Elie Wiesel was sent with his family to die
By the Germans, in the Holocaust of Hitler’s intolerance.
From Wiesel’s liberation onward, his clarion cry
Was always to prevent ‘contributory negligence:’*
He became a writer and wrote of the camp’s atrocities,
Not simply to witness man’s barbarous treatment of man,
But to awake in all a sense of responsibility
To prevent hatred’s preconditions from arising again.
Wiesel spoke of the “mystical power of memory,”** the wide
Spectrum that dreams and hope have, not on future whims,
But using the past to prevent ambivalence towards hatred,
No matter its source. He said, “We must always take sides;
Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim.
Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”***
June Edvenson 