Upon his arrival at Auschwitz, one of the first sights that he would never forget was the pile of dead babies burning in the crematoria. During the Holocaust, the world knew of the terrible crimes committed by the Nazis. Although his faith in himself had been shattered, later in life Elie swore never to remain silent again and to always make his voice heard.
Otherwise, the aggressor will continue to wreak havoc, as Elie Wiesel expressed during his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, “Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented”.
Silence has its place but often an opinion has to or must be voiced. Sibelman explained how, in choosing silence, Elie and other Jewish people in the camps were deprived of their humanity which forever silenced their cries. Sibelman claimed that “this loss of identity effectively silences the image that constitutes human essence” (Sibelman 48). In the article, The Theme of Silence, Simon P. Even after he was freed from the Holocaust, his voice was forever silenced. The ability to communicate is an essential part of life but the silence dehumanized him as a person. He struggled with his silence but realized it had become his survival mechanism. He felt the guilt of that silence asking himself, “What had happened to me? My father had just been struck, in front of me, and I had not even blinked. For example, when Elie’s father, Chlomo was brutally beaten by the guards, Elie chose silence rather than to help. Elie’s continuous struggle with not speaking out caused him to lose faith in himself which shattered his pride. The fear of persecution and violence lead Elie to choose silence at times when he would have normally spoken out.
Initially, faced with the harsh reality of the treatment of the Jews in the concentration camps, Elie learned that silence offered him the greatest chance for survival. The result of this silence ultimately shaped the man Elie became. As a prisoner of the Holocaust, Elie struggled with his own silence, the silence of the world, and most importantly, the silence of God. Sibelman, the shattering of Elie’s faith in himself, mankind, and God caused by silence is expressed. In the memoir Night, in Wiesel’s Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech and in the article The Theme of Silence by Simon P. How one chooses to use that power can impact the lives of many.
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