Saturday Politics : Elie Wiesel Reminded Us that Universal Holocaust Stalks Mankind

Saturday Politics -- In Memoriam. ~~~~~ The world struggled to find adequate words for the death of Elie Wiesel. The renowned Holocaust survivor and author who fought for peace, human rights and human decency, died at his home in New York on July 2 at the age of 87, a spokesman for Israel's Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem, said last Saturday. His death was confirmed in a statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Elie Wiesel was sent to Auschwitz then Buchenwald during the Holocaust. He survived to tell the story of his family being sent to the Nazi concentration camps in his first book, "Night," published in 1955. The millions who have read “Night” cannot forget his account of the concentration camps where he watched his father die of starvation and where his mother and younger sister were gassed. ~~~~~ His many works spoke to and about the human spirit. Presidents invited him to the White House to discuss human rights abuses in Bosnia, Iraq and elsewhere. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986, and the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee called him a “messenger to mankind.” The Washington Post said : "when he emerged, gaunt and near death, from Buchenwald concentration camp in 1945, there was little indication that he -- or any survivor -- would have such a presence in the world. Few survivors spoke openly about the war. Those who did often felt ignored." Long before the Washington Holocaust museum or Steven Spielberg’s “Schindler’s List,” Elie Wiesel helped the public confront the Holocaust. Holocaust scholar Deborah Lipstadt said : "The voice of the person who can speak in the first-person singular -- ‘This is my story; I was there’ -- it will be gone when the last survivor dies. But in Elie Wiesel, we had that voice with a megaphone that wasn’t matched by anyone else.” ~~~~~ When I heard that Elie Wiesel had died, I wrote to my brother the words that I then put in my PopShot to share his having passed away : "The Survivors, the eyewitnesses, are fading into history...and soon so will we who heard their story firsthand." The truth of that double loss has taken time and meditation to sink in. ~~~~~ As I have read and reread the words written about Elie Wiesel these past days, I have turned more and more to how my own life has been touched by Jewish people. The Holocaust was rarely spoken of, and always in whispers, during my youth. My grandfather, who was Greek, told me it was too evil to put into words. In our little town near Pittsburgh, which has always had a large and vibrant Jewish community, there were three Jewish merchants. For us, they weren't "Jewish" -- in my childhood, they were the nice men who fitted us with shoes and clothes. Later, after graduate school, I taught in an inner city community college in Pittsbugh, where my best friends and colleagues were two Jewish women who shared their rich culture with me. They also taught me what the Holocaust means to the Jewish people. When one of them died after battling cancer, I sobbed at her funeral for my loss. ~~~~~ Why do these thoughts flood back now? Perhaps it's my memory of the eyes of my dear, dead, friend. They were dark -- her parents came to Pittsburgh from Russia. They were penetrating in a soft warm way that said 'I know you, but don't worry, I love you.' They were wiser than any other eyes I have ever looked into. And, they were sad, but with a sparkle that said 'don't worry because I'm also happy.' ~~~~~ Dear readers, her eyes were the eyes of Elie Wiesel. He reminded us what people -- infused with life, fairness, and devotion to God -- are, or should be. On receiving his Nobel Peace Prize, Elie Wiesel wrote of his time in Paris after Buchenwald : "He makes a few friends who, like himself, believe that the memory of evil will serve as a shield against evil; that the memory of death will serve as a shield against death." He reminded us that universal holocaust stalks mankind. He did his best to warn us and prepare us for the battle. He loved us. Like my friend, Rose, Elie Wiesel makes my heart Jewish.