Book of Quotes

Night

Night by Elie Wiesel

A/N: This book is nonfiction, and this is not the original Wiesel wrote. The original is actually about 800 pages in Dutch I want to say, but I can't remember. These quotes comes from the shortened version he wrote that his wife translated into French and English. This second version is just over 100 pages.

A quick overview of the book. Wiesel has born in Sighet, Transylvania (Hungary). The Germans occupied Sighet and forced all the Jews into ghettos. They then became deporting them into Poland to death camps. Wiesel and his father were separated from his mother and 3 sisters. Wiesel and his father were transfered to a work camp, where they witnessed many horrors. When the Allied forces began closing in on the German front, Elie and his father were forced to endure a death march to a camp within Germany's borders. Soon after Elie's father becomes ill and dies, leaving Elie completely alone. A few weeks later American troops liberate the camp Elie is at. Years after WWII, Elie reunites with his 2 older sisters. As far as I'm aware Wiesel is still alive today, and became a proffesor.

- "To forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time."

- "Human suffering anywhere concerns men and women everywhere."

- "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 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."

- "I pray to the God within me that He will give me the strength to ask Him the right questions."

- "Then came the march past the victims. The two men were no longer alive. Their tongues were hanging out, swollen and bluish. But the third rope was still moving: the child, too light, was still breathing . . .

And so he remanined for more than half an hour, lingering between life and death, writhing before our eyes.

And we were forced to look at him at close range. He was still alive when I passed him. His tongue was still red, his eyes not yet extinguished.

Behind me, I heard the same man asking: 'For God's sake, where is God?'

And from within me, I heard a voice answer: 'Where He is? This is where -- hanging here from this gallows . . ."

- "For in the end, it is all about memory, its sources and its magnitude, and, of course, its consequences."

- "I shall always remember that smile. From what world did it come from?"

- "For the survior who chooses to testify, it is clear: his duty is to bear witness for the dead and for the living. He has no right to deprive future generations of a past that belongs to our collective memory. To forget would be not only dangerous but offensive; to forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time."

- "One more stab to the heart, one more reason to hate. One less reason to live."

- "His cold eyes stared at me. At last, he said, wearily: 'I have more faith in Hitler than in anyone else. He alone has kept his promises, all his promises, to the Jewish people.'"

- "They are commiting the greatest indignity human beings can inflict on one another: telling people who have suffered excruciating pain and loss that their pain and loss were illusions."

- "There's a long road of suffering ahead of you. But don't lose courage. You've already escaped the gravest danger: selection. So now, muster your strength, and don't lose heart. We shall all see the day of liberation. Have faith in life. Above all else, have faith. Drive out despair, and you will keep death away from yourselves. Hell is not for eternity. And now, a prayer -- or rather, a piece of advice: let there be comradeship among you. We are all brothers, and we are all suffering the same fate. The same smoke floats over our heads. Help one another. It is the only way to survive."