Editorial

May His Vigil Be Continued

Posted

With the death of Holocaust survivor and Noble laureate Elie Wiesel, the world lost a powerful moral voice who, more than anyone else, gave witness to the slaughter of six million Jews during World War II to a world that would rather forget.

In emotionally searing books, essays and speeches over more than half a century, Mr. Wiesel’s enduring testament to the horrors of the Holocaust gave meaning to the phrase “never forget” and called him to dedicate his survival to the cause of human dignity and peace.

His experiences at the Auschwitz and Buchenwald death camps were heavy burdens that haunted Mr. Wiesel for the rest of his life; yet he never let that stop him. Instead, he became a conscience for the world in struggles against other atrocities.

His 1986 Noble Peace Prize citation called him a “messenger to mankind.”

“His message is one of peace, atonement and human dignity,” it said. “His belief that the forces fighting evil in the world can be victorious is a hard-won belief.”

Indeed it is.

And it would be a testament to Mr. Wiesel’s commitment to the struggle for good over evil if more of us in this troubled world kept up his vigil.

As with many who experience disaster and crushing loss, Mr. Wiesel suffered deep anguish over his trust in a God that could allow such painful and horrific tragedies and questioned his own faith.

But while acknowledging anger at times at “His ways,” he never abandoned his belief in God and, as time went on, became more religious in his practices.

A person may be religious or not, and be with God or against God, “but not without God,” he said on the 2002 PBS special “First Person Singular.”

Mr. Wiesel, who lived in the United States for most of his life after his liberation from Buchenwald in 1945, died July 2 at age 87 in his Manhattan home. He had many admirers over the course of his long life ranging from heads of state to everyday people of many faiths and traditions.

In the archdiocese, the late Cardinal John O’Connor, who worked to improve Catholic-Jewish relations in New York and internationally and denounced anti-Semitism as a sin, deeply admired Mr. Wiesel’s moral strength and resolve.

In speeches and homilies, the cardinal often quoted from Mr. Wiesel’s works, while Mr. Wiesel called the cardinal “a good Christian” and a man “who understands our pain.”

A 1990 televised dialogue between the two was later released in book form as “A Journey of Faith.” In 1998, when Mr. Wiesel was honored with the prestigious Rabbi Marc H. Tanenbaum Award for the Advancement of Interreligious Understanding, Cardinal O’Connor was the presenter.

Mr. Wiesel let some time pass before putting his Holocaust experiences into written form. He first became known with his haunting memoir “Night,” which recounts his experience with his sick and dying father at Buchenwald and was released in English in 1960.

And while the Holocaust and anti-Semitism remained his main focus, he later also spoke out against apartheid in South Africa, victims of Argentina’s “dirty war,” the Bosnian victims of genocide in the former Yugoslavia and many other human rights causes.

We join with others around the world in mourning the loss of such a compelling force for good in a troubled world; at the same time, we thank God for the gift of his life and pray that his message will continue to be heard.