Before I get started, I want to say that I am going try my hardest not to turn this memorial into a political article, but I’m a Political Science Major, so we’ll see how this goes. I would also like to warn that some of the images shared may be graphic.
Thinking on the George Santayana quote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” encourages me to talk about for a few minutes what Elie Wiesel fought his whole life for, and what we must remember as millennials becoming the most influential generation in America.
Elie Wiesel, who was a well known Holocaust survivor and writer, and died at the age of 87 this past Saturday, July 2, 2016. While many know Elie Wiesel from his famous novel, "Night," which depicts his life in Auschwitz as well as the Holocaust in general. Wiesel later won the Noble Peace Prize for his work in Night, and his continual fight to remember the six million Jews who were killed during the Holocaust.
My father was raised Jewish, and spent many of his childhood years in Israel, but it wasn’t until I was well into high school that I actually understood what happened because of Hitler and the Holocaust. While my mother is Christian, and I followed her religious path, the traditions and history of the Jewish faith, and people, I still hold true today.
I believe that it is extremely important that one knows about their history, and what their ancestors endured, and thank a lot of my knowledge to the writings and discussions from Elie Wiesel. Wiesel describing how it felt to watch both of his parents taken from him, and the relief it felt to finally be freed from Buchenwald in 1945, after the war. Just reading his recounts of the Holocaust brings the inner empathetic side out of me, and will bring most people to tears.
Holocaust Memorial Museum called Wiesel, “the International Leader of the Holocaust Remembrance Movement.” The Memorial Museum wrote in a later statement, “Through his singular moral leadership, intellect, and eloquence, he gave voice to those who had been silenced forever and devoted his life to fulfilling the promise of 'never again' for all future victims of genocide." This idea of never again is the one that really hits home with me, and can cause me to go on never ending rants.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” is one that I always remember when thinking about the Holocaust and what my ancestors and people like Elie Wiesel have gone through. It is important that we don’t let the memory, and the struggles of the millions of Jewish people that were imprisoned and killed for what they believed in die with Elie Wiesel. We cannot let his dream, and his mantra of “never again” to die, we must remember what happened during the Holocaust and to not accept or promote political leaders who will one day do the same. We must stand strong in remembrance of a man, who spent his whole life standing against genocide.
Here is Elie Wiesel’s Oprah interview from several years ago, this entire interview really brings me to tears.
