absorbing what you saw, thinking about it, looking it up in a book, and remembering - because you can’t take it in all at once.” In Elie Wiesel’s memoir, Night, the Holocaust took place in an order of layers. As time passed, the extremity was increased each chapter he succumbed to. Elie expresses raw emotion in his memoir, Night, and leaves you in a complete, utter state of wonder and sadness. Not only this, but remembering and cherishing the importance of all the emotions from this time in history. In Elie Wiesel’s memoir, Night, the theme of remembering is present before the Holocaust and in today’s society.
The 20th century was a time of brutal wars and eradication of joy. On April 12, 1999, Elie Wiesel stepped up to the podium, reflecting the violent times as they were months before entering a new century. Wiesel knew very well that the uncountable tragedies had to change, and each individual must exercise his or her own contributions in the face of justice and humanity. His devastating experiences and tragic realizations produced a voice that carried around the world, revealing the fundamental structure of humanity.
Many thoughts went through my mind while reading about Wiesel’s final experiences as a German prisoner. I felt pity and sadness for him. His last few days as a German prisoner were his most difficult. He lost his father, he went days without food and passed days out in the freezing cold. I was also impressed on how he fought through these events. Despite his exhaustion or hunger, he never surrendered his life. He found strength that he never knew he had and showed the readers how strong humans can be when their lives depend on it. If I could meet Elie Wiesel and discuss with him about his time during the war, I would want to tell him many things. I would tell him that the time he spent at the concentration camps made him the man he is today
While reading the two short stories, Bitburg by Elie Wiesel and Three Poems by Hannah Senesh, the similarities of the stories was they were both about what had happened to the people attacked during the Holocaust and how it made them feel about the Nazis. When we thought about the connection between the two readings and Night the first word that came to our mind’s is ‘Holocaust’. Other words that came to our mind’s was travesty, destruction, cruelty, torture, and of course, death. In the short story, Bitburg, Elie Wiesel goes back to one of the camps he was stationed at and gives a speech to the people about forgiveness and moving on. In the poems, Three Poems, Senesh writes about how she gave up her dreams of becoming a writer to help out
Six million jews. Six million innocent men, women and children. Emerging from the ashes and corpses, one man had the intention of preserving this tragedy, yet at the same time preventing it. Elie Wiesel’s fulfilled his purpose of showing the heinous crimes of the Holocaust through the change of characterization of Elie before, during and after the events of Wiesel 's 1940 memoir-Night. The Holocaust is remembered as a stain on history, where a massive genocide occurred. but we must also recognize the souls and personalities that were killed and burned. Wiesel trembling hands picked up these ashes, personifying their ebony remains into a young child-Elie.
Although the world continues to face tragedy, little compares to that of the horrors millions of innocent Jews like Elie Wiesel faced, as they were deported from their homes, separated from their families and pushed around into different concentration camps where they were brutally tortured, killed, and discarded of by Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany Army beginning in 1941. It wasn’t until April of 1945 that Elie along with the limited number of other survivors were finally liberated. This mid 20th century atrocity has come to be known as the Holocaust, a tragic part of history that will never be forgotten. It was because of that experience, that Elie Wiesel extensively depicted the events he faced through written and verbal accounts including the speech he gave entitled “The Perils of Indifference” on April 12, 1999. The speech was given at the 7th Millennium Evening at the White House, with an intent to create a kairotic moment with the public including the audiences it was broadcasted to, as an opportunity to explain a darker side of history, while also hopefully enlightening them for the future.
“I only know that without this testimony, my life as a writer--or my life, period-- would not become what it is: that of a witness who believes he has a moral obligation to try to prevent the enemy from enjoying one last victory by allowing his crimes to be erased from human memory” (Wiesel, Night viii). As a result of the horrors that Elie Wiesel experienced during the Holocaust, he devoted his life to become meaningful. Wiesel’s decent disposition changes through atrociously inhumane conduct toward Jews during the Holocaust as he becomes a brute to solidify identity, levy fears, and boost morale.
In Night by Elie Wiesel, Elie recounts his experience as a prisoner of the Holocaust, saying, "Never shall i forget that night, the first night in the camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed.... Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall i forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never.
The Holocaust is widely known as one of the most horrendous and disturbing events in history that the world has seen; over six million lives were lost, in fact the total number of deceased during the Holocaust has never been determined. The footage of concentration camps and gas chambers left the world in utter shock, but photos and retellings of the events cannot compare to being a victim of the Holocaust and living through the horror that the rest of the world regarded in the safety of their homes. Elie Wiesel recognized the indifference that the
Evil overshadows good because Elie’s personality had been stained with the thoughts of survival. As time passed he was no longer the innocent , changed by the pain and suffering brought around him. He lost his innocence and learned the ability to lie and commit acts of selfishness. When Elie has nothing he begins to question why people are doing this to all these people. Elie says “One more stab to the heart, one more reason to hate. One less reason to live."(Wiesel 134) Elie is overwhelmed by the changes in his life that he begins to give into himself. Elie was once small and the world was open to him and the next its taken from him in the blink of an eye. Near the end of the Jewish New Year Elie accuses God again. ‘Why do you still trouble
Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me, for all eternity, of the desire to live. Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never.” The repetition of the phrase “Never shall I forget” really emphasises on and illustrated that what Wiesel is describing will be engraved in his memory forever, that it is impossible to forget. I also think that he wants to spread the word about what happened in the holocaust, raise awareness and make sure that nothing even remotely like it ever happens again.
The article Nobel Peace Prize Winner and Holocaust Author Elie Wiesel Dies at 87. Talks about how Elie helps force the public to confront the Holocaust. He wrote a book called Night and he speaks out around the world telling people to remember the Holocaust. The article says “To forget the Holocaust, he always said, would be to kill the victims a second time.” This means that if you don’t remember the pain and the deaths it caused, it might have a chance of happening again. If people remember them they can prevent another genocide. Elie says “ Memory of evil will serve as a shield to death.” By using feeling this sorrow and loss, it protects by not allowing it to happen