1
00:00:00,966 --> 00:00:10,300
♪♪

2
00:00:34,800 --> 00:00:37,133
[ Wind whistling ]

3
00:00:37,133 --> 00:00:40,133
[ Fire crackling ]

4
00:00:40,133 --> 00:00:45,233
♪♪

5
00:00:45,233 --> 00:00:47,400
[ Wind whistling ]

6
00:00:47,400 --> 00:00:52,500
-Elie spent most of his life
looking for the shadows,

7
00:00:52,500 --> 00:00:56,233
seeking out the darkness...

8
00:00:56,233 --> 00:00:59,166
in the hope that
he could do something about it.

9
00:01:12,700 --> 00:01:16,533
-Last night I saw
my mother in a dream.

10
00:01:16,533 --> 00:01:18,533
She seemed upset and I realized

11
00:01:18,533 --> 00:01:22,233
that something serious
had happened.

12
00:01:22,233 --> 00:01:24,300
She motioned me to follow her.

13
00:01:26,566 --> 00:01:29,266
Then suddenly I saw my father.

14
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He was wearing my gray suit.

15
00:01:32,666 --> 00:01:34,366
It looked good on him.

16
00:01:34,366 --> 00:01:40,500
♪♪

17
00:01:40,500 --> 00:01:42,366
We were all there.

18
00:01:42,366 --> 00:01:44,700
Everyone from before
and from now.

19
00:01:44,700 --> 00:01:46,900
Standing at a river

20
00:01:46,900 --> 00:01:49,966
that, all at once,
began to swell.

21
00:01:49,966 --> 00:01:51,766
[ Water rushing ]

22
00:01:51,766 --> 00:01:55,833
Its level rising
from moment to moment.

23
00:01:55,833 --> 00:01:58,766
"It's the flood,"
someone said quite calmly.

24
00:01:58,766 --> 00:02:01,133
"It's the flood,
but I am not afraid."

25
00:02:04,233 --> 00:02:07,933
Just then my father waded into
the murky blood-colored water,

26
00:02:07,933 --> 00:02:09,900
and I said to myself,

27
00:02:09,900 --> 00:02:14,133
"So rivers of blood exist
after all."

28
00:02:14,133 --> 00:02:16,100
He stayed beneath the water.

29
00:02:18,166 --> 00:02:21,966
I began to shout for help.

30
00:02:21,966 --> 00:02:26,100
But everyone was suddenly gone.

31
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I don't know how to swim,

32
00:02:27,633 --> 00:02:29,833
so I panicked,
screaming louder and louder,

33
00:02:29,833 --> 00:02:31,566
but I was all alone.

34
00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:36,433
And I found him.

35
00:02:39,433 --> 00:02:41,400
I don't know
what power aided me.

36
00:02:41,400 --> 00:02:46,000
All I know is that I managed
to save him all by myself.

37
00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:48,533
I helped him
stretch out on the grass,

38
00:02:48,533 --> 00:02:51,866
listened to his breathing.

39
00:02:51,866 --> 00:02:54,333
In my dream, he was alive.

40
00:02:54,333 --> 00:02:57,433
My mother too...

41
00:02:57,433 --> 00:03:01,100
in my dream.

42
00:03:01,100 --> 00:03:02,700
Whether we want it or not,

43
00:03:02,700 --> 00:03:06,833
we are still living
in the era of the Holocaust.

44
00:03:06,833 --> 00:03:09,700
The language is the language
of the Holocaust.

45
00:03:09,700 --> 00:03:12,966
The fears are linked to it.

46
00:03:12,966 --> 00:03:19,733
The perspectives,
unfortunately, are tied to it.

47
00:03:19,733 --> 00:03:22,366
-The first time we met,
I asked Elie,

48
00:03:22,366 --> 00:03:24,800
"What do you actually do?"

49
00:03:24,800 --> 00:03:26,333
And he answered me with a smile.

50
00:03:26,333 --> 00:03:31,433
He said, "I'm a storyteller,
a teller of tales."

51
00:03:31,433 --> 00:03:33,433
[ Feedback squealing ]

52
00:03:36,733 --> 00:03:40,533
-The first tale I always tell

53
00:03:40,533 --> 00:03:44,266
comes from the darkest hour
of my generation.

54
00:03:44,266 --> 00:03:47,400
I was young, almost a child,

55
00:03:47,400 --> 00:03:51,933
when I saw it unfold
before my eyes.

56
00:03:51,933 --> 00:03:57,933
Somewhere in the Kingdom
of the Holocaust, 1944.

57
00:03:57,933 --> 00:04:13,466
♪♪

58
00:04:13,466 --> 00:04:18,366
In my small town, somewhere
in the Carpathian mountains,

59
00:04:18,366 --> 00:04:22,133
I knew where I was.

60
00:04:22,133 --> 00:04:25,966
I knew why I was born.

61
00:04:25,966 --> 00:04:28,600
I knew why I existed.

62
00:04:39,566 --> 00:04:44,233
Now I no longer know anything.

63
00:04:44,233 --> 00:04:46,133
As in a dusty mirror,

64
00:04:46,133 --> 00:04:49,900
I look at my childhood
and I wonder if it is mine.

65
00:04:52,500 --> 00:04:54,600
In Sighet, my town,

66
00:04:54,600 --> 00:04:58,866
Shabbat began
on Friday afternoon.

67
00:04:58,866 --> 00:05:02,333
Shops closed well
before sundown.

68
00:05:02,333 --> 00:05:05,100
After the ritual bath, my
father would walk to services,

69
00:05:05,100 --> 00:05:07,233
dressed for the occasion.

70
00:05:07,233 --> 00:05:10,500
Sometimes my father would take
my hand as though to protect me,

71
00:05:10,500 --> 00:05:12,366
as we passed
the nearby police station

72
00:05:12,366 --> 00:05:15,066
or the central prison
on the main square.

73
00:05:15,066 --> 00:05:19,366
I liked it when he did that,
and I like to remember it now.

74
00:05:21,600 --> 00:05:26,166
The merchants conducted
their businesses.

75
00:05:26,166 --> 00:05:29,566
The students studied Talmud.

76
00:05:29,566 --> 00:05:31,666
The beggars wandered from house
to house

77
00:05:31,666 --> 00:05:35,566
to get a bit of food
for Shabbat to their families.

78
00:05:35,566 --> 00:05:36,933
Life was normal.

79
00:05:39,433 --> 00:05:42,700
I would give so much
to be able to relive a Shabbat

80
00:05:42,700 --> 00:05:45,033
in my small town.

81
00:05:45,033 --> 00:05:48,966
The whiteness of the tablecloth,

82
00:05:48,966 --> 00:05:52,500
the blinking candle flames,

83
00:05:52,500 --> 00:05:57,700
beaming faces around me,

84
00:05:57,700 --> 00:06:00,566
the melodious voice
of my grandfather

85
00:06:00,566 --> 00:06:03,000
inviting the angels
of the Sabbath

86
00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:07,700
to accompany him to our home.

87
00:06:07,700 --> 00:06:11,966
It is this Shabbat that I miss.

88
00:06:11,966 --> 00:06:17,000
-The old feeling
of religious Jewish family

89
00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:19,200
celebrating Shabbat.

90
00:06:19,200 --> 00:06:21,533
To Elie,
Shabbat is the ultimate thing.

91
00:06:21,533 --> 00:06:24,733
Shabbat is...
It's what is home.

92
00:06:24,733 --> 00:06:27,400
What it -- what it meant to him.

93
00:06:27,400 --> 00:06:29,266
-[ Speaking French ]

94
00:06:55,733 --> 00:06:57,833
-I come from a
very religious background,

95
00:06:57,833 --> 00:06:59,833
very religious family.

96
00:06:59,833 --> 00:07:04,066
My dream was to become
a teacher of Talmud.

97
00:07:07,666 --> 00:07:09,666
We Jews in Hungary,
in our ghetto,

98
00:07:09,666 --> 00:07:11,900
we didn't know about Auschwitz.

99
00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:18,533
People tried to hang on
to a fragment of hope

100
00:07:18,533 --> 00:07:21,333
in spite of logic.

101
00:07:21,333 --> 00:07:24,000
They said to one another,
"It's inconceivable, after all,

102
00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:27,300
that the Hungarians
would send us all away.

103
00:07:27,300 --> 00:07:29,833
How could a town
go on functioning

104
00:07:29,833 --> 00:07:33,600
without its physicians
and businessmen,

105
00:07:33,600 --> 00:07:37,066
without its watchmakers
and tailors?

106
00:07:37,066 --> 00:07:41,100
The town needs us.
Society needs us."

107
00:07:41,100 --> 00:07:43,966
No one among us,
and surely not I,

108
00:07:43,966 --> 00:07:45,866
still young to possess
the sense of reality

109
00:07:45,866 --> 00:07:50,866
could imagine that there will
come a day darker than others,

110
00:07:50,866 --> 00:07:53,966
when we, too, will be going
towards the unknown.

111
00:07:57,000 --> 00:07:59,033
In 1944,

112
00:07:59,033 --> 00:08:02,300
very quickly things happened.

113
00:08:02,300 --> 00:08:05,333
Between Passover and Shavuot.

114
00:08:05,333 --> 00:08:11,066
For several weeks,
the ghetto was created.

115
00:08:11,066 --> 00:08:14,066
Transports began

116
00:08:14,066 --> 00:08:20,533
and the entire city from
12,000 to 15,000 Jews

117
00:08:20,533 --> 00:08:22,300
were sent to Auschwitz.

118
00:08:26,533 --> 00:08:31,300
I left my native town
in the spring of 1944.

119
00:08:31,300 --> 00:08:33,500
It was a beautiful day.

120
00:08:33,500 --> 00:08:35,966
The surrounding mountains

121
00:08:35,966 --> 00:08:39,700
and their green light seemed
taller than usual.

122
00:08:39,700 --> 00:08:43,400
Our neighbors were out strolling
in their shirtsleeves.

123
00:08:43,400 --> 00:08:45,433
Some turned their heads away.

124
00:08:45,433 --> 00:08:47,966
Others sneered.

125
00:08:47,966 --> 00:08:50,566
At times I tell myself that
I have never really left a place

126
00:08:50,566 --> 00:08:52,000
where I was born.

127
00:08:54,733 --> 00:08:57,200
In my study over the table
where I work,

128
00:08:57,200 --> 00:08:59,633
there hangs a single photograph.

129
00:08:59,633 --> 00:09:02,400
It shows my parents' home
in Syria.

130
00:09:02,400 --> 00:09:04,266
When I look up,

131
00:09:04,266 --> 00:09:07,066
that is what I see
and it seems to be telling me,

132
00:09:07,066 --> 00:09:10,466
"Don't forget
where you came from."

133
00:09:12,833 --> 00:09:14,466
[ Train wheels screeching ]

134
00:09:21,066 --> 00:09:23,600
The name meant nothing to us.

135
00:09:23,600 --> 00:09:26,033
[ Women screaming ]

136
00:09:26,033 --> 00:09:30,766
Immediately separated us
from my mother and my sisters.

137
00:09:30,766 --> 00:09:33,400
I remained with my father.

138
00:09:33,400 --> 00:09:35,533
Everything was so fast.

139
00:09:35,533 --> 00:09:38,400
And then something strange
happened to me.

140
00:09:38,400 --> 00:09:41,400
When I saw these hundreds
and hundreds and thousands

141
00:09:41,400 --> 00:09:44,266
of Jews
coming from all over Europe,

142
00:09:44,266 --> 00:09:47,833
speaking all languages,
belonging to all cultures,

143
00:09:47,833 --> 00:09:49,700
to all conditions,

144
00:09:49,700 --> 00:09:53,366
I had the feeling
this is a messianic event.

145
00:09:53,366 --> 00:09:55,000
The Messiah is coming.

146
00:09:58,466 --> 00:10:02,133
To claim was not
a messiah but death as Messiah.

147
00:10:02,133 --> 00:10:13,500
♪♪

148
00:10:13,500 --> 00:10:15,533
-[ Speaking French ]

149
00:10:35,500 --> 00:10:37,966
-[ Speaking French ]

150
00:12:04,133 --> 00:12:08,633
-Auschwitz was the name
of a little railroad station.

151
00:12:08,633 --> 00:12:12,933
Even inside Auschwitz,
they did not believe

152
00:12:12,933 --> 00:12:15,500
that Auschwitz was
something else

153
00:12:15,500 --> 00:12:17,900
than a little railroad station.

154
00:12:17,900 --> 00:12:21,733
But Auschwitz became
a center of Jewish history.

155
00:12:21,733 --> 00:12:23,366
Oh, yes.

156
00:12:23,366 --> 00:12:26,433
At that point,
and at that period,

157
00:12:26,433 --> 00:12:29,566
Jewish history ran
through Auschwitz

158
00:12:29,566 --> 00:12:34,433
and not through
New York or London or Stockholm.

159
00:12:34,433 --> 00:12:36,300
But you know that.

160
00:12:36,300 --> 00:12:40,033
I'm sure that many people went
to their death

161
00:12:40,033 --> 00:12:45,066
not even believing afterwards
that they were dead.

162
00:12:45,066 --> 00:12:46,833
[ Wind whistling ]

163
00:12:50,533 --> 00:12:53,200
Everything died in Auschwitz.

164
00:12:53,200 --> 00:12:57,166
Ideals died there.
Men died there.

165
00:12:57,166 --> 00:13:00,666
The idea of God,
the image of God changed,

166
00:13:00,666 --> 00:13:04,833
underwent a horrifying
metamorphosis there.

167
00:13:07,400 --> 00:13:09,433
It was my father
who kept me alive.

168
00:13:09,433 --> 00:13:13,933
We saw it together.
And I wanted him to live.

169
00:13:13,933 --> 00:13:17,833
I knew that if I die,
he would die.

170
00:14:06,533 --> 00:14:10,766
And we arrived to Buchenwald.

171
00:14:10,766 --> 00:14:13,366
There were hundreds and hundreds
and hundreds

172
00:14:13,366 --> 00:14:15,933
of people in one barrack.

173
00:14:15,933 --> 00:14:19,366
My father got sick -- diarrhea.

174
00:14:21,700 --> 00:14:26,033
And one night...

175
00:14:26,033 --> 00:14:28,700
I heard him call me.

176
00:14:31,266 --> 00:14:33,200
And that morning, he died.

177
00:14:35,266 --> 00:14:39,033
And I felt he wanted to tell
me something,

178
00:14:39,033 --> 00:14:42,000
but I couldn't.

179
00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:43,833
And again, even today,

180
00:14:43,833 --> 00:14:46,100
I tried to figure out what
was his testament.

181
00:14:46,100 --> 00:14:48,366
What did he want to tell me?

182
00:14:48,366 --> 00:14:52,266
-The thing that
personally touched him the most

183
00:14:52,266 --> 00:14:56,600
of being in a concentration camp
was the fact

184
00:14:56,600 --> 00:14:58,600
that he couldn't help
his father.

185
00:14:58,600 --> 00:15:02,333
His father was dying
and he asked him to come

186
00:15:02,333 --> 00:15:05,766
and help him, and he couldn't.

187
00:15:05,766 --> 00:15:08,066
That was a deep, deep wound.

188
00:15:10,300 --> 00:15:14,533
-One day, really,
I saw myself in that mirror.

189
00:15:14,533 --> 00:15:21,700
And I saw a person who was
ageless, nameless, faceless,

190
00:15:21,700 --> 00:15:26,333
a person who belonged
to another world,

191
00:15:26,333 --> 00:15:28,366
the world of the dead.

192
00:15:31,800 --> 00:15:36,833
One of the things
that every survivor has to face

193
00:15:36,833 --> 00:15:42,233
and does face today
is the fact of its own survival.

194
00:15:42,233 --> 00:15:45,666
He somehow is ashamed
of still being here

195
00:15:45,666 --> 00:15:48,800
and not part of the others
who are no longer here.

196
00:15:53,800 --> 00:15:56,733
In that place
of eternal darkness and silence,

197
00:15:56,733 --> 00:15:59,766
we live not only with the dead.

198
00:15:59,766 --> 00:16:02,766
We lived in death.

199
00:16:06,766 --> 00:16:14,400
♪♪

200
00:16:14,400 --> 00:16:19,100
I belonged to a group
called the Buchenwald Children.

201
00:16:19,100 --> 00:16:21,600
We were 400 children
in Buchenwald.

202
00:16:21,600 --> 00:16:25,900
Then the American army
liberated the camp.

203
00:16:25,900 --> 00:16:28,433
The youngest was 8, 7 or 8.

204
00:16:28,433 --> 00:16:31,733
The oldest was 18 or 19.

205
00:16:31,733 --> 00:16:33,800
I was 16.

206
00:16:36,733 --> 00:16:40,800
Then France offered us refuge.

207
00:16:44,400 --> 00:16:48,366
That train ride, which lasted
a few days, was very special.

208
00:16:48,366 --> 00:16:50,433
We received
from the American Army,

209
00:16:50,433 --> 00:16:52,766
I remember, cookies,

210
00:16:52,766 --> 00:16:55,100
and the first thing we did,
we shared our cookies.

211
00:16:55,100 --> 00:17:00,333
♪♪

212
00:17:00,333 --> 00:17:04,666
When we arrived, they
separated us in two groups --

213
00:17:04,666 --> 00:17:07,733
those who were religious
and the others.

214
00:17:10,333 --> 00:17:14,900
I had outbursts of anger,
of despair, too.

215
00:17:14,900 --> 00:17:16,833
But the moment
we came to France,

216
00:17:16,833 --> 00:17:20,300
in that children's home,
I became a religious.

217
00:17:23,600 --> 00:17:25,433
Those homes were very,
very special.

218
00:17:25,433 --> 00:17:29,300
And I remember the songs
with great, great affection

219
00:17:29,300 --> 00:17:34,066
and tenderness
and melancholy and nostalgia.

220
00:17:34,066 --> 00:17:38,233
-And that was the beginning
of the surrogate families

221
00:17:38,233 --> 00:17:42,666
ahead of the big,
um, bonds of friendship

222
00:17:42,666 --> 00:17:44,666
that's more than friendship.

223
00:17:44,666 --> 00:17:46,533
That's really like brothers,

224
00:17:46,533 --> 00:17:50,633
more than brothers
that you still see so today.

225
00:17:56,633 --> 00:17:59,266
-We didn't cry.

226
00:17:59,266 --> 00:18:02,833
Maybe because people were afraid
if they were to start crying,

227
00:18:02,833 --> 00:18:04,333
they would never end.

228
00:18:09,933 --> 00:18:14,000
Our problem was
how to adjust to death.

229
00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:17,466
It was normal
to go to sleep with corpses

230
00:18:17,466 --> 00:18:19,166
and wake up with corpses,

231
00:18:19,166 --> 00:18:21,400
wondering whether you are
not one of them.

232
00:18:21,400 --> 00:18:23,333
After the war,

233
00:18:23,333 --> 00:18:28,933
it was difficult once more
to see in death a scandal,

234
00:18:28,933 --> 00:18:32,266
to see in death
once more a source of pain.

235
00:18:39,900 --> 00:18:41,500
One day, there were journalists

236
00:18:41,500 --> 00:18:43,700
who came to do a story
about our...

237
00:18:43,700 --> 00:18:48,166
After all, children from
Buchenwald was a good story.

238
00:18:48,166 --> 00:18:50,966
I played chess with a friend.

239
00:18:50,966 --> 00:18:52,633
They took pictures.
Alright.

240
00:18:52,633 --> 00:18:54,066
[ Camera shutter clicks ]

241
00:18:54,066 --> 00:18:56,400
And then later, I was
in the office of the director.

242
00:18:56,400 --> 00:18:58,100
[ Telephone rings ]

243
00:18:58,100 --> 00:19:02,866
And I heard him speak on the
telephone, mentioning my name.

244
00:19:02,866 --> 00:19:05,566
I said,
"I heard you mention my name."

245
00:19:05,566 --> 00:19:07,900
He said, "Are you Elie Wiesel?"
I said, "Yes."

246
00:19:07,900 --> 00:19:09,066
He said,
"I just spoke to your sister."

247
00:19:12,700 --> 00:19:15,433
I said, "I don't believe it.
What do you mean?

248
00:19:15,433 --> 00:19:16,933
Must be a mistake.

249
00:19:16,933 --> 00:19:19,833
Even if she remained alive,
what is she doing in France?

250
00:19:19,833 --> 00:19:23,166
If she is in France,
how does she know I am here?"

251
00:19:23,166 --> 00:19:26,100
"But," he said,
"But she has a message for you.

252
00:19:26,100 --> 00:19:27,500
She will wait for you tomorrow

253
00:19:27,500 --> 00:19:30,400
at the railway station
in Paris."

254
00:19:30,400 --> 00:19:34,233
I didn't sleep all night,
as you can imagine.

255
00:19:34,233 --> 00:19:38,366
Then came next day,
and there she was.

256
00:19:38,366 --> 00:19:46,533
♪♪

257
00:20:41,833 --> 00:20:45,066
Hilda simply saw
my picture in the paper.

258
00:20:45,066 --> 00:20:49,600
She had met a Algerian Jew
in the DP camp

259
00:20:49,600 --> 00:20:51,366
immediately after the war,

260
00:20:51,366 --> 00:20:53,333
and she followed him
to marry him in Paris.

261
00:21:07,500 --> 00:21:09,566
-[ Speaking French ]

262
00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:37,300
I left the children's home.

263
00:21:37,300 --> 00:21:40,666
I went to Paris.

264
00:21:40,666 --> 00:21:44,966
I cut myself off from the city
and from life for weeks on end.

265
00:21:50,600 --> 00:21:56,366
I lived in a room which was
much more like a prison cell,

266
00:21:56,366 --> 00:22:00,733
large enough for only one.

267
00:22:00,733 --> 00:22:04,766
I looked only at the Seine River
bearing along its foam.

268
00:22:04,766 --> 00:22:08,233
I no longer perceived
the sky mirrored in it.

269
00:22:11,200 --> 00:22:14,400
And I threw myself
immediately into learning.

270
00:22:16,066 --> 00:22:20,966
I was looking for myself.
I was fleeing from myself.

271
00:22:20,966 --> 00:22:24,633
And always there was
this taste of failure.

272
00:22:24,633 --> 00:22:31,166
♪♪

273
00:22:31,166 --> 00:22:34,600
-A friend went to visit
Elie Wiesel,

274
00:22:34,600 --> 00:22:37,966
and he goes in
to a small, little apartment

275
00:22:37,966 --> 00:22:40,400
and the room is pitch black

276
00:22:40,400 --> 00:22:43,566
and there's just
a single candle burning.

277
00:22:43,566 --> 00:22:46,933
There's classical music playing.

278
00:22:46,933 --> 00:22:49,200
He's not saying anything.

279
00:22:49,200 --> 00:22:54,466
My friend said, "He could tell
that -- He knew I was there."

280
00:22:54,466 --> 00:22:57,600
After a bit of time,

281
00:22:57,600 --> 00:23:00,066
he just turned around and left.

282
00:23:01,966 --> 00:23:04,766
-I remember once asking him,

283
00:23:04,766 --> 00:23:08,200
"How can you write so fluently?"

284
00:23:08,200 --> 00:23:11,533
And he said, "I get up at 4:00
in the morning.

285
00:23:11,533 --> 00:23:14,033
I just sit in front of
the white page

286
00:23:14,033 --> 00:23:18,866
and my hand goes to the pen
and it starts writing."

287
00:23:18,866 --> 00:23:44,633
♪♪

288
00:23:44,633 --> 00:23:47,966
-The act of writing is,
for me, often nothing more

289
00:23:47,966 --> 00:23:49,900
than the secret
of conscious desire

290
00:23:49,900 --> 00:23:52,933
to carve words
on a tombstone

291
00:23:52,933 --> 00:23:56,366
to the memory of all those
I loved and who,

292
00:23:56,366 --> 00:23:59,933
before I could tell
them I loved them, went away.

293
00:23:59,933 --> 00:24:06,033
♪♪

294
00:24:42,666 --> 00:24:48,000
-He had migraine headaches,
terrible headaches.

295
00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:52,300
The pain that this caused,
the torment, the anguish.

296
00:24:54,933 --> 00:24:57,133
-I drew away from people.

297
00:24:57,133 --> 00:25:00,666
No tie, no liaison came
to interrupt my solitude.

298
00:25:00,666 --> 00:25:02,866
I lived only in books

299
00:25:02,866 --> 00:25:06,100
where my memory tried
to rejoin a more immense

300
00:25:06,100 --> 00:25:08,133
and ordered memory.

301
00:25:08,133 --> 00:25:12,900
And the more I remembered, the
more I felt excluded and alone.

302
00:25:15,966 --> 00:25:19,366
I had lost my faith
in many things,

303
00:25:19,366 --> 00:25:23,966
and I had lost my sense
of belonging and orientation.

304
00:25:23,966 --> 00:25:26,333
And my faith in God was shaken.

305
00:25:28,933 --> 00:25:32,933
I found myself living
in the ghetto.

306
00:25:34,900 --> 00:25:38,800
-He told me that he lived
or spent a lot of time

307
00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:43,800
with the clochard, 
the homeless in Paris.

308
00:25:43,800 --> 00:25:47,100
And he didn't open
his mouth for almost a year.

309
00:25:47,100 --> 00:25:50,000
And when he opened his mouth,
he had French.

310
00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:51,366
He had it.

311
00:25:51,366 --> 00:25:53,233
-I remained with French

312
00:25:53,233 --> 00:25:56,700
because I acquired
the French language in France.

313
00:25:56,700 --> 00:25:59,566
And I needed a new language.

314
00:25:59,566 --> 00:26:02,566
I needed it like a home,
a new home.

315
00:26:02,566 --> 00:26:06,133
-His French was fluent
but not perfect.

316
00:26:06,133 --> 00:26:09,833
But he did all of his writing
in French all along,

317
00:26:09,833 --> 00:26:15,100
even though he really had only
spent a few years in France,

318
00:26:15,100 --> 00:26:18,533
where he spent many more years
in this country.

319
00:26:18,533 --> 00:26:22,200
-I was sent by a French paper
to Israel in '49

320
00:26:22,200 --> 00:26:26,700
to cover the immigration
from the DP camps,

321
00:26:26,700 --> 00:26:30,133
and I went there for a few
months and came back to Paris,

322
00:26:30,133 --> 00:26:32,533
remained a foreign correspondent
in Paris.

323
00:26:32,533 --> 00:26:37,300
-I thought it was interesting
that he was a reporter,

324
00:26:37,300 --> 00:26:39,933
because I thought maybe
that was part of his way

325
00:26:39,933 --> 00:26:41,600
of dealing with it,

326
00:26:41,600 --> 00:26:44,333
that if you report on things,

327
00:26:44,333 --> 00:26:47,766
um, you sort of have to learn
about them

328
00:26:47,766 --> 00:26:50,233
and then you're telling
other people about them.

329
00:26:50,233 --> 00:26:54,833
And -- And maybe that was
a way back into reality.

330
00:26:54,833 --> 00:27:00,533
♪♪

331
00:27:00,533 --> 00:27:03,733
-Things have changed
in the world,

332
00:27:03,733 --> 00:27:09,066
and perhaps the world itself
has changed.

333
00:27:10,700 --> 00:27:11,833
Have I?

334
00:27:11,833 --> 00:27:20,700
♪♪

335
00:27:20,700 --> 00:27:23,166
When I write,
I have the feeling literally,

336
00:27:23,166 --> 00:27:25,766
physically, that my grandfather
and my mother

337
00:27:25,766 --> 00:27:31,700
is looking over my shoulder
and reading what I'm writing.

338
00:27:31,700 --> 00:27:36,600
I want to be sure that the words
will be the proper words.

339
00:27:39,400 --> 00:27:44,833
At one point,
I decided to write my testimony.

340
00:27:44,833 --> 00:27:48,500
I had made a vow in '45
to wait 10 years.

341
00:27:48,500 --> 00:27:52,866
I wanted my language to be
the monument to our people,

342
00:27:52,866 --> 00:27:55,700
especially to those who died.

343
00:27:55,700 --> 00:27:57,666
-How does one overcome trauma?

344
00:27:57,666 --> 00:28:02,800
Well, he overcame it
through becoming a witness.

345
00:28:02,800 --> 00:28:06,533
"Night," of course,
was the epicenter.

346
00:28:09,200 --> 00:28:12,000
-He wrote the original book
in Yiddish.

347
00:28:14,066 --> 00:28:17,066
-It was published
in Argentina.

348
00:28:17,066 --> 00:28:21,633
My manuscript was 864 pages.

349
00:28:21,633 --> 00:28:23,633
It was called
"Un di velt hot geshvign,"

350
00:28:23,633 --> 00:28:26,766
"The World Was Silent."

351
00:28:26,766 --> 00:28:31,200
I wrote it
for the other survivors

352
00:28:31,200 --> 00:28:34,633
who found it difficult to speak,

353
00:28:34,633 --> 00:28:38,800
and I wanted really to tell
them, "Look, you must speak."

354
00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:49,733
"10 years after Buchenwald,
I see that the world forgets.

355
00:28:49,733 --> 00:28:53,500
The German army has resurrected.

356
00:28:53,500 --> 00:28:57,100
War criminals walked
in the streets.

357
00:28:57,100 --> 00:29:01,133
The past has been erased,
forgotten.

358
00:29:01,133 --> 00:29:04,633
Germans and anti-Semites
tell the world

359
00:29:04,633 --> 00:29:07,066
that the story
of the 6 million Jewish,

360
00:29:07,066 --> 00:29:09,733
that is only a legend.

361
00:29:09,733 --> 00:29:13,266
And the naive
will believe in it.

362
00:29:13,266 --> 00:29:16,766
If not today, then tomorrow.

363
00:29:16,766 --> 00:29:20,400
The world that was
silent yesterday

364
00:29:20,400 --> 00:29:23,833
will remain silent tomorrow."

365
00:29:23,833 --> 00:29:31,333
-The title of the Yiddish
is pissed off at non-Jews.

366
00:29:31,333 --> 00:29:34,700
It's the world kept silent.

367
00:29:34,700 --> 00:29:38,500
This idea that --
that Jews feel unseen,

368
00:29:38,500 --> 00:29:41,033
their sorrows unappreciated.

369
00:29:41,033 --> 00:29:43,800
And what we have
in the Yiddish is the way

370
00:29:43,800 --> 00:29:45,566
Holocaust survivors talk.

371
00:29:45,566 --> 00:29:49,366
-He wrote this
for a very specific audience,

372
00:29:49,366 --> 00:29:53,500
but it was not written for those
who did not read Yiddish

373
00:29:53,500 --> 00:29:56,800
or didn't have access
to Jewish culture

374
00:29:56,800 --> 00:30:01,033
and Jewish languages
to access that book.

375
00:30:01,033 --> 00:30:06,066
-The French is poetic,
symbolic.

376
00:30:06,066 --> 00:30:09,933
It doesn't stick its finger
in anybody's chest.

377
00:30:09,933 --> 00:30:16,300
It points at a kind of
cosmic catastrophe.

378
00:30:16,300 --> 00:30:22,066
-This is the original copy
that nobody wanted.

379
00:30:22,066 --> 00:30:25,966
And it's all falling apart.

380
00:30:25,966 --> 00:30:28,233
-In "Night,"

381
00:30:28,233 --> 00:30:30,033
which was translated
from the Yiddish

382
00:30:30,033 --> 00:30:32,000
and shortened

383
00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:34,733
because no publisher would
have taken the full version.

384
00:30:34,733 --> 00:30:37,933
In fact, they rejected
even the shorter version.

385
00:30:37,933 --> 00:30:41,866
-The book was published,
did not,

386
00:30:41,866 --> 00:30:44,266
I think,
get a lot of attention at first,

387
00:30:44,266 --> 00:30:50,400
but then, you know,
had this extraordinary life.

388
00:30:50,400 --> 00:30:53,966
"The night that -- that is
described here

389
00:30:53,966 --> 00:30:57,700
still hangs over many parts
of the world.

390
00:30:57,700 --> 00:30:59,866
And no one, nor anything,

391
00:30:59,866 --> 00:31:05,033
can promise us that
it won't threaten us tomorrow."

392
00:31:05,033 --> 00:31:09,233
-He brings us to Auschwitz
with him.

393
00:31:09,233 --> 00:31:12,133
It is both this specific account

394
00:31:12,133 --> 00:31:15,666
of this boy's
traumatic experience

395
00:31:15,666 --> 00:31:17,200
and it's, at the same time,

396
00:31:17,200 --> 00:31:20,300
this kind of eternal
mythical account.

397
00:31:22,666 --> 00:31:27,900
-"I witnessed hangings
in the camp.

398
00:31:27,900 --> 00:31:31,866
One day we saw
three gallows rearing up

399
00:31:31,866 --> 00:31:36,733
in the assembly place,
three victims in chains,

400
00:31:36,733 --> 00:31:41,433
and one of them, the little
servant, the sad-eyed angel.

401
00:31:43,433 --> 00:31:46,366
To hang a young boy in front
of thousands of spectators

402
00:31:46,366 --> 00:31:48,400
was no light matter.

403
00:31:48,400 --> 00:31:52,333
The head of the camp
read the verdict.

404
00:31:52,333 --> 00:31:54,833
All eyes were on the child.

405
00:31:54,833 --> 00:31:58,933
The three victims mounted
together on to the chairs.

406
00:31:58,933 --> 00:32:01,200
The three necks were placed
at the same moment

407
00:32:01,200 --> 00:32:03,533
between the nooses.

408
00:32:03,533 --> 00:32:08,133
'Long live liberty!'
cried the two adults.

409
00:32:08,133 --> 00:32:10,933
But the child was silent.

410
00:32:10,933 --> 00:32:12,500
At a sign from the head
of the camp,

411
00:32:12,500 --> 00:32:15,233
the three chairs tipped over.

412
00:32:15,233 --> 00:32:18,066
Total silence
throughout the camp.

413
00:32:18,066 --> 00:32:21,166
The two adults were
no longer alive,

414
00:32:21,166 --> 00:32:24,133
but the third rope
was still moving.

415
00:32:24,133 --> 00:32:31,500
Being so light, so light,
the child was still alive.

416
00:32:31,500 --> 00:32:33,366
For more than half an hour,

417
00:32:33,366 --> 00:32:37,533
he stayed there, struggling
between life and death,

418
00:32:37,533 --> 00:32:41,100
dying in slow agony
under our eyes.

419
00:32:41,100 --> 00:32:46,000
And behind me, I heard,
'Where is God now?'

420
00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:49,466
And I heard a voice within me
answer him.

421
00:32:49,466 --> 00:32:56,200
'He is hanging here
on these gallows.'"

422
00:32:56,200 --> 00:33:01,300
-"Never shall I forget that
night, the first night in camp,

423
00:33:01,300 --> 00:33:05,566
which has turned my life
into one long night.

424
00:33:05,566 --> 00:33:08,033
Never shall I forget
those moments

425
00:33:08,033 --> 00:33:11,366
which murdered my God
and my soul

426
00:33:11,366 --> 00:33:14,166
and turned my dreams to dust.

427
00:33:14,166 --> 00:33:18,500
If I survived,
it must be for some reason."

428
00:33:18,500 --> 00:33:20,233
-History is vital.

429
00:33:20,233 --> 00:33:21,633
You can't understand
the Holocaust

430
00:33:21,633 --> 00:33:24,466
without knowing the history.

431
00:33:24,466 --> 00:33:27,933
But you need more
than the history.

432
00:33:27,933 --> 00:33:30,400
You have to be able to imagine
some of these things.

433
00:33:30,400 --> 00:33:33,700
You will never know why --
And Elie said this early on,

434
00:33:33,700 --> 00:33:36,566
if you weren't there,
you won't know.

435
00:33:36,566 --> 00:33:41,000
You have to take students
and readers further than that.

436
00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:46,033
You have to help them to imagine
what is it like, for example,

437
00:33:46,033 --> 00:33:49,633
to get up in the morning
and you're starving.

438
00:33:49,633 --> 00:33:50,933
And when you go to bed at night,

439
00:33:50,933 --> 00:33:52,800
you're still starving

440
00:33:52,800 --> 00:33:55,400
and knowing you're going
to get up the next morning,

441
00:33:55,400 --> 00:33:57,366
you're also going to
be starving.

442
00:33:57,366 --> 00:33:59,533
And it may all end
in you're being shot

443
00:33:59,533 --> 00:34:01,900
or sent to the gas chamber.

444
00:34:01,900 --> 00:34:06,900
How do we help people to imagine
what that must have been like?

445
00:34:08,433 --> 00:34:10,833
-But even if you read
all the books,

446
00:34:10,833 --> 00:34:13,166
all the documents
by all the survivors,

447
00:34:13,166 --> 00:34:14,700
you would still not know.

448
00:34:17,466 --> 00:34:21,600
Only those who were there
know what it meant being there.

449
00:34:26,866 --> 00:34:28,533
Why I write?

450
00:34:28,533 --> 00:34:31,766
What else could I do?

451
00:34:31,766 --> 00:34:33,766
I write to bear witness.

452
00:34:45,233 --> 00:34:51,633
The more I remembered, the
more I felt excluded and alone.

453
00:34:51,633 --> 00:34:54,833
Whom was I to lean on?

454
00:34:54,833 --> 00:34:57,500
I shunned love.

455
00:34:57,500 --> 00:35:01,200
Aspiring only to silence.

456
00:35:01,200 --> 00:35:04,166
Aspiring only to madness.

457
00:35:28,166 --> 00:35:32,966
-Elle had a part of him
that was very,

458
00:35:32,966 --> 00:35:38,600
very difficult to reach
and very tough.

459
00:35:38,600 --> 00:35:42,466
I thought he would
never have children.

460
00:35:42,466 --> 00:35:45,600
-The first time I met him
was at my friend's.

461
00:35:45,600 --> 00:35:48,266
This was at a dinner party
in her house,

462
00:35:48,266 --> 00:35:50,666
and she was my closest friend.

463
00:35:50,666 --> 00:35:54,900
And she said to me,
"You're meeting Elie Wiesel.

464
00:35:54,900 --> 00:35:59,000
I just want you to know
he's a very interesting guy,

465
00:35:59,000 --> 00:36:03,900
but not somebody you
would ever think of marrying."

466
00:36:03,900 --> 00:36:05,933
After this dinner,

467
00:36:05,933 --> 00:36:12,433
we had one date and we both
knew that it was going to be.

468
00:36:12,433 --> 00:36:15,233
-Once he met Marion...

469
00:36:15,233 --> 00:36:17,700
a switch occurred.

470
00:36:17,700 --> 00:36:20,233
She released in him

471
00:36:20,233 --> 00:36:26,700
the thirst to live a little bit
more normally as a human being.

472
00:36:26,700 --> 00:36:29,766
-What does a man dream
when he is 40 years old

473
00:36:29,766 --> 00:36:33,600
and has made a decision
consecrated by the law of Moses,

474
00:36:33,600 --> 00:36:37,933
to make a home with the woman
he loves?

475
00:36:37,933 --> 00:36:40,400
Custom dictates
that before his wedding,

476
00:36:40,400 --> 00:36:45,033
an orphan go to meditate
at the grave of his parents.

477
00:36:45,033 --> 00:36:47,433
But this groom's parents,
like millions of others,

478
00:36:47,433 --> 00:36:49,400
had no grave of their own.

479
00:36:49,400 --> 00:36:51,766
All creation was their cemetery.

480
00:36:55,200 --> 00:36:56,966
-He had told me
from the beginning

481
00:36:56,966 --> 00:36:59,000
he didn't want children.

482
00:36:59,000 --> 00:37:03,566
He said, "I don't want to bring
a child into this world."

483
00:37:03,566 --> 00:37:06,833
I convinced him.

484
00:37:06,833 --> 00:37:13,133
When Elisha was born,
Elie became more religious.

485
00:37:13,133 --> 00:37:16,300
He had never stopped
being religious.

486
00:37:16,300 --> 00:37:18,133
He uncovered it.

487
00:37:18,133 --> 00:37:22,800
It was like peeling
off layers of non-religion

488
00:37:22,800 --> 00:37:27,533
and his true self emerged,
which was religious.

489
00:37:27,533 --> 00:37:29,200
-At this particular time,

490
00:37:29,200 --> 00:37:31,433
Elie did tremendous traveling.

491
00:37:31,433 --> 00:37:35,666
He would leave Elisha notes,
and he'd say, "I'm not here,

492
00:37:35,666 --> 00:37:37,433
but I will be back.

493
00:37:37,433 --> 00:37:40,400
And tomorrow we
shall celebrate again, my son."

494
00:37:40,400 --> 00:37:41,833
I would say to myself,

495
00:37:41,833 --> 00:37:43,233
"I can't believe
that he's leaving these notes

496
00:37:43,233 --> 00:37:45,133
to this, like, 3-year-old."

497
00:37:45,133 --> 00:37:48,066
-When I see my son,

498
00:37:48,066 --> 00:37:53,366
I tell him stories, and
I sing him tunes about tales

499
00:37:53,366 --> 00:37:56,366
to be told one day by him.

500
00:37:56,366 --> 00:37:59,466
And then he smiles.

501
00:37:59,466 --> 00:38:03,000
And his smile is not his alone.

502
00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:09,200
His smile is my grandfather's
who went to his death

503
00:38:09,200 --> 00:38:14,533
perhaps dancing
and singing about my son.

504
00:38:40,266 --> 00:38:43,966
-It wasn't easy for Elisha
as he went through school.

505
00:38:43,966 --> 00:38:48,566
Everywhere, he was Elie's son.

506
00:38:48,566 --> 00:38:51,400
He didn't have a chance
to be himself.

507
00:38:51,400 --> 00:38:55,600
-It was very difficult
to be a 6- or 7-year old,

508
00:38:55,600 --> 00:38:57,466
and you're out at the playground

509
00:38:57,466 --> 00:38:59,400
talking about what
your parents do for a living.

510
00:38:59,400 --> 00:39:01,700
And one kid is, "Oh, my dad,

511
00:39:01,700 --> 00:39:03,633
you know, he used to be
in the Israeli Air Force.

512
00:39:03,633 --> 00:39:05,400
And now he flies EL AL plane."

513
00:39:05,400 --> 00:39:07,400
And the other kid is,
"Oh, my dad's a pharmacy.

514
00:39:07,400 --> 00:39:10,133
He gets medicine
to help sick people."

515
00:39:10,133 --> 00:39:13,000
And I'm like, "I think something
really bad happened to my dad,

516
00:39:13,000 --> 00:39:14,666
and now he writes
or talks about it."

517
00:39:14,666 --> 00:39:16,700
It was very confusing.

518
00:39:16,700 --> 00:39:18,333
How do you ground yourself

519
00:39:18,333 --> 00:39:21,933
and your parent's career
around that?

520
00:39:21,933 --> 00:39:25,300
I don't think
I really processed "Night"

521
00:39:25,300 --> 00:39:30,500
until I traveled with my father
to Sighet in 1995,

522
00:39:30,500 --> 00:39:32,066
with my cousin Steve.

523
00:39:34,600 --> 00:39:37,000
My father almost...

524
00:39:37,000 --> 00:39:39,966
I saw him almost as
a radio transmitter

525
00:39:39,966 --> 00:39:44,566
that could pick up frequencies
that no one else was picking up.

526
00:39:48,833 --> 00:39:51,100
And it's because
he was picking up the ghosts

527
00:39:51,100 --> 00:39:53,266
and he made them real for us.

528
00:39:57,133 --> 00:39:59,333
Even
if he didn't talk about them,

529
00:39:59,333 --> 00:40:04,900
the way it weighed on him
made it extremely real.

530
00:40:04,900 --> 00:40:07,500
And it really was on that trip

531
00:40:07,500 --> 00:40:11,666
that I think it hit in
a deep way for the first time,

532
00:40:11,666 --> 00:40:15,100
that the Nazis had killed
a woman

533
00:40:15,100 --> 00:40:17,500
who should have grown up
to be my aunt.

534
00:40:22,100 --> 00:40:23,933
-The transformation in,
I think,

535
00:40:23,933 --> 00:40:26,600
American Jewish awareness
of Holocaust

536
00:40:26,600 --> 00:40:29,933
and the breakthrough
of Elie's recognition

537
00:40:29,933 --> 00:40:33,466
came at the Six-Day War.

538
00:40:33,466 --> 00:40:35,400
Everybody was convinced
the Holocaust is

539
00:40:35,400 --> 00:40:37,800
about to occur again.

540
00:40:37,800 --> 00:40:41,333
-With the success
of the "Holocaust" TV show,

541
00:40:41,333 --> 00:40:44,500
suddenly you could teach
the Holocaust in schools, right?

542
00:40:44,500 --> 00:40:47,700
It could be part
of the curriculum.

543
00:40:47,700 --> 00:40:49,800
-Prior to the '70s, '80s,

544
00:40:49,800 --> 00:40:52,533
survivors were
not encouraged to talk about

545
00:40:52,533 --> 00:40:54,466
what they endured.

546
00:40:54,466 --> 00:40:57,633
And Elie was perhaps the first
person to encourage them.

547
00:41:00,300 --> 00:41:04,433
-No one has taught us more
than Elie Wiesel.

548
00:41:04,433 --> 00:41:06,233
His life is testimony

549
00:41:06,233 --> 00:41:09,166
that the human spirit endures
and prevails.

550
00:41:09,166 --> 00:41:13,733
Memory can fail us, for it can
fade as the generations change.

551
00:41:13,733 --> 00:41:15,933
But Elie Wiesel has helped
make the memory

552
00:41:15,933 --> 00:41:19,600
of the Holocaust eternal.

553
00:41:19,600 --> 00:41:24,666
Elie, we present you
with this medal

554
00:41:24,666 --> 00:41:29,300
as an expression of our
gratitude for your life's work.

555
00:41:29,300 --> 00:41:30,966
[ Applause ]

556
00:41:33,533 --> 00:41:36,966
-Elie was awarded
the Congressional Gold Medal.

557
00:41:36,966 --> 00:41:38,433
What happened the week

558
00:41:38,433 --> 00:41:40,066
that Elie was going to receive
the medal

559
00:41:40,066 --> 00:41:42,200
was the whole uproar
about Bitburg.

560
00:41:42,200 --> 00:41:45,833
Reagan was going to go
to Germany for a state visit,

561
00:41:45,833 --> 00:41:48,433
and he was asked
by President Kohl

562
00:41:48,433 --> 00:41:51,366
to visit a cemetery
of German soldiers.

563
00:41:51,366 --> 00:41:54,433
And it turns out that there were
Waffen-SS soldiers buried

564
00:41:54,433 --> 00:41:57,000
in that cemetery.

565
00:41:57,000 --> 00:42:01,366
And so this got a
tremendous amount of publicity.

566
00:42:01,366 --> 00:42:06,600
-The Holocaust must
never be forgotten by any of us.

567
00:42:06,600 --> 00:42:10,566
And in not forgetting it,
we should make it clear

568
00:42:10,566 --> 00:42:12,066
that we're determined

569
00:42:12,066 --> 00:42:15,333
the Holocaust
must never take place again.

570
00:42:17,100 --> 00:42:21,166
I think that -- I think
that it would be very hurtful,

571
00:42:21,166 --> 00:42:23,333
and all it would do
is leave me looking

572
00:42:23,333 --> 00:42:28,866
as if I caved in in the face
of some unfavorable attention.

573
00:42:28,866 --> 00:42:32,666
I think that there's
nothing wrong with visiting

574
00:42:32,666 --> 00:42:34,700
that cemetery
where those young men

575
00:42:34,700 --> 00:42:37,033
are victims of Nazi-ism also.

576
00:42:37,033 --> 00:42:40,000
Even though they were
fighting in the German uniform,

577
00:42:40,000 --> 00:42:41,733
drafted into service

578
00:42:41,733 --> 00:42:47,666
to carry out the hateful wishes
of -- of the Nazis,

579
00:42:47,666 --> 00:42:50,166
they were victims
just as surely as the victims

580
00:42:50,166 --> 00:42:52,133
in the concentration camps.

581
00:42:52,133 --> 00:42:58,766
And I feel that there's much
to be gained from this

582
00:42:58,766 --> 00:43:01,066
and in strengthening
our relationship

583
00:43:01,066 --> 00:43:04,300
with the German people who,
believe me,

584
00:43:04,300 --> 00:43:06,533
live in constant penance --

585
00:43:06,533 --> 00:43:08,966
All these who have come
along in these later years

586
00:43:08,966 --> 00:43:11,400
for what their predecessors did

587
00:43:11,400 --> 00:43:15,266
and for which
they are very ashamed.

588
00:43:15,266 --> 00:43:18,733
-We were in a hotel room
in Washington.

589
00:43:18,733 --> 00:43:21,400
There for the event,

590
00:43:21,400 --> 00:43:25,500
and one of the other...

591
00:43:25,500 --> 00:43:32,466
Many of the important leaders
of the Jewish organizations

592
00:43:32,466 --> 00:43:34,100
came to see Elie.

593
00:43:34,100 --> 00:43:36,900
They came to the room
in the hotel

594
00:43:36,900 --> 00:43:38,900
and they pleaded with Elie.

595
00:43:38,900 --> 00:43:43,966
They didn't want him to go
against the president's wishes,

596
00:43:43,966 --> 00:43:48,266
and they felt that it was
better to...

597
00:43:48,266 --> 00:43:52,066
leave things unsaid.

598
00:43:52,066 --> 00:43:54,500
-Do we have a...
-We have about five minutes.

599
00:43:54,500 --> 00:43:58,133
-Well, why don't we take
some chairs over here?

600
00:43:58,133 --> 00:44:00,600
-Where would you like to sit?

601
00:44:58,833 --> 00:45:01,133
-Well, I think that we're
all the victims right now

602
00:45:01,133 --> 00:45:03,300
of a lack of understanding.

603
00:45:03,300 --> 00:45:06,433
And let me be clear
what is taking place.

604
00:45:06,433 --> 00:45:08,300
I'll have to say

605
00:45:08,300 --> 00:45:11,666
that I've always believed
forgiveness is divine,

606
00:45:11,666 --> 00:45:15,066
but I don't think I'm ever going
to be able to forgive the press

607
00:45:15,066 --> 00:45:18,033
for their handling of this,
what they've done.

608
00:45:29,933 --> 00:45:34,100
And I did not mean when
I said they were victims, too,

609
00:45:34,100 --> 00:45:39,500
that their experience in any way
was parallel to yours.

610
00:45:39,500 --> 00:45:43,300
I simply meant that I think
everyone who died in that war

611
00:45:43,300 --> 00:45:48,333
on all sides
were victims of the Nazi terror,

612
00:45:48,333 --> 00:45:51,233
the horror that
that man loosed on the world.

613
00:45:56,766 --> 00:45:59,200
And as a matter of fact,
he made a personal visit.

614
00:45:59,200 --> 00:46:01,166
And as you know,

615
00:46:01,166 --> 00:46:05,233
the tombstones there are
flush with the ground.

616
00:46:05,233 --> 00:46:10,100
And it had snowed, and he,
in good faith, said,

617
00:46:10,100 --> 00:46:14,833
"No, there are -- there are
no SS in the cemetery."

618
00:46:14,833 --> 00:46:16,866
-Well, I think it's safe to say

619
00:46:16,866 --> 00:46:21,166
that the president's remarks
on his entire trip in Germany

620
00:46:21,166 --> 00:46:27,100
will draw a distinction between
the German soldier and the SS,

621
00:46:27,100 --> 00:46:31,833
and that he will in no way
condemn, I mean, approve

622
00:46:31,833 --> 00:46:36,733
or say any kind of approving
word regarding SS,

623
00:46:36,733 --> 00:46:40,266
Nazis or the Third Reich.

624
00:46:40,266 --> 00:46:42,500
-In order
to diminish the publicity,

625
00:46:42,500 --> 00:46:45,266
the White House set
the stage in a small room

626
00:46:45,266 --> 00:46:47,266
instead of the larger room,

627
00:46:47,266 --> 00:46:48,666
because they didn't want
the publicity

628
00:46:48,666 --> 00:46:52,300
of Elie receiving the medal
and what he might say.

629
00:46:52,300 --> 00:46:55,866
It turns out their plans
didn't work out

630
00:46:55,866 --> 00:47:00,500
because NBC broadcast
Elie's speech live.

631
00:47:00,500 --> 00:47:02,400
-First,
give this medal to my son.

632
00:47:02,400 --> 00:47:05,133
[ Camera shutters clicking ]

633
00:47:05,133 --> 00:47:07,033
[ Applause ]

634
00:47:11,066 --> 00:47:13,400
I am grateful to you
for the medal,

635
00:47:13,400 --> 00:47:16,100
but this medal is
not mine alone.

636
00:47:16,100 --> 00:47:18,100
It belongs to all those

637
00:47:18,100 --> 00:47:22,200
who remember what SS killers
have done to their victims.

638
00:47:22,200 --> 00:47:26,700
It was given to me by the
American people for my writings,

639
00:47:26,700 --> 00:47:29,933
teaching and for my testimony.

640
00:47:29,933 --> 00:47:32,866
While I feel responsible
for the living,

641
00:47:32,866 --> 00:47:36,300
I feel equally responsible
to the dead.

642
00:47:36,300 --> 00:47:39,700
Their memory dwells
in my memory.

643
00:47:39,700 --> 00:47:43,200
40 years ago,
a young man awoke

644
00:47:43,200 --> 00:47:45,433
and he found himself
an orphan in an orphaned world.

645
00:47:45,433 --> 00:47:48,533
What have I learned
in the last 40 years?

646
00:47:48,533 --> 00:47:50,133
Small things.

647
00:47:50,133 --> 00:47:52,433
I learned the perils
of language

648
00:47:52,433 --> 00:47:54,500
and those of silence.

649
00:47:54,500 --> 00:47:56,533
I learned
that in extreme situations,

650
00:47:56,533 --> 00:48:01,566
when human lives and dignity are
at stake, neutrality is a sin.

651
00:48:01,566 --> 00:48:05,466
It helps the killers,
not the victims.

652
00:48:05,466 --> 00:48:08,733
But I've also learned that
suffering confers no privileges.

653
00:48:08,733 --> 00:48:11,800
It all depends what one does
with it.

654
00:48:11,800 --> 00:48:14,766
And this is why survivors of
whom you spoke, Mr. President,

655
00:48:14,766 --> 00:48:17,933
have tried to teach
their contemporaries

656
00:48:17,933 --> 00:48:21,200
how to build on ruins,

657
00:48:21,200 --> 00:48:25,800
how to invent hope
in a world that offers none,

658
00:48:25,800 --> 00:48:29,200
how to proclaim faith
to a generation

659
00:48:29,200 --> 00:48:33,000
that has seen it shamed
and mutilated.

660
00:48:33,000 --> 00:48:35,033
We believe
that memory is the answer.

661
00:48:35,033 --> 00:48:38,300
Perhaps the only answer.

662
00:48:38,300 --> 00:48:41,800
Mr. President,
I wouldn't be the person I am,

663
00:48:41,800 --> 00:48:46,500
and you wouldn't respect me
for what I am

664
00:48:46,500 --> 00:48:49,500
if I were not to tell
you also of the sadness

665
00:48:49,500 --> 00:48:53,366
that is in my heart for what
happened during the last week.

666
00:48:53,366 --> 00:48:59,200
And I am sure that you, too,
are sad for the same reasons.

667
00:48:59,200 --> 00:49:05,300
Our tradition commands us
"to speak truth to power."

668
00:49:05,300 --> 00:49:07,066
So may I speak to you,

669
00:49:07,066 --> 00:49:10,633
Mr. President,
with respect and admiration.

670
00:49:10,633 --> 00:49:13,733
For I know of your commitment
to humanity,

671
00:49:13,733 --> 00:49:16,433
and therefore I am convinced,

672
00:49:16,433 --> 00:49:19,066
as you have told us earlier
when we spoke,

673
00:49:19,066 --> 00:49:20,966
that you were
not aware of the presence

674
00:49:20,966 --> 00:49:23,300
of SS graves
in the Bitburg cemetery.

675
00:49:23,300 --> 00:49:25,933
Of course you didn't know.

676
00:49:25,933 --> 00:49:28,900
But now we all are aware.

677
00:49:28,900 --> 00:49:32,766
May I, Mr. President,
if it's possible at all,

678
00:49:32,766 --> 00:49:36,233
implore you to do
something else?

679
00:49:36,233 --> 00:49:41,766
To find a way, to find
another way, another site.

680
00:49:41,766 --> 00:49:46,100
That place, Mr. President,
is not your place.

681
00:49:46,100 --> 00:49:49,700
Your place is
with the victims of the SS.

682
00:49:49,700 --> 00:49:53,233
We know there are political
and strategic reasons.

683
00:49:53,233 --> 00:49:57,633
But this issue, as all issues
related to that awesome event,

684
00:49:57,633 --> 00:50:01,233
transcends politics
and diplomacy.

685
00:50:01,233 --> 00:50:03,766
The issue here is not politics,

686
00:50:03,766 --> 00:50:08,100
but good and evil,
and we must never confuse them

687
00:50:08,100 --> 00:50:13,433
for I have seen the SS at work
and I have seen their victims.

688
00:50:13,433 --> 00:50:16,633
But, Mr. President, I know
and I understand we all do,

689
00:50:16,633 --> 00:50:20,266
that you seek reconciliation
and so do I.

690
00:50:20,266 --> 00:50:22,400
So do we.

691
00:50:22,400 --> 00:50:25,100
And I, too, wish
to attain truly conciliation

692
00:50:25,100 --> 00:50:28,033
with the German people.

693
00:50:28,033 --> 00:50:31,200
I do not believe in
collective guilt,

694
00:50:31,200 --> 00:50:34,133
nor in collective
responsibility.

695
00:50:34,133 --> 00:50:38,500
Only the killers were guilty.

696
00:50:38,500 --> 00:50:41,700
Their sons and daughters
are not.

697
00:50:41,700 --> 00:50:44,266
And I believe, Mr. President,

698
00:50:44,266 --> 00:50:48,900
that we can and
we must work together with them

699
00:50:48,900 --> 00:50:50,800
and with all people.

700
00:50:50,800 --> 00:50:53,866
And we must work
to bring peace and understanding

701
00:50:53,866 --> 00:50:56,800
to a tormented world that,

702
00:50:56,800 --> 00:51:01,700
as you know,
is still awaiting redemption.

703
00:51:04,300 --> 00:51:06,233
[ Applause ]

704
00:51:09,500 --> 00:51:12,800
-Elie told me
that after his speech,

705
00:51:12,800 --> 00:51:16,800
Elie thought that he
might have convinced Reagan

706
00:51:16,800 --> 00:51:20,033
until George Bush came up to him

707
00:51:20,033 --> 00:51:23,700
and said, "So you'll --
So you'll go with us."

708
00:51:23,700 --> 00:51:25,000
-Speakes just announced

709
00:51:25,000 --> 00:51:26,066
that the president
would go to Bergen-Belsen

710
00:51:26,066 --> 00:51:27,900
and he will go to Bitburg.

711
00:51:27,900 --> 00:51:29,666
So apparently your plea has
not at least

712
00:51:29,666 --> 00:51:31,666
immediately been answered.

713
00:51:31,666 --> 00:51:33,533
Does that surprise you?

714
00:51:33,533 --> 00:51:35,866
-No.

715
00:51:35,866 --> 00:51:38,700
I said earlier I'm romantic.
You know, I'm a big romantic.

716
00:51:38,700 --> 00:51:42,100
I thought that since
I will make this plea to him,

717
00:51:42,100 --> 00:51:44,366
I implore him,

718
00:51:44,366 --> 00:51:48,266
that he will get up and say,
"Okay."

719
00:51:48,266 --> 00:51:49,766
-You didn't really
expect that.

720
00:51:49,766 --> 00:51:52,966
-Mr. Wiesel, what you did today
was really quite extraordinary.

721
00:51:52,966 --> 00:51:54,666
On nationwide television,

722
00:51:54,666 --> 00:51:56,466
in effect giving
the president something

723
00:51:56,466 --> 00:51:58,200
of a moral lecture here.

724
00:51:58,200 --> 00:52:00,133
What were your thoughts
about doing that?

725
00:52:00,133 --> 00:52:02,366
-I am not a moralist.
I'm a teacher.

726
00:52:02,366 --> 00:52:04,200
I'm not a politician.
That's my strength.

727
00:52:04,200 --> 00:52:06,000
-You were giving him a lesson.

728
00:52:06,000 --> 00:52:09,466
-No. I told him a story.
I'm a storyteller.

729
00:52:09,466 --> 00:52:13,800
-He made people think about
what they were here for

730
00:52:13,800 --> 00:52:17,466
and what was important
and what was not.

731
00:52:17,466 --> 00:52:22,366
He was able to translate it
into terms that touched people.

732
00:52:29,466 --> 00:52:32,800
[ Indistinct conversations,
camera shutters clicking ]

733
00:52:32,800 --> 00:52:38,333
-Dear Elie Wiesel,
we have been told

734
00:52:38,333 --> 00:52:41,900
that you said when your son
was born

735
00:52:41,900 --> 00:52:44,166
that you felt sorry for him

736
00:52:44,166 --> 00:52:49,233
coming
into this ugly and evil world.

737
00:52:49,233 --> 00:52:54,433
After a second thought, however,
you drew a different conclusion.

738
00:52:54,433 --> 00:52:58,733
Thinking of yourself
as a link in a long,

739
00:52:58,733 --> 00:53:01,933
long chain of generations.

740
00:53:01,933 --> 00:53:06,733
I think it would be appropriate
that your son,

741
00:53:06,733 --> 00:53:10,866
with such a precious burden
on his shoulders,

742
00:53:10,866 --> 00:53:13,600
should follow you up
to the podium

743
00:53:13,600 --> 00:53:16,900
when you receive
the Peace Prize.

744
00:53:16,900 --> 00:53:18,200
[ Applause ]

745
00:53:18,200 --> 00:53:21,466
-It was a very,
very exciting time.

746
00:53:21,466 --> 00:53:23,433
But everybody reacted
differently.

747
00:53:23,433 --> 00:53:26,166
They asked Elisha at the time --

748
00:53:26,166 --> 00:53:30,300
In 1986, he was 14.

749
00:53:30,300 --> 00:53:32,933
They said,
"How does it affect you?"

750
00:53:32,933 --> 00:53:37,033
And his answer was,
"My allowance will increase."

751
00:53:37,033 --> 00:53:38,866
That's it.

752
00:53:38,866 --> 00:53:44,400
-I had realized
as a young person at age 14,

753
00:53:44,400 --> 00:53:49,133
that my identity was
very much viewed as being

754
00:53:49,133 --> 00:53:51,033
in the shadow of my father.

755
00:53:51,033 --> 00:53:53,300
For me, it was just
the epitome of everything

756
00:53:53,300 --> 00:53:55,866
I didn't want,
being known further

757
00:53:55,866 --> 00:53:59,133
as just an appendage
to my father.

758
00:53:59,133 --> 00:54:03,266
It's 3:35 in the morning
on his birthday, 1990.

759
00:54:03,266 --> 00:54:05,966
"Dear Dad, I'm writing this
letter at a rather late hour.

760
00:54:05,966 --> 00:54:08,700
I went with a friend to see
a hard-core band,

761
00:54:08,700 --> 00:54:10,600
the Circle Jerks,
play at the Ritz.

762
00:54:10,600 --> 00:54:11,933
The slam dancing was rough

763
00:54:11,933 --> 00:54:13,200
and there were some people
who got hurt.

764
00:54:13,200 --> 00:54:14,700
Nothing too serious.

765
00:54:14,700 --> 00:54:16,566
All the injuries were
unintended.

766
00:54:16,566 --> 00:54:19,366
The dance is a violent one,
and these things happen.

767
00:54:19,366 --> 00:54:21,333
I know you don't
want to accept any such analogy,

768
00:54:21,333 --> 00:54:24,300
but to some extent,
I feel it is applicable to us.

769
00:54:24,300 --> 00:54:26,900
We are driven
in different directions,

770
00:54:26,900 --> 00:54:28,733
as no two dancers can
ever be going

771
00:54:28,733 --> 00:54:30,700
in the exact same direction.

772
00:54:30,700 --> 00:54:32,300
We both get injured
from time to time,

773
00:54:32,300 --> 00:54:34,300
even by each other,

774
00:54:34,300 --> 00:54:36,766
and yet we both get up a bit
dazed and rejoin the dance.

775
00:54:36,766 --> 00:54:39,800
Our love is stronger than the
occasional injuries which occur.

776
00:54:39,800 --> 00:54:41,833
I love you always, I miss you.

777
00:54:41,833 --> 00:54:44,366
I never wanted to hurt you
and never will,

778
00:54:44,366 --> 00:54:48,366
despite whatever I do
with my life. Elisha."

779
00:54:52,133 --> 00:54:56,900
Uh, so here's one
that he wrote to me in 1991.

780
00:54:56,900 --> 00:54:59,300
He wrote this
in an Israeli bunker

781
00:54:59,300 --> 00:55:03,733
as the Scuds were falling
during Gulf War one.

782
00:55:03,733 --> 00:55:06,566
And this letter was
actually in a sealed envelope

783
00:55:06,566 --> 00:55:07,933
at the time that he passed.

784
00:55:07,933 --> 00:55:09,733
My mom discovered it.

785
00:55:09,733 --> 00:55:12,966
These were his sort of last
words to me, in case

786
00:55:12,966 --> 00:55:16,433
he never got another chance
to tell me what was on his mind.

787
00:55:16,433 --> 00:55:19,066
And he says, "My dear Elisha,

788
00:55:19,066 --> 00:55:22,166
if you promise not to be angry,
I will tell you something:

789
00:55:22,166 --> 00:55:24,500
I love you.

790
00:55:24,500 --> 00:55:26,466
Should anything happen to me
in Israel,

791
00:55:26,466 --> 00:55:28,666
I hope you will remember
at least some of the things

792
00:55:28,666 --> 00:55:31,633
I tried to share with you.

793
00:55:31,633 --> 00:55:35,033
Remember my father,
after whom you have been named."

794
00:55:37,133 --> 00:55:40,533
"Remember that you are a Jew.

795
00:55:40,533 --> 00:55:43,200
Remember that even within
the doubt, there is a God,

796
00:55:43,200 --> 00:55:45,366
the God of Israel.

797
00:55:45,366 --> 00:55:46,633
Take care of yourself.

798
00:55:46,633 --> 00:55:50,533
You have been and remain
the center of my life.

799
00:55:50,533 --> 00:55:54,733
With infinite love,
your father."

800
00:55:54,733 --> 00:55:57,533
-For Elisha
and for me as well,

801
00:55:57,533 --> 00:56:03,166
having babies has been
that process of coming back

802
00:56:03,166 --> 00:56:07,300
to ourselves and our centers
and our

803
00:56:07,300 --> 00:56:13,100
our upbringings, our...faith.

804
00:56:26,366 --> 00:56:29,666
-What memories do you have
of your grandfather?

805
00:56:29,666 --> 00:56:33,733
-Okay.
I remember in his study

806
00:56:33,733 --> 00:56:35,633
when I was little, he --

807
00:56:35,633 --> 00:56:38,866
Every morning, he and I would
both wake up early.

808
00:56:38,866 --> 00:56:41,400
And in the mornings,
he'd go up to his study

809
00:56:41,400 --> 00:56:43,300
and he'd put on his tefillin,

810
00:56:43,300 --> 00:56:46,033
and I would just stand
outside his study,

811
00:56:46,033 --> 00:56:48,500
opening and closing the doors.

812
00:56:48,500 --> 00:56:52,000
-Sometimes it feels like
there's so much pressure on me

813
00:56:52,000 --> 00:56:57,600
to be like my dad
and my grandpa.

814
00:56:57,600 --> 00:56:59,533
-I definitely agree.

815
00:56:59,533 --> 00:57:03,100
Um, I...

816
00:57:03,100 --> 00:57:04,233
-Wow.

817
00:57:04,233 --> 00:57:06,700
-Wow. So...
-100%.

818
00:57:06,700 --> 00:57:10,900
-The two things
Elie asked of Elisha

819
00:57:10,900 --> 00:57:15,166
were that he marry
a Jewish woman

820
00:57:15,166 --> 00:57:18,966
and that he recite Kaddish
after he passed.

821
00:57:18,966 --> 00:57:21,133
So Elisha did just that.

822
00:57:21,133 --> 00:57:23,200
But somewhere in that journey,

823
00:57:23,200 --> 00:57:28,766
Elisha realized it was
a gift for himself.

824
00:57:36,566 --> 00:57:41,800
And then gradually
Elisha started to reintroduce

825
00:57:41,800 --> 00:57:46,400
more tradition into our lives,
into his life,

826
00:57:46,400 --> 00:57:50,466
and really did
a deep dive into Judaism.

827
00:57:50,466 --> 00:57:52,333
-So are you ready
for a quick one?

828
00:57:52,333 --> 00:57:54,433
-Chess? Alright.

829
00:57:54,433 --> 00:57:56,933
-Okay, baby.

830
00:58:00,300 --> 00:58:01,633
Oh!

831
00:58:01,633 --> 00:58:03,500
-I like the
Grand Prix variation.

832
00:58:03,500 --> 00:58:06,366
-Oh.

833
00:58:06,366 --> 00:58:08,433
-That's a latke?

834
00:58:08,433 --> 00:58:10,566
-Yes.
-Doesn't look like a latke.

835
00:58:10,566 --> 00:58:13,866
-I know, but your son made it.

836
00:58:13,866 --> 00:58:15,600
-Really?
You're blaming it on me now?

837
00:58:15,600 --> 00:58:18,200
[ Laughter ]

838
00:58:18,200 --> 00:58:20,933
I told Anne
that it was your final test

839
00:58:20,933 --> 00:58:24,000
before dad would marry you,
that you had to make a latke.

840
00:58:24,000 --> 00:58:26,266
-He wouldn't have married me,
you wouldn't exist.

841
00:58:26,266 --> 00:58:28,066
-If it was --
If this was the latke.

842
00:58:28,066 --> 00:58:29,933
-Yeah.

843
00:58:29,933 --> 00:58:32,433
-It's time
to light the candles.

844
00:58:37,366 --> 00:58:40,633
-♪ Baruch atah Adonai ♪

845
00:58:40,633 --> 00:58:43,200
-I've always been
a little afraid of religion

846
00:58:43,200 --> 00:58:45,533
of any kind.

847
00:58:45,533 --> 00:58:48,100
I know that I was
always afraid of anything

848
00:58:48,100 --> 00:58:52,300
that compromised one's will

849
00:58:52,300 --> 00:58:57,566
and relegated it to an inferior
position to something else,

850
00:58:57,566 --> 00:59:01,033
which was religion.

851
00:59:01,033 --> 00:59:04,666
So I was a pagan in the family.

852
00:59:04,666 --> 00:59:08,200
-My faith is a wounded faith.

853
00:59:08,200 --> 00:59:09,700
But it's not without faith.

854
00:59:09,700 --> 00:59:11,133
My life is not without faith.

855
00:59:11,133 --> 00:59:12,866
I didn't divorce God.

856
00:59:12,866 --> 00:59:16,733
-What I think was special
about him

857
00:59:16,733 --> 00:59:22,533
was that he saw the trauma

858
00:59:22,533 --> 00:59:26,533
as something that has to lead
to moral action.

859
00:59:26,533 --> 00:59:31,366
-I swore never to be silent

860
00:59:31,366 --> 00:59:33,533
whenever and wherever

861
00:59:33,533 --> 00:59:38,500
human beings endure
suffering and humiliation.

862
00:59:38,500 --> 00:59:40,766
Human suffering anywhere

863
00:59:40,766 --> 00:59:44,800
concerns men and women
everywhere.

864
00:59:44,800 --> 00:59:49,966
And in spite of what
some extreme critics

865
00:59:49,966 --> 00:59:53,400
have said about me,

866
00:59:53,400 --> 01:00:00,066
that principle applies in my
life also to the Palestinians,

867
01:00:00,066 --> 01:00:04,133
to whose plight I am sensitive,

868
01:00:04,133 --> 01:00:10,600
but whose methods I deplore
when they lead to violence.

869
01:00:10,600 --> 01:00:14,200
Violence is not the answer.

870
01:00:14,200 --> 01:00:18,766
Both the Jewish people
and the Palestinian people

871
01:00:18,766 --> 01:00:24,600
have lost too many sons
and shed too much blood.

872
01:00:24,600 --> 01:00:26,766
This must stop.

873
01:00:26,766 --> 01:00:31,566
-He didn't want to criticize
Israel under any circumstance.

874
01:00:31,566 --> 01:00:34,266
He didn't want to criticize
the occupation.

875
01:00:34,266 --> 01:00:38,566
He didn't want to criticize
the settlers.

876
01:00:38,566 --> 01:00:40,766
He may not have agreed
with them,

877
01:00:40,766 --> 01:00:45,900
but he didn't want to criticize
them...ever.

878
01:00:45,900 --> 01:00:48,233
-And we have learned
that when people suffer,

879
01:00:48,233 --> 01:00:51,033
we cannot remain indifferent.

880
01:00:51,033 --> 01:00:54,933
And, Mr. President,
I cannot not tell you something.

881
01:00:54,933 --> 01:01:01,366
I have been in
the former Yugoslavia last fall.

882
01:01:01,366 --> 01:01:03,966
I cannot sleep since.

883
01:01:03,966 --> 01:01:05,766
We must do something

884
01:01:05,766 --> 01:01:08,000
to stop the bloodshed
in that country.

885
01:01:08,000 --> 01:01:09,300
[ Cheers and applause ]

886
01:01:09,300 --> 01:01:12,466
-The number-one lesson
that I learned from him

887
01:01:12,466 --> 01:01:19,033
was your suffering...is
not what defines you,

888
01:01:19,033 --> 01:01:20,433
but it informs you.

889
01:01:20,433 --> 01:01:22,500
It can shape you,

890
01:01:22,500 --> 01:01:27,733
and then it's your job to make
it the best tool that you can.

891
01:01:27,733 --> 01:01:32,866
-If you had to summarize
the greatest offering

892
01:01:32,866 --> 01:01:36,233
that you've been
able to give your students,

893
01:01:36,233 --> 01:01:38,033
what would that be?

894
01:01:38,033 --> 01:01:40,500
-I came up with a formula.

895
01:01:40,500 --> 01:01:41,733
I'm not sure it's always good,

896
01:01:41,733 --> 01:01:45,700
but I said simply, look,
whatever you do in life,

897
01:01:45,700 --> 01:01:50,666
remember, think higher
and feel deeper.

898
01:01:50,666 --> 01:01:52,200
-The last day of a semester,

899
01:01:52,200 --> 01:01:53,566
a student asked
Professor Wiesel,

900
01:01:53,566 --> 01:01:57,600
"Professor, can you show us
the number on your arm?"

901
01:01:57,600 --> 01:02:00,833
And there was dead silence
in the room,

902
01:02:00,833 --> 01:02:02,266
and without a word,

903
01:02:02,266 --> 01:02:04,033
he took off his jacket
and rolled up his sleeve

904
01:02:04,033 --> 01:02:06,233
and showed the number on his arm
to the class.

905
01:02:06,233 --> 01:02:09,933
There were about 65 or 70
students in the class.

906
01:02:09,933 --> 01:02:13,333
And in silence, he rolled his
sleeve back down and buttoned it

907
01:02:13,333 --> 01:02:18,100
and put his jacket back on
and said, "Next question."

908
01:02:18,100 --> 01:02:21,766
-I do not believe that
there are, that there could be,

909
01:02:21,766 --> 01:02:25,833
or even there should be novels
about the Holocaust.

910
01:02:25,833 --> 01:02:31,466
Either a novel is a novel
or it is not.

911
01:02:31,466 --> 01:02:34,633
And when it is about
the Holocaust, it is not.

912
01:03:01,133 --> 01:03:05,066
-He developed
very strong relationships

913
01:03:05,066 --> 01:03:07,166
with all of his students.

914
01:03:07,166 --> 01:03:09,866
I saw them being transformed.

915
01:03:09,866 --> 01:03:11,766
-Part of what
we had to do each semester

916
01:03:11,766 --> 01:03:15,933
was you would choose
a book from the -- the list

917
01:03:15,933 --> 01:03:20,700
of texts that you're reading
and you would present.

918
01:03:20,700 --> 01:03:22,733
You would give a little
wee presentation on the book,

919
01:03:22,733 --> 01:03:24,266
you know, that week.

920
01:03:24,266 --> 01:03:25,633
And everybody was always
super nervous about it.

921
01:03:25,633 --> 01:03:28,433
-When I got up
to give the presentation

922
01:03:28,433 --> 01:03:32,200
and I was talking about this
character who had very dark skin

923
01:03:32,200 --> 01:03:38,200
and those things, I realized
how much it, like, affected me.

924
01:03:38,200 --> 01:03:39,900
And in the moment
that it was in the class,

925
01:03:39,900 --> 01:03:42,633
I broke out into tears.

926
01:03:42,633 --> 01:03:45,266
Because that space was open

927
01:03:45,266 --> 01:03:49,400
to talk about memory, right,

928
01:03:49,400 --> 01:03:51,466
and to talk about things
like trauma,

929
01:03:51,466 --> 01:03:55,133
people were open.

930
01:03:55,133 --> 01:03:58,766
-Remember the enemy.

931
01:03:58,766 --> 01:04:04,500
And that is an attitude
which is a very strong attitude.

932
01:04:04,500 --> 01:04:07,600
Imagine the victim
simply saying to the torturer,

933
01:04:07,600 --> 01:04:09,366
"Look, you can do
whatever you want,

934
01:04:09,366 --> 01:04:13,666
but I will remember you."

935
01:04:13,666 --> 01:04:17,600
This is what frightens
the enemy most usually.

936
01:04:17,600 --> 01:04:19,566
Nothing frightens enemy more.

937
01:04:19,566 --> 01:04:21,433
To be vanquished, okay.

938
01:04:21,433 --> 01:04:23,333
Vanquished today.

939
01:04:23,333 --> 01:04:25,233
Come back tomorrow.

940
01:04:25,233 --> 01:04:29,266
But the idea that the victim
will remember the enemy,

941
01:04:29,266 --> 01:04:33,300
the memory will remain,
that is the real punishment.

942
01:04:33,300 --> 01:04:35,500
-Memory is what makes
us civilized.

943
01:04:35,500 --> 01:04:38,300
You know, like, that is
what makes us human.

944
01:04:38,300 --> 01:04:42,933
And "never again" means
something to me.

945
01:04:42,933 --> 01:04:44,533
Right?

946
01:04:44,533 --> 01:04:47,000
It's -- That is that I have
a responsibility

947
01:04:47,000 --> 01:04:50,233
that goes beyond myself
and my beliefs,

948
01:04:50,233 --> 01:04:54,133
and that I'm a part of this...

949
01:04:54,133 --> 01:04:56,000
global community.

950
01:04:56,000 --> 01:05:00,900
-I grew up in the very
southwest part of Germany.

951
01:05:00,900 --> 01:05:03,466
And all my classmates
and myself

952
01:05:03,466 --> 01:05:07,400
were very much interested
in political questions.

953
01:05:07,400 --> 01:05:10,500
One day I met somebody
and he said,

954
01:05:10,500 --> 01:05:13,100
"Read the book 'Night'
by Elie Wiesel."

955
01:05:13,100 --> 01:05:18,166
I couldn't manage more than one
or two pages a day

956
01:05:18,166 --> 01:05:20,533
because it moved me so much.

957
01:05:20,533 --> 01:05:22,566
[ Speaking German ]

958
01:06:25,933 --> 01:06:29,100
-[ Speaking German ]

959
01:06:39,266 --> 01:06:44,900
-The fact that Elie said,
"I'm not going to be silent."

960
01:06:44,900 --> 01:06:48,433
And so much of my life,

961
01:06:48,433 --> 01:06:51,900
people tell you, this tall,

962
01:06:51,900 --> 01:06:55,033
dark-skinned Black man,
to shut up.

963
01:06:55,033 --> 01:06:57,166
That what you have to say
is not that important.

964
01:06:57,166 --> 01:06:59,633
Who you are is not important.

965
01:06:59,633 --> 01:07:04,200
And that 100-page book says,
"No, I got a story."

966
01:07:04,200 --> 01:07:07,300
-The commentary
in the Talmud is,

967
01:07:07,300 --> 01:07:12,166
if you are my witnesses,
I am God.

968
01:07:12,166 --> 01:07:15,633
If you are not, I am not.

969
01:07:15,633 --> 01:07:17,433
My God, my God,

970
01:07:17,433 --> 01:07:18,800
I want to say, no, really.

971
01:07:18,800 --> 01:07:22,500
To say that and to accept it
as part of belief,

972
01:07:22,500 --> 01:07:23,833
I give up.

973
01:07:23,833 --> 01:07:25,366
Which means, what Heschel said,
you know,

974
01:07:25,366 --> 01:07:28,000
God in quest of man,
in search of man.

975
01:07:28,000 --> 01:07:30,300
You need --
God needs human beings,

976
01:07:30,300 --> 01:07:33,933
us, little specks of dust,
to be God.

977
01:07:35,566 --> 01:07:38,400
The mystical teaching tells us
that it is possible

978
01:07:38,400 --> 01:07:43,666
for any person to bring
the Messiah to the whole world.

979
01:07:43,666 --> 01:07:45,200
And I believed it.

980
01:07:45,200 --> 01:07:48,566
I no longer believe it.

981
01:07:48,566 --> 01:07:52,066
I believe today that
it is possible for you or me

982
01:07:52,066 --> 01:07:56,533
or anyone to bring a moment,

983
01:07:56,533 --> 01:07:59,933
a messianic moment,
to each other.

984
01:07:59,933 --> 01:08:02,666
If I could simply bring
a messianic moment

985
01:08:02,666 --> 01:08:05,000
into the life of one person,

986
01:08:05,000 --> 01:08:09,333
I think that my life
would have been justified.

987
01:08:09,333 --> 01:08:12,300
"Night" is, to me,
of course, a very special book.

988
01:08:12,300 --> 01:08:15,666
It is the basis
for all the other books,

989
01:08:15,666 --> 01:08:18,333
the foundation.

990
01:08:18,333 --> 01:08:20,266
-Good afternoon,
good afternoon.

991
01:08:20,266 --> 01:08:21,533
Good afternoon.

992
01:08:25,066 --> 01:08:28,000
-I'm gonna start chapter one
of "Night" by Elie Wiesel.

993
01:08:28,000 --> 01:08:31,066
We're gonna learn
about Elie's family

994
01:08:31,066 --> 01:08:33,400
and sort of his introduction
to Judaism,

995
01:08:33,400 --> 01:08:34,833
like, who he is as a person.

996
01:08:34,833 --> 01:08:36,666
And we're gonna
slowly transition into this,

997
01:08:36,666 --> 01:08:39,666
like, ominous mood
of the Holocaust sort of brewing

998
01:08:39,666 --> 01:08:40,766
in the background.

999
01:08:40,766 --> 01:08:42,366
Let's open up to chapter one.

1000
01:08:42,366 --> 01:08:44,166
This is our five to six weeks
to really focus

1001
01:08:44,166 --> 01:08:47,700
on, um, Elie Wiesel.

1002
01:08:47,700 --> 01:08:49,600
"I met him in 1941.

1003
01:08:49,600 --> 01:08:52,900
I was almost 13
and deeply observant."

1004
01:08:52,900 --> 01:08:54,733
Raise your hand
if you're 13 in here.

1005
01:08:54,733 --> 01:08:57,166
Look at you.

1006
01:08:57,166 --> 01:09:00,333
So in a lot of ways, this is
a story that could relate to us.

1007
01:09:00,333 --> 01:09:02,100
Let's keep going.

1008
01:09:02,100 --> 01:09:05,466
Kids know that 6 million people
who were Jewish

1009
01:09:05,466 --> 01:09:06,966
died and were killed.

1010
01:09:06,966 --> 01:09:08,166
And so they have some context

1011
01:09:08,166 --> 01:09:10,333
about, like,
how Hitler came to power.

1012
01:09:10,333 --> 01:09:12,400
Um, they have some context
about what it means

1013
01:09:12,400 --> 01:09:14,633
to practice Judaism, um,

1014
01:09:14,633 --> 01:09:17,333
and some general ideas about
what the world was going through

1015
01:09:17,333 --> 01:09:19,166
around World War II.

1016
01:09:19,166 --> 01:09:21,366
-Regular, normal Germans

1017
01:09:21,366 --> 01:09:24,366
that were sophisticated
and intelligent,

1018
01:09:24,366 --> 01:09:27,633
they conformed with Hitler.

1019
01:09:27,633 --> 01:09:31,266
-6 million Jews were murdered
because of the fact

1020
01:09:31,266 --> 01:09:34,066
that they were deemed
as "genetically inferior,"

1021
01:09:34,066 --> 01:09:37,200
due to the fact that
maybe they weren't fully German

1022
01:09:37,200 --> 01:09:38,866
or that they had disabilities.

1023
01:09:38,866 --> 01:09:41,433
-How is a mood of being
in the ghettos

1024
01:09:41,433 --> 01:09:43,633
different from the mood of
children playing in the street?

1025
01:09:43,633 --> 01:09:45,500
How did the mood change
in ghettos?

1026
01:09:45,500 --> 01:09:49,333
-Back then, ghettos also
described something negative

1027
01:09:49,333 --> 01:09:53,166
that still -- they still mean
something negative

1028
01:09:53,166 --> 01:09:55,066
to this day.

1029
01:09:55,066 --> 01:09:57,600
-They're really trying to see,
"Are we similar to Wiesel?

1030
01:09:57,600 --> 01:09:59,266
Would we react in that way?

1031
01:09:59,266 --> 01:10:01,133
Can we imagine it?"
Most of us cannot.

1032
01:10:01,133 --> 01:10:04,833
How did normal people get to
this point

1033
01:10:04,833 --> 01:10:07,366
where a tragedy like this
could happen?

1034
01:10:07,366 --> 01:10:09,933
-The Nazi,
they controlled everything.

1035
01:10:09,933 --> 01:10:14,366
Everybody hearing the same thing
all at the same time.

1036
01:10:14,366 --> 01:10:17,866
So if everybody hears the
same thing all at the same time,

1037
01:10:17,866 --> 01:10:21,666
they would all think, "Oh, since
he's doing it, I should do it."

1038
01:10:21,666 --> 01:10:23,400
-People were ignorant
to the idea

1039
01:10:23,400 --> 01:10:25,166
that they were just killing
innocent people

1040
01:10:25,166 --> 01:10:26,800
that they didn't know.

1041
01:10:26,800 --> 01:10:28,433
-Most of our students
are from Newark,

1042
01:10:28,433 --> 01:10:30,166
live in Newark.

1043
01:10:30,166 --> 01:10:32,800
They come from backgrounds
that are not...

1044
01:10:32,800 --> 01:10:35,466
They've never experienced
anything like the Holocaust,

1045
01:10:35,466 --> 01:10:38,800
but the context of sort of
underbrewing tones of violence,

1046
01:10:38,800 --> 01:10:41,733
in a lot of ways, the undertones
are similar.

1047
01:10:41,733 --> 01:10:43,100
...beliefs in God.

1048
01:10:43,100 --> 01:10:45,500
How does his relationship
with his father shift?

1049
01:10:45,500 --> 01:10:48,033
-He's probably gonna
be feeling anger for being,

1050
01:10:48,033 --> 01:10:50,266
like, having to take care
of his father at 16

1051
01:10:50,266 --> 01:10:52,300
in a situation like this.

1052
01:10:52,300 --> 01:10:55,766
-I feel like everything bad that
happened made Wiesel stronger,

1053
01:10:55,766 --> 01:10:58,600
since now
he has to care for his father.

1054
01:10:58,600 --> 01:11:00,700
-I kind of disagree
when Isabelle said

1055
01:11:00,700 --> 01:11:01,966
that made him stronger
in the end,

1056
01:11:01,966 --> 01:11:04,133
that he was still broken down
emotionally.

1057
01:11:04,133 --> 01:11:07,300
-This is dehumanization
because one of the main things

1058
01:11:07,300 --> 01:11:10,500
that makes a human human
is them having the right

1059
01:11:10,500 --> 01:11:12,533
and the ability to choose.

1060
01:11:12,533 --> 01:11:15,766
-I feel like freedom is being
able to choose life or death.

1061
01:11:15,766 --> 01:11:18,266
And I feel like freedom
is being able to have an option.

1062
01:11:18,266 --> 01:11:20,600
And I feel
like you cannot define freedom.

1063
01:11:20,600 --> 01:11:23,533
So people define freedom
for themselves.

1064
01:11:23,533 --> 01:11:25,900
-God hasn't given up
on Elie yet,

1065
01:11:25,900 --> 01:11:28,933
but Elie is trying
to give up on God.

1066
01:11:28,933 --> 01:11:31,766
But God is still giving him
chances

1067
01:11:31,766 --> 01:11:34,166
and still letting him survive.

1068
01:11:34,166 --> 01:11:37,566
-It's not God.
I feel like it's more like fate.

1069
01:11:37,566 --> 01:11:40,466
-I feel as if God
didn't create the Holocaust.

1070
01:11:40,466 --> 01:11:42,966
Because I feel as if
he gives us a choice to choose.

1071
01:11:42,966 --> 01:11:45,833
So it wasn't really his fault
that the Holocaust happened.

1072
01:11:45,833 --> 01:11:47,600
-Maybe God is putting him
through this

1073
01:11:47,600 --> 01:11:51,133
to make him understand that...
that God is just not...

1074
01:11:51,133 --> 01:11:53,033
not just there to make
you happy.

1075
01:11:53,033 --> 01:11:55,833
God is there to just lead you
through life in general.

1076
01:11:55,833 --> 01:11:58,000
-What was the most impactful
part of the book for you?

1077
01:11:58,000 --> 01:12:02,100
-The most impactful part was
when his father died.

1078
01:12:02,100 --> 01:12:03,833
-This is powerful to me

1079
01:12:03,833 --> 01:12:05,566
because this is,
like, a different situation.

1080
01:12:05,566 --> 01:12:07,133
And I don't know what to expect

1081
01:12:07,133 --> 01:12:09,033
because I've never
experienced it.

1082
01:12:09,033 --> 01:12:14,366
But I feel like if I did
and I had to let go of my mom,

1083
01:12:14,366 --> 01:12:17,733
I don't even know what
I would do with myself.

1084
01:12:17,733 --> 01:12:19,500
-I feel
as if when he wrote this book,

1085
01:12:19,500 --> 01:12:22,900
he was trying
to let go of his pain,

1086
01:12:22,900 --> 01:12:27,633
so he won't have to feel
the pain of having to relive

1087
01:12:27,633 --> 01:12:30,366
those moments over
and over and over again.

1088
01:12:30,366 --> 01:12:32,066
-This isn't the same world

1089
01:12:32,066 --> 01:12:34,033
Wiesel was in
when he was younger,

1090
01:12:34,033 --> 01:12:36,466
because we even see
that change in his name.

1091
01:12:36,466 --> 01:12:39,033
Throughout the book
he's called Eliezer.

1092
01:12:39,033 --> 01:12:42,666
But as an author,
and when we're talking about him

1093
01:12:42,666 --> 01:12:46,633
in a present tense
before he passed, we say, Elie.

1094
01:12:46,633 --> 01:12:49,000
That just shows that he's now
in a different world.

1095
01:12:49,000 --> 01:12:51,100
So even though Elie is free,

1096
01:12:51,100 --> 01:12:54,233
Eliezer was never freed
from his past.

1097
01:12:54,233 --> 01:12:59,500
Elie Wiesel is free.
Eliezer is not.

1098
01:12:59,500 --> 01:13:01,266
-I love you.
-I love you, too.

1099
01:13:01,266 --> 01:13:03,833
I'll, uh,
I'll see you in eight days.

1100
01:13:13,833 --> 01:13:18,566
-Why is it that
my town still enchants me so?

1101
01:13:18,566 --> 01:13:22,300
Is it because in my memory, it
is entangled with my childhood?

1102
01:13:24,733 --> 01:13:29,233
Evil remains hidden
and time suspended.

1103
01:13:29,233 --> 01:13:32,700
In my fantasy,
I still see myself in it.

1104
01:13:38,600 --> 01:13:40,800
-In a tiny place like Sighet,

1105
01:13:40,800 --> 01:13:43,700
until 1944,
people lived together.

1106
01:13:43,700 --> 01:13:47,733
Hungarian Gendarmerie was
here, present all the time.

1107
01:13:47,733 --> 01:13:50,600
They even lived in Jewish homes.

1108
01:13:53,433 --> 01:13:57,533
And suddenly, overnight,
they became the perpetrators.

1109
01:14:00,800 --> 01:14:04,766
-I saw them with their bundles
on their shoulders.

1110
01:14:04,766 --> 01:14:09,300
The Hungarian gendarmes were
driving them mad with fear.

1111
01:14:09,300 --> 01:14:11,033
My sisters and myself,

1112
01:14:11,033 --> 01:14:14,000
we went to the well
and brought them water.

1113
01:14:19,500 --> 01:14:23,333
Then three days later,

1114
01:14:23,333 --> 01:14:24,866
I was myself among them.

1115
01:14:27,933 --> 01:14:29,233
Still am.

1116
01:14:31,300 --> 01:14:34,766
-Are most of the people
who visit Sighet as tourists

1117
01:14:34,766 --> 01:14:36,366
aware of the Jewish history,

1118
01:14:36,366 --> 01:14:37,366
or do they just come
here because...

1119
01:14:37,366 --> 01:14:39,366
-Most of them are not.

1120
01:14:39,366 --> 01:14:40,666
-Yeah.
-Most of them are not.

1121
01:14:40,666 --> 01:14:45,100
I would say that, um,
90% of them are amazed

1122
01:14:45,100 --> 01:14:47,500
that Sighet was actually
a Jewish town.

1123
01:14:47,500 --> 01:14:48,933
-Mm-hmm.

1124
01:15:04,666 --> 01:15:07,600
-Everything is the same --

1125
01:15:07,600 --> 01:15:12,100
furniture,
even the wallpaper,

1126
01:15:12,100 --> 01:15:15,933
and it is so much the same...

1127
01:15:15,933 --> 01:15:20,200
that, at times, I'm afraid...

1128
01:15:20,200 --> 01:15:23,233
that perhaps
the door might open

1129
01:15:23,233 --> 01:15:27,200
and the young boy that used
to look like me

1130
01:15:27,200 --> 01:15:30,000
will come out,

1131
01:15:30,000 --> 01:15:33,066
and he will ask me
very innocently,

1132
01:15:33,066 --> 01:15:36,633
"Tell me, what are you doing
here, stranger?

1133
01:15:36,633 --> 01:15:38,900
What are you doing in my dream,

1134
01:15:38,900 --> 01:15:40,400
in my tale?"

1135
01:15:48,833 --> 01:15:52,766
-We're looking for Eliezer,
right?

1136
01:15:52,766 --> 01:15:55,033
Because your grandfather

1137
01:15:55,033 --> 01:15:58,666
was -- was named
after his grandfather.

1138
01:16:09,266 --> 01:16:11,233
-Where?
-This one is here.

1139
01:16:11,233 --> 01:16:13,333
-That's a...

1140
01:16:13,333 --> 01:16:15,733
-Benyamin.
It's Yehuda Benyamin, you see?

1141
01:16:15,733 --> 01:16:17,133
-This is the wrong one, then.

1142
01:16:17,133 --> 01:16:18,533
-Yeah, it's not this one.

1143
01:16:24,100 --> 01:16:25,733
Oh.
-Possibly?

1144
01:16:25,733 --> 01:16:27,733
-I think that's a mem.

1145
01:16:27,733 --> 01:16:29,733
-Oh, wait.
-Eliezer.

1146
01:16:29,733 --> 01:16:32,066
-Oh, that is a lama.
-Eliezer.

1147
01:16:32,066 --> 01:16:33,600
This is Eliezer.
Yes.

1148
01:16:33,600 --> 01:16:34,933
-Okay.
-Ben.

1149
01:16:34,933 --> 01:16:37,100
-It should be Ben.
-[ Speaks Hebrew ]

1150
01:16:37,100 --> 01:16:39,266
Shalom haLevi.

1151
01:16:39,266 --> 01:16:42,100
This is i-- Yeah, this is it.
We found it.

1152
01:16:42,100 --> 01:16:44,666
This is my great
great grandfather,

1153
01:16:44,666 --> 01:16:47,366
Eliezer Lazar Wiesel haLevi.

1154
01:17:03,733 --> 01:17:05,333
Oh, wow.

1155
01:17:15,600 --> 01:17:19,966
Rav Eliezer Wiesel.

1156
01:17:19,966 --> 01:17:22,400
It's a -- I've never seen
it spelled like that,

1157
01:17:22,400 --> 01:17:25,133
but that's how it's pronounced.

1158
01:17:41,000 --> 01:17:42,300
-"I visited all the places

1159
01:17:42,300 --> 01:17:45,900
which had once filled
my landscape.

1160
01:17:45,900 --> 01:17:48,766
I searched for the people
out of my past,

1161
01:17:48,766 --> 01:17:51,633
but I did not find them.

1162
01:17:51,633 --> 01:17:58,066
The only place where I felt
at home was the Jewish cemetery.

1163
01:17:58,066 --> 01:17:59,566
This was the only place
in Sighet

1164
01:17:59,566 --> 01:18:02,633
that reminded me of Sighet.

1165
01:18:02,633 --> 01:18:06,266
I wandered from one grave
to another.

1166
01:18:06,266 --> 01:18:08,166
I had bought some candles.

1167
01:18:08,166 --> 01:18:14,366
I lit them, placing one wherever
I found a familiar name.

1168
01:18:14,366 --> 01:18:17,233
The wind blew them out

1169
01:18:17,233 --> 01:18:20,733
and suddenly tears strangled me.

1170
01:18:22,433 --> 01:18:26,566
A terrible certainty
overcame me.

1171
01:18:26,566 --> 01:18:30,200
For the town that
had once been mine

1172
01:18:30,200 --> 01:18:32,666
never was."

1173
01:18:42,133 --> 01:18:44,000
-My hometown was only famous

1174
01:18:44,000 --> 01:18:46,633
for the concentration camp
Sachsenhausen.

1175
01:18:48,800 --> 01:18:52,233
Unfortunately, there were
no Jews left.

1176
01:18:56,200 --> 01:18:58,466
"They came first
for the communists.

1177
01:18:58,466 --> 01:19:02,700
And I didn't speak up
because I wasn't a communist.

1178
01:19:02,700 --> 01:19:05,500
Then they came for the Jews.

1179
01:19:05,500 --> 01:19:10,200
And I didn't speak up
because I wasn't a Jew.

1180
01:19:10,200 --> 01:19:13,000
Then they came
for the trade unionists,

1181
01:19:13,000 --> 01:19:17,700
and I didn't speak up because
I wasn't a trade unionist.

1182
01:19:17,700 --> 01:19:19,700
Then they came for me,

1183
01:19:19,700 --> 01:19:24,266
and by that time,
no one was left to speak up."

1184
01:19:28,333 --> 01:19:33,766
I learned that Elie Wiesel had
a type of blood cancer.

1185
01:19:33,766 --> 01:19:36,633
[ Horn honks]

1186
01:19:36,633 --> 01:19:40,066
He was sent to us to participate
in a clinical trial

1187
01:19:40,066 --> 01:19:44,000
with a drug
we have never used before.

1188
01:19:45,000 --> 01:19:47,066
Hello, Dr. Lentzch speaking.

1189
01:19:47,066 --> 01:19:49,466
I had a phone call
with his son, Elisha,

1190
01:19:49,466 --> 01:19:53,766
and talking to him
for the first time

1191
01:19:53,766 --> 01:19:57,600
wasn't that easy.

1192
01:19:57,600 --> 01:20:00,333
Giving the life of his father

1193
01:20:00,333 --> 01:20:03,933
into hands
of a German doctor,

1194
01:20:03,933 --> 01:20:09,100
a drug that has
never been tested in New York.

1195
01:20:09,100 --> 01:20:13,333
He said if there is a chance
and if we have an option,

1196
01:20:13,333 --> 01:20:17,600
even if it is
an experimental treatment,

1197
01:20:17,600 --> 01:20:19,500
maybe we give it a chance.

1198
01:20:19,500 --> 01:20:23,233
But the final decision
has to be made by my father.

1199
01:20:23,233 --> 01:20:27,433
Elie Wiesel responded
very nicely,

1200
01:20:27,433 --> 01:20:30,900
but after a year,
the treatment stopped working.

1201
01:20:30,900 --> 01:20:34,000
Elisha said, "If there's
nothing else we can do,

1202
01:20:34,000 --> 01:20:35,566
then I want to take him home."

1203
01:20:35,566 --> 01:20:38,133
-I remember in the moments
after my father passed,

1204
01:20:38,133 --> 01:20:43,166
there was this --
this rush, um,

1205
01:20:43,166 --> 01:20:45,200
like my blood rushing
in my head.

1206
01:20:45,200 --> 01:20:50,500
I had to sit down because...

1207
01:20:50,500 --> 01:20:54,233
there was this voice
in my head saying

1208
01:20:54,233 --> 01:20:57,100
that my father hadn't gone
anywhere,

1209
01:20:57,100 --> 01:20:59,433
that he was with me
and always would be.

1210
01:21:04,900 --> 01:21:09,733
-I believe that life
does not end with death.

1211
01:21:12,533 --> 01:21:16,600
I feel the presence of my father
all the time.

1212
01:21:20,333 --> 01:21:23,133
The same is, of course, with
my mother and my little sister.

1213
01:21:23,133 --> 01:21:26,600
I feel their presence,

1214
01:21:26,600 --> 01:21:30,700
which means their death
had their own presence.

1215
01:21:30,700 --> 01:21:34,933
It's up for me to accept it,
and I do.

1216
01:21:34,933 --> 01:21:38,066
It doesn't mean that I
don't believe, but I don't know.

1217
01:21:38,066 --> 01:21:42,066
But between belief and
knowledge, there is an abyss.

1218
01:21:42,066 --> 01:21:46,100
But what would one be
without the other?

1219
01:21:54,700 --> 01:21:56,600
[ Singing in Hebrew ]

1220
01:21:56,600 --> 01:22:52,966
♪♪

1221
01:22:55,300 --> 01:23:46,633
♪♪