Dublin Core
Title
Witness to a Witness
Subject
Wiesel, Elie, 1928-
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
Holocaust -- Study and teaching.
Description
Video of Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor, professor at Eckerd College, and author of the book Night.
Creator
University of South Florida Libraries, Digital Initiatives and Services.
Source
Holocaust Survivors Oral History Project
Publisher
Tampa, Fla. : University of South Florida Tampa Library.
Date
2014-02-02
Contributor
HM General Consul
USF World
Rights
[no text]
Relation
F60-00056
Format
video / mp4
Language
English
Type
Moving Image
Identifier
[no text]
Coverage
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
Moving Image Item Type Metadata
Original Format
MiniDV
Duration
2:08
Compression
MPEG-4
Producer
University of South Florida Libraries, Holocaust and Genocide Studies Center
Director
[no text]
Transcription
What we learned first of all is that the role of the witness is of absolute importance. For who is a witness, someone who says, “I was there.” Or, “I saw it.” Or “I spoke to a witness.” To become the witness to a witness is as important as to be a witness. And that is—that is, of course, a precondition, not only for memory but for education. How can one live today, for instance, without realizing that in those times, those times, the whole world was involved for good or bad. On one side, of course there were the good. On the other side there were the bad and their assistants and their collaborators. What made them to do what they did? What made an executioner be capable of—of eating a morning breakfast and lunch and then afternoon, go and kill Jewish children? And come home, speak and—and play with his children? What made him human? Because he was a human being after all? What’s it say about the humanity of the human being? Is it a—a—too much to say that in those times, it was human to be inhuman? To shoot a part of humanity? And that is the tragedy. Too easy to say, “God made us do it.” God has other things to do.