At the age of 15, Elie Wiesel, along with his parents and three sisters, was deported by the Germans from Romania to the death camps at Auschwitz – Birkenau. His mother and sister were killed upon arrival at Auschwitz. His father died at Buchenwald in 1945, shortly before the camp was liberated by the Americans. Elie Wiesel and two of his sisters survived. Wiesel received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. He has spent his life bearing witness to the event, the people, and the individuals of the Holocaust and grappling, like Job, with God.
An excerpt from Night, his memory of the camps:
Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky.
Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my faith forever.
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.
In Prayer from his book One Generation After, Wiesel seeks an accommodation with God in a post-Holocaust world.
I no longer ask you for either happiness or paradise; all I ask of You is to listen and let me be aware of Your listening.
I no longer ask You to resolve my questions, only to receive them and make them part of You.
I no longer ask You for either rest or wisdom, I only ask You not to close me to gratitude, be it of the most trivial kind, or to surprise and friendship. Love? Love is not Yours to give.
As for my enemies, I do not ask You to punish them or even to enlighten them; I only ask You not to lend them Your mask and Your powers. If You must relinquish one or the other, give them Your powers. But not Your countenance.
They are modest, my requests, and humble. I ask You what I might ask a stranger met by chance at twilight in a barren land.
I ask you, God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to enable me to pronounce these words without betraying the child that transmitted them to me: God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, enable me to forgive You and enable the child I once was to forgive me too.
I no longer ask You for the life of that child, nor even for his faith. I only beg You to listen to him and act in such a way that You and I can listen to him together.
In Shreveport, Holocaust Remembrance Day will be marked on Wednesday, April 27, with a service at 7:00 p.m. in the Brown Memorial Chapel on the campus of Centenary College. The service is open to the public. More information can be found at http://www.centenary.edu/news/2011/0000062
