Night (1955)

i want to know why do people do bad things ( )

Case 14 shelf 1

Words are insufficient to adequately describe the depth, horror, beauty, power, and impact of this book. In the book, Elie Wiesel recounts his experience as a Holocaust survivor. His experience—like that of millions of other Jews—was simply horrific.

Most of all, this book should be read by everyone to fully understand what happened in the past and avoid allowing history to repeat itself in a present or future day. In his words, Wiesel wrote this book in order to “bear witness” to what happened. “The witness has forced himself to testify. For the youth of today, for the children who will be born tomorrow. He does not want his past to become their future.”

As Wiesel said in his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech:

“And I tell him that I have tried. That I have tried to keep memory alive, that I have tried to fight those who would forget. Because if we forget, we are guilty, we are accomplices.

“And then I explained to him how naive we were, that the world did know and remain silent. And that is why I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men or women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must – at that moment – become the center of the universe.

...

“No one is as capable of gratitude as one who has emerged from the kingdom of night. We know that every moment is a moment of grace, every hour an offering; not to share them would mean to betray them. Our lives no longer belong to us alone; they belong to all those who need us desperately.”



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Elie's personal concentration camp experiences, mostly with his father. This new edition includes a foreword by Elie, an intro by the French publisher who had the courage to publish the original version, and a copy of his Nobel peace prize acceptance speech. Night is really about the darkness of humanity, focusing on Hitler's genocide and finding the strength of spirit and fortitude to overcome/prevail against hatred. ( )

Aan een verhaal als deze ga ik zeker geen rating geven, maar ik wil het boek wel aanraden om te gaan lezen.