‘We Must Take Sides’: Mourning Elie Wiesel

Author, Human Rights Activist, Educator Who Survived Holocaust Died Saturday

I grew up in the shadow of the Holocaust. I’m a third-generation survivor; my grandparents were in the Concentration Camps and other family members were in hiding for many years. We spent Friday night Shabbat dinners sitting at my grandmother’s table listening to her stories of the war, the death marches, the escapes, and the liberation.

Growing up I read far too many books and stories about the Holocaust — or, Shoah, in Hebrew. I probably understood about half of them, but suffice it to say, the Shoah certainly wasn’t a foreign topic to me. In high school my twin brother and I went on a youth group trip to Poland and Israel. We spent our 17th birthday in Auschwitz, walking among the brick buildings that had once housed so many Jewish and other prisoners.

In college, as part of my Judaic Studies major, I had at least one or two classes on the Shoah. No matter how many new books and memoirs I read about the war over the years, Elie Wiesel’s “Night” always came back to me. I read it for the first time in fifth or sixth grade, and then again every few years after that. It seemed like every teacher used it as part of their curriculum, and it’s obvious why. More than any other Shoah memoir, “Night” is a powerful combination of emotions, storytelling and perspective. It’s hard not to be affected by its raw tales of survival — and death.

The author of Night, and many other books, Elie Wiesel, passed away last week. While many will talk of his recent days as a human rights activist, or as a story teller, or as a teacher, my memories will be stuck on one passage from “Night” that has guided me throughout life — especially as an activist and educator:

 “We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must — at that moment — become the center of the universe.” 

― Elie Wiesel, “Night“

I’m an activist because I have no choice. I speak out because, in my view, I am commanded to. It is an imperative to me. I was blessed (and privileged) to grow up in a place where free speech isn’t just a right, it’s a duty, and with a family that understands the need to be true to one’s convictions. In my mind, if I don’t speak out, especially when I have the safety to do so, what kind of a person am I? I recognize that many people don’t have the privileges I have. If I don’t use my privileges to help heal the world, they are wasted on me.

Elie Wiesel’s words have guided me for decades. There is no such thing as neutrality. We are required to make choices, to take sides, to speak up, and to do something. Sometimes it’s the smallest of actions that matter, like correcting someone when they use imporper terminology or the wrong pronoun. Sometime’s it’s bigger, like coming out. And sometimes, it’s massive. No matter how big or how small, it matters. 

Neutrality helps the oppressor. Silence equals death. We must interfere. We must take sides. We must speak out, and we must continue to make our world a better place for all people. 

May Elie Wiesel’s soul be bound up in the bonds of eternal life and may his memory be for a blessing.

Robbie Medwed is an Atlanta-based LGBTQ activist and educator. His column appears here weekly. Follow him on Twitter: @rjmedwed