Paige Moore Mr. Kerr & Baker English 1 0X May 20XX Title of Your Paper Holocaust: One word, nine letters, eleven million victims, two hundred and forty-five thousand survivors, six Nobel peace prizes, and only one end goal in mind. Elie Weisel was one of the select survivors who shared his story and in the end, won a Nobel Peace Prize. “Keep the memory alive. try to fight those who will forget” (Wiesel). He shines light on what is now known as one of the darkest events in history. By doing so, he educates and paints a picture of how “We could not prevent their deaths the first time, but if we forget them they will be killed a second time. And this time, it will be our responsibility”(Wiesel). Wiesel informs us that sharing memories of the past can prevent their reoccurrence and honor those…show more content… To break it down, Elie sees night as an opportunity to bear witness to the atrocities that happened, and by doing so, to make all of us witnesses as well. Schools teach the good, the bad, the highs, and the lows of history so that it can not repeat itself, essentially allowing us to learn from our mistakes. By sharing his testimonies and traumas, he is allowing the doors for understanding to open up and allow people to gain knowledge and sympathy for his experiences. A common reason for Holocaust survivors to come into the light and share their testimony is to “Bear witness for the dead and the living” (Weisel xv ) for the feeling they would be killing the dead “a second time”(Weisel xv). Not only are they doing this to bring awareness to their situation, but to also acknowledge those who have suffered and lost their lives. Similarly to how we share memories of those who died to bring remembrance, survivors share testimonies to speak for those who were
