This is a book that was recommended to me by several of my coworkers. I read it for my AP class, as several teachers before me used to use it in that class. If you want to truly know and learn about the horrors of the Holocaust, this is the book for you.
Elie Wiesel took a ten-year vow of silence before writing about what he experienced at the hands of the Nazis during World War II. Wiesel describes how the Jews in his village in Romania hoped that the war would pass them by, how they knew that something was happening to Jews in other countries, but they hoped that nothing would happen to them. Wiesel then describes being forced into ghettos, then being taken to Auschwitz, where he was separated from his mother and sisters. Wiesel describes his experiences in the camp and the ending of the war as the Jews in the camps were liberated by the Americans and Russians.
This book is chilling. There is no other way to describe it. Wiesel writes in vivid detail and describes the deep fear and sadness that he experienced at the hands of the Germans. This book is not for the faint of heart. I also think this book is essential reading. As the brutality of the Holocaust fades in time, as the remaining survivors pass away, it is essential to read this book and others like it, and remember what happened and why it mattered so much.
Wiesel went on after the war to found the American Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., and is one of the main voices behind the Holocaust remembrance movement. One of his most famous quotes reads,
"I believe firmly and profoundly that anyone who listens to a Witness becomes a Witness, so those who hear us, those who read us must continue to bear witness for us. Until now, they’re doing it with us. At a certain point in time, they will do it for all of us.”
This is part of why I think this book is essential and so powerful.
I rate this book PG-13 for the violence and stark detail. It feels dumb to give books like this stars, but I gave it ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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