Book Review: Time’s Echo: Music, Memory, and the Second World War

 

Time’s Echo: Music, Memory, and the Second World War 

Author: Jeremy Eichler

Publisher: Vintage Books A Division of Penguin Random House LLC, softcover, 386 pages, including: Prelude, Part I, Part II, Coda, Acknowledgements, Notes, and Index

Reviewed by Rev. Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson

Contents 

Part I contains Chapter One: Emancipating Music; Chapter Two: Dancing in the Thorns; Chapter Three: Torn Halves; Chapter Four: Beneath the Waves; Chapter Five: The Emancipation of Memory; Chapter Six: Moses in Albuquerque; Part II contains Chapter Seven: From the Other Shore; Chapter Eight: Angels of History; Chapter Nine: The Light of Final Moments; Chapter Ten: Monuments; Coda: Listening to Lost Time.

The Author 

Jeremy Eichler is a writer, scholar, critic, and educator, and served as chief classical music critic for The Boston Globe. He teaches music history and public humanities at Tuft University. He earned his PhD in modern European history at Columbia University.

Brief Observations 

In his Prelude: In the Shade of the Oak, Eichler contrasts the tragic irony of Germany’s great poet, Goethe enjoying a banquet-like breakfast in the shade of an oak tree, where the Nazis built the Buchenwald concentration camp.

Eichler also states in the Prelude: “The role of music in particular as an “unconscious chronicle”--as a witness to history and as a carrier of memory for a post-Holocaust world—is the subject of this book” (p. 7). 

The author focusses, in particular, on these four composers: Arnold Schoenberg and his A Survivor from Warsaw, Richard Strauss and his Metamorphosen, Benjamin Britten and his War Requiem, and Dmitri Shostakovich and his Babi Yar. Eichler provides some of the social, political and musical contexts that influenced these four composers and their works. He also goes into detail explaining and analyzing the four compositions, and cites other art, music, and cultural pundits, politicians, and others who commented on the four works—indeed, there are some fairly extensive citations in this volume. Eichler also personally interviewed people such as Shostakovich’s third wife. Thus a substantial amount of research went into Time’s Echo.

One of the haunting ironies Eichler underscores is that even though these four composers and their four compositions were accepted by many as part of the status quo, they were perhaps more implicitly than explicitly critiques of the status quo. 

Eichler suggests possibilities will open: “...when we attempt to hear music as culture’s memory” (p. 15). He also states: “...this book is also implicitly an argument for what I call deep listening—that is, listening with an understanding of music as time’s echo” (p. 15).

The author underscores the irony of the Jewish composer, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy popularizing German music by first conducting J.S. Bach’s Saint Matthew Passion in 1829, and later as the conductor of the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig—a post he held for the rest of his life.

Another irony, according to Eichler, was that Arnold Schoenberg, a Jew, was influenced by Richard Wagner, an anti-Semite.

Both Arnold Schoenberg and Arnold Rosé converted to Protestantism in the evangelical church on the Dorotheegasse in Vienna. In the case of Schoenberg, it was one year after a pogrom in Vienna.

During World War I, Schoenberg composed an oratorio Die Jakob sleiter (Jacob’s Ladder), which he didn’t finish. His spiritual distress during World War II led him back to this work.

In 1919, British composer John Foulds composed World Requiem for all who mourned those who died in World War I. 

In World War I, German Jews fought along with the Germans, hoping the latter would accept them as equals. Instead, the German Jews were blamed for losing the war—they were scapegoated, claiming that they undermined and sabotaged the German forces.

In 1921, Schoenberg discovered the twelve-tone method of composition. He employed dissonance, contributing to the atonal nature in his works. During the 1920s, he was widely acclaimed and became quite popular as a musician across Europe and internationally. 

Schoenberg’s opera Moses und Aron is described by Eichler and he speculates about why Schoenberg did not finish composing the music for the final act. With the growing anti-Semitism under Hitler and the Nazis in the early 1930s, Schoenberg left Germany never to return. 

According to Eichler: “Strauss composed Metamorphosen, regarded today as an iconic masterwork of twentieth-century music, between August 1944 and March 1945 for the conductor Paul Sacher’s Collegium Musicum Zürich” (p. 105). Eichler also describes the work, suggesting there are elements of mourning and: “...a direct quotation from the sublimely tragic funeral march of Beethoven’sEroica Symphony” (p. 105). 

Arnold Schoenberg had converted to Lutheranism to be accepted by Germans. However, in 1933, with the growing anti-Semitism of the Nazis, he took refuge in France, and converted to Judaism, and supported Jewish nationalism. Also in 1933, he decided to move to the U.S.A. He had, before many others, prophetically foresaw the mass destruction of the European Jews, urging them to take refuge in safe nations.

Eichler points out that some countries tried to forget the Shoah. “In the United States, Elie Wiesel’s now iconic testimony [Night] was rejected by more than fifteen publishers” (p. 159). 

The author describes the world premiere of Schoenberg’s A Survivor from Warsaw by the amateur Albuquerque Civic Orchestra, conducted by Kurt Frederick as a success, and it was actually performed twice in that concert. Eichler also discusses how Schoenberg’s score was performed, accepted and critiqued in other places.

In Eichler’s discussion of the Holocaust memorialization, he states: “Art remembers what society would like to forget. It does so uniquely in ways that link mind, heart, and spirit” (p. 174). 

The author provides some biographical information on Benjamin Britten and analyzes some of his music. Britten’s War Requiem includes World War I poetry by Wilfred Owen, and was influenced by Verdi’s Requiem. It was commissioned for the opening of the new Coventry Cathedral. Ironically, Britten was a pacifist, yet in War Requiem, he memorialized the war dead. 

When Leningrad was under siege by the Germans on the day that the Germans thought they would end the siege and occupy Leningrad, the city’s musicians played Dmitri Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony, and directed the loudspeakers toward the German troops as an act “...of both cultural pride and sonic-psychological warfare” (p. 248). 

Even though Shostakovich was an atheist and not a Jew, he included Jewish musical themes in some of his compositions.

Yevgeny Yevtushenko wrote the poem “Babi Yar,” and Shostakovich placed “Babi Yar” as his first movement of his Thirteenth Symphony. He also included other Yevtushenko poems in the score’s other movements. 

Eichler, like other compositions, describes “Babi Yar,” and how it was viewed by pundits and the Soviet government. 

Babyn Yar is the place where some 60,000 Jews and around 40,000 others were murdered by the Nazis. It has changed a few times since World War II, depending on the political ideology, as have the monuments at the site. 

Shostakovich eventually became a member of the Communist Party, yet, ironically, some viewed him as a secret dissident because of his Thirteenth Symphony.

Both Britten’s War Requiem and Shostakovich’s Babi Yar premiered in 1962, and the composers realized that they were quite similar. Both admired each other’s compositions, visited and corresponded with each other. According to Eichler: “...Britten and Shostakovich also shared a conception of a larger social mission for their art in society” (p. 271).

Perhaps it was providential that as Britten was dying in Aldeburgh, England, Leonard Bernstein was conducting the New York Philharmonic’s performance of Shostakovich’s Fourteenth Symphony,which incorporated death themes. 

In this volume, Eichler also discusses the, at times, complex and even controversial connections involving memory and monuments. 

Musicians, composers, and historians will most likely benefit the most from this volume. 

Book Review: Great Canadians

Great Canadians: Twelve Profiles of Extraordinary People 

Author: Angela Murphy

Publisher: Folklore Publishing, paperback, 142 pages, including Acknowledgements, Introduction, and Notes on Sources

Reviewed by Rev. Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson

The Author 

Angela Murphy, at the time of this volume’s publication, was, among other things, a full-time writer with an extensive and varied background in education. She held positions as a university lecturer, public school administrator and curriculum consultant before deciding to pursue a career in writing. She has written children’s books, magazine articles, and as a freelance literary reviewer for Canadian newspapers. Her previous book, Notorious Escapades, was one of the first books in the Great Canadian Stories series.

Contents

In addition to the Acknowledgements, Introduction, and Notes on Sources, there are 12 chapters. The chapters include: Chapter 1: Margaret Atwood, Chapter 2: Tommy Douglas, Chapter 3: Terry Fox, Chapter 4: Wayne Gretzky, Chapter 5: Sir John A. MacDonald, Chapter 6: Nellie McClung, Chapter 7: Marshall McLuhan, Chapter 8: Emily Murphy, Chapter 9: Lester B. Pearson, Chapter 10: Louis Riel, Chapter 11: David Suzuki, Chapter 12: Pierre Elliott Trudeau. 

In her Introduction, Murphy observed five “common threads” present in the lives of these 12 Canadians. Readers will notice that of the 12, only 3 of them are women. At the end of her Introduction, after providing a number of reasons why more women were not included in this volume, Murphy states: “If you would like to suggest names for a future book on Great Women of Canada, please forward your ideas by e-mail...” (pp. 10-11). There is, in this Great Canadian Stories series, a volume entitled Canadian Women Adventurers: Stories Of Daring & Courage, by Tamela Georgi & Lisa Wojna. 

One of the features of this volume, which yours truly appreciated was a quotation attributed to each of the “Great Canadians” at the beginning of each chapter. Margaret Atwood’s reveals the quintessential Canadian trait of doing what one does without making a fuss or drawing attention to one’s self: “I am a writer, and a reader, and that’s about it” (p. 12). Sir John A. MacDonald’s highlights his sense of humour in the face of difficulties: “Be philosophical, and if Fortune empties a chamber pot on your head, just smile and say, ‘We are having a summer shower’” (p. 45).

Brief Observations

To encourage readers of this review to read this volume, here is a tidbit from each of the 12 extraordinary people. 

In addition to being a highly acclaimed novelist, poet, and literary critic, Margaret Atwood has been a peace and social justice advocate for Amnesty International and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.

Tommy Douglas was diagnosed with osteomyelitis, and may have had his leg amputated. However, a doctor performed an experimental surgery for free, which saved Tommy’s leg. Tommy may have been highly motivated to introduce medicare in Canada because of that free surgery. 

Terry Fox’s 5376 kilometre Marathon of Hope raised $24.7 million dollars for cancer research, and his legacy lives on around the world as people in 60 countries run every year to raise money for cancer research.

In the 1980s, Wayne Gretzky won the NHL Hart Trophy every year for 8 years as most valuable player, as well as the Art Ross Trophy as NHL’s leading scorer 6 years in a row. 

In addition to Sir John A. MacDonald’s political vicissitudes, his 13 month-old son died, his first wife Isabella Clark struggled with her health and eventually died, and his daughter Mary that he had with his second wife, Susan Agnes Bernard, was physically and mentally disabled, and his law practice went bankrupt. All of these factors led him to turn to the bottle. 

Nellie McClung had a life-long passion for reducing the inequalities between girls and boys, women and men, and was one of the famous five who successfully advocated for women to gain the right to vote and be regarded as persons. In addition to being a wife, mother, teacher, and social justice advocate, Nellie was also a successful author, and the first woman to become a member of the CBC board of governors in 1936.

Marshall McLuhan was an intellectual’s intellectual. He earned a BA and PhD from the University of Cambridge, was a professor and expert on the media and communication, and became a Roman Catholic convert. 

Emily Murphy was the first woman magistrate in the British Empire, and a member of the famous five. She was also the first female on the Edmonton Hospital Board, an author who, among other things, wrote popular articles under the pen name, “Janey Canuck.” 

Lester B. Pearson was the son of a Methodist minister. He studied at Oxford University, became a lecturer at the University of Toronto, met and married one of his students, Maryon Moodie, and in addition to becoming Prime Minister of Canada, he was honoured with the Nobel Peace Prize. 

Louis Riel was a Métis spiritual and political leader. Even though Riel was regarded as a rebel and hanged as a traitor, his legacy lives on today as a hero who was a social justice advocate for his people. 

David Takayoshi Suzuki, even though being of Japanese descent, could not speak Japanese. His fishing trips, exploration of pristine forests and lakes and camping with his father most likely inspired David to learn more about the natural world and become a world-famous scientist and television personality. A long time spokesperson for environmental protection and preservation, David, along with his second wife Tara Cullis, also a scientist, created the David Suzuki Foundation. 

Pierre Elliott Trudeau, in addition to being Prime Minister of Canada, was the son of Jean-Charles Emile Trudeau, a millionaire Montréal lawyer. Pierre travelled widely around the globe. He went on a walking tour of Europe, the Middle East and Asia. 

This volume will inspire those interested in Canadian history. 

Book Review: Our Home And Treaty Land

Our Home And Treaty Land: Walking Our Creation Story

Authors: Raymond Aldred & Matthew Anderson

Publisher: Wood Lake Publishing Inc., paperback, 186 pages, including: The Authors & This Book, Prefaces, Appendices, Notes, Bibliography, and Acknowledgements

Reviewed by Rev. Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson

The Authors

Rev. Dr. Raymond Aldred is status Cree (Nêhiyawak) from Swan River Band, Treaty 8. Ray is the director of the Indigenous Studies Program at the Vancouver School of Theology and is ordained with the Anglican Church of Canada. He travels nationally and internationally giving talks on restoring or pursuing right relations, including our relationship with land. His passion is to help as many as possible hear the gospel in their heart language. Together, Ray and his wife Elaine have also helped train people to facilitate support groups for those who have suffered abuse.

Rev. Dr. Matthew R. Anderson is from Treaty 4; he is a settler-descended biblical scholar who teaches New Testament Studies and Pilgrimage Studies at Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec and at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. He was recently appointed Director of Camino Nova Scotia at the Atlantic School of Theology and is an ordained Lutheran Pastor. Matthew podcasts at Pilgrimage Stories from Up and Down the Staircase, and blogs at somethinggrand.ca and unsettledwords.com. He also teaches about the notion of the Commons or the “right to roam.” This reviewer and Matthew were members of the same Lutheran congregation many years ago. 

This volume is dedicated to the memory of the thousands of Indigenous children who were taken from their families and never made it home.

The format of this book is that of a settler-descended/Indigenous dialogue—with Rev. Dr. Aldred beginning with a chapter, and Rev. Dr. Anderson responding with a chapter. Altogether the work consists of 18 chapters. 

Brief Observations

According to Rev. Dr. Raymond Aldred, “Treaty means that your identity is bigger than just you (p. 8).” He states that those who signed Treaty in the late 19^th century thought ahead seven generations. Journeying on the land connects one with one’s ancestors and grandchildren. 

Professor Aldred in his Preface speaks of both Indigenous peoples and settler-descended Canadians living in exile because of colonization. Then he states the purpose of this book: “This book is about “being alive well,” or “journeying well,” for settler-descended Canadians, in relation to us Indigenous people (p. 9).” 

Rev. Dr. Aldred then introduces three Cree words. Pimâcihowin, meaning journeying and related to health-well-being, and it also refers to “living” and “culture.” Pimâcihowin is also linked to Indigenous wisdom and knowledge, and hence philosophy and theology—thus this word has a lot of baggage.

The Cree word “askîhk” is “land,” and means all of Creation.

The word wâhkôhtowin means living life in relation with every one and everything, it is “kinship relationality.” Land is shared and viewed as public space. Hence the European understanding of land ownership is foreign to Indigenous peoples. For Indigenous peoples the land is sacred, therefore all relationships on the land are to be sacred.

According to Rev. Dr. Anderson, oftentimes when settler-descended people like himself speak of their identity, they refer to themselves as Norwegian (etc.) Canadians, rather than being born and raised on Treaty land. 

It was on walking pilgrimages “...that eventually led (Rev. Dr. Anderson) to meeting, listening to, and learning from Indigenous activists, scholars, artists and friends, including Rev. Dr. Aldred, Richard Kotowich, and Louise Skydancer Halfe (p. 17).” His walking pilgrimages were mostly on Treaty 6 and Treaty 4 lands. 

Professor Anderson’s main purpose in co-writing this volume is stated as follows: “My part of this book is intended for others, like me, who seek right relationships to the land and to its original peoples, but don’t quite know how to begin (p. 21).” Professor Anderson also provides references to resources that can help settler-descendants to join Indigenous Peoples on water walks and walks that highlight missing murdered Indigenous women and girls, and two-spirited persons. 

According to Rev. Dr. Aldred: “Canada only exists because of the Treaties that First Nations made with Newcomers (p. 27).”

Treaties involved Sweetgrass or Smudging Ceremonies, which are extremely important for Indigenous peoples in relation to non-Indigenous peoples. In the Treaties, there are three Indigenous rights: i) peaceful existence in the land; ii) access to the land; iii) sharing the wealth of the land. According to Professor Aldred, the Treaties are sacred covenants between two peoples and the Creator, and should be renewed every year. 

Rev. Dr. Anderson refers to “settler realization” and “intentional forgetfulness.” According to Professor Anderson, “settler realization” involves facing facts—not living in denialism because it makes us uncomfortable, forgetting the responsibility of Canadians to the Treaties. Many, perhaps most Canadian families—including Anderson’s—never talked about the Treaty covenants. Tragically, non-Indigenous Canadians have all benefitted from the exploitation, oppression, and failure to honour the Treaties.

Professor Anderson recommends several resources—both Indigenous and non-Indigenous—that Canadians can learn from. He then, in confessional style, names many of the non-Indigenous sins committed against Indigenous peoples—followed by a reference to repentance, and the pilgrimage toward justice. 

Rev. Dr. Aldred cites two examples of Jesus coming to meet Indigenous Elders and a prophet named Bini or Benny. Jesus revealed to them that the Europeans were coming prior to their arrival. 

Rev. Dr. Anderson provides an insightful interpretation of Mark 10:17-22, Jesus’s encounter with the rich person. He notes that the story begins with Jesus “setting out on a journey,” which most likely involved walking. He suggests one of the most important points of the story is God calling us to be unsettled. Based on his and Professor Sara Terreault’s experiences of meeting a Mohawk leader and organizing group trips for university students for walks from Old Montreal to the Mohawk Territory—Professor Anderson offers wise advise on how to get to know Indigenous peoples and how to organize events with Indigenous educators. What to do, and not to do. 

Professor Anderson, at times, sounds like a Hebrew Bible prophet, citing a litany of unjust Canadian government policies toward Indigenous peoples, which have caused them enormous sufferings. He also appeals to us non-Indigenous Canadians to respectfully listen to and learn from Indigenous history and stories. 

Rev. Dr. Aldred shares an Indigenous creation story, then appeals to settler-descended Canadians to search their hearts and repent for breaking the Treaties. He is hopeful, that in the future: “As we move toward proper relatedness, we can find—we fill find—an affirming freedom, and equality, for all people (p. 159).” 

Both of the Appendices are very helpful, as their titles suggest: “Resources for Starting Out,” and “Calls to Action #s 48, 49, 59, and 60, from Canada’s Truth & Reconciliation Commission.” There is also an extensive, 7 page Bibliography. 

All settler-descended Canadians would benefit from reading this volume. Hopefully it will become a required resource for Indigenous Studies courses. Highly recommended!

Book Review: Rediscovering The Celts

Rediscovering The Celts: The True Witness from Western Shores

Author: Martin Robinson

Publisher: Fount an Imprint of HarperCollinsReligious part of HarperCollinsPublishers, paperback, 204 pages

The Author

At the time of publication, Dr. Martin Robinson was Director of Mission and Theology for the British and Foreign Bible Society. He also authored Sacred Places, Pilgrim Paths and numerous other books.

Contents

This volume consists of a Preface, twelve chapters, as well as a helpful Glossary, and Select Bibliography. 

Brief Observations

Dr. Robinson’s interest in the Celts began when he was 10 years-old, while visiting the Isle of Iona, and later when holidaying in Wales, encountering Celtic place names along with the spiritual history there. 

The author provides a history of the origins of the Celts from various European nations, and their migration to France, Britain, and Ireland. “We can say with some certainty that by approximately 1,000 BC the Celtic peoples migrated from east of the Danube into central and western Europe. 

Between 450 to 600 AD, the Celtic nations were converted, which laid the foundations of Celtic Christianity. Celtic missionaries influenced England. 

Martin of Tours established the first monastery in the West at Poitiers around 360, and at Tours in 372. The Celtic monasteries in Britain and Ireland were modelled after those established by Martin of Tours.

Celibacy was not compulsory for monks, nuns, priests, bishops and abbots. An abbot’s son or nephew sometimes succeeded their father or uncle. Monasteries emphasised caring for the poor and offering hospitality. Children of kings and the nobility became monks and nuns. They were respected by the nobility, and Christianized pagan traditions. 

Druids lost their influence in Celtic society because it was based on oral tradition, whereas the monasteries introduced written tradition. Columba was a Druid prior to becoming a Christian. 

The Romans never conquered northern Scotland and Ireland. There were differences in the ways the Celtic and Roman churches worshipped. The Celtic church baptized by immersion, the Roman church by pouring. At first, adults were baptized in the Celtic church, and later infants. The Celtic church celebrated the Lord’s Supper with both kinds, the Romans with bread only. Church year festivals were observed differently. Fasting was observed 3 times a year in the Celtic church, in the Roman church only once—during Lent. The tradition of saints and sacred places developed in the Celtic church. Blessings were important for every aspect of life. In the Celtic church, abbots at times had more authority than bishops, and bishops relied on abbots as their advisors. 

“From the earliest days of Celtic Christianity, holy men and women have been inextricably connected with the role of scholar.” (p. 88) Study, intellectual learning, and preaching were all an integral part of missionary work. The Celtic methods of biblical study and their regard of the Bible’s authority led to a biblical theology affirming: the unity of the canonical scriptures, interpreting the Hebrew Bible in light of the New Testament, understanding the scriptures in light of the Trinity, the practical application of the Bible, and more literalistic approach to the Bible, as opposed to an allegorical or symbolic one. 

Celtic Christianity encountered God in creation in similar ways as Eastern Christianity, and the Celts were inspired and influenced by the Psalms. Miraculous events in relation to creation also influenced and inspired Celtic Christianity. For example, Columba was believed to have calmed the sea. 

Women in Irish law were given rights (not in the twenty-first century sense) that do not seem to be prevalent in some Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. For example, they had inheritance rights. 

Dr. Robinson discusses ‘what if’ scenarios concerning the waning of Celtic Christianity, and ‘what if’ Celtic Christianity had been more successful than Roman Christianity. He emphasises the importance of Celtic missionaries and missions, especially in rural, pagan Europe. He also assesses the issue of romanticizing the Celts as well as such events as the victory of the Romans at Whitby. He concludes by reflecting on what can be learned from the Celts.

There have, of course, been many books written on the Celts over the last few decades. This one is, for the most part, an attempt to present a balanced view of Celtic Christianity. 

Book Review: The Night Trilogy

Book Review: The Night Trilogy Consisting Of A Memoir, Translated By Marion Wiesel, And Two Novels: Night, Dawn, Day

Author: Elie Wiesel

Publisher: Hill and Wang A Division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux

339 pages, paperback

Author

Elie Wiesel was a Holocaust survivor, award-winning author of 57 books, Nobel Peace Prize winner, professor, and political activist.

Night

In his "Preface to the New Translation" of Night, Elie Wiesel begins by stating: "If in my lifetime I was to write only one book, this would be the one." (p. 5) He then claims that it is the key to understanding all of his other works. Then he goes on to reflect on why he wrote Night. 

Night was a testimony written by Wiesel as a witness to what happened in the Holocaust. It was written as a moral obligation to prevent the enemy from succeeding in erasing their crimes from history. "Convinced that this period in history would be judged one day, I knew I must bear witness." (p. 6)

According to Wiesel: "Only those who experienced Auschwitz know what it was. Others will never know." (p. 7) Hence the necessity of Holocaust survivors being witnesses and bearing testimony to the world.

Wiesel grew up in the town of Sighet in Transylvania. He was a devout Jew who studied Talmud, the Jewish mysticism of Kabbalah and attended synagogue.

Wiesel describes how his mentor, the Beadle, Moishe had escaped from the Nazis and came back to Sighet to warn the people there of how the Nazis were killing Jews and that their lives were in danger. Tragically no one, including Wiesel, believed him. Some thought he was even mad.

No one believed the Nazis would come to Sighet, until one day they did.

When the Nazis came, they systematically destroyed the rights, privileges and freedoms of the Jews in Sighet. They also took their silver, gold, jewelry, and other valuables. Then they were loaded into box cars and taken to Auschwitz-Birkenau. 

On the first day in the concentration camp Wiesel witnessed people being thrown into a burning pit, including young children and babies. Witnessing this evil, he wrote: 

"Never shall I forget the small faces of the children whose bodies I saw transformed into smoke under a silent sky.

Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith forever.

Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes." (p. 52)

One day, a young boy along with two men were hanged, and all the other prisoners had to watch. The boy however remained alive for over half an hour. Everyone had to walk past him. Behind Wiesel a man asked: "For God's sake, where is God?" And from within me (Elie), I heard a voice answer: "Where He is? This is where--hanging here from this gallows...."(p. 83)

Wiesel tells of the Jews in the concentration camp participating in the last day of the year--Rosh Hashanah service. Rather than blessing God's name, Wiesel asks God some difficult questions, functioning like a prosecuting lawyer, placing God on trial. 

"How could I say to Him: Blessed be Thou, Almighty, Master of the Universe, who chose us among all nations to be tortured day and night, to watch as fathers, our mothers, our brothers end up in the furnaces?" (p. 84)

Wiesel goes on to say: "I was the accuser, God the accused. My eyes had opened and I was alone, terribly alone in a world without God, without (sic) man. Without love or mercy." (p. 86)

Wiesel goes on to describe the cruel struggle for survival until the Americans arrived at Buchenwald on April 11, 1945. 

Dawn

In his Preface to this, his first novel, Wiesel describes the setting: Palestine under Great Britain, prior to the state of Israel. He also describes the protagonist, Elisha, a member of the Jewish resistance. Wiesel also mentions some of the questions raised in the novel such as: good and evil, hatred and revenge, terror and justice.

Elisha was a young 18-year-old Holocaust survivor. He left Buchenwald concentration camp to live in France. One day he met Gad, a messenger, who recruited Elisha to join the Jewish resistance Movement for an independent homeland. 

A Movement fighter, David ben Moshe was captured by the English and he was to be executed at dawn--rejecting appeals to show clemency. 

The Movement had captured British Captain John Dawson. Elisha was assigned the responsibility of executing Dawson at dawn.

The Movement told the British that for every Movement member the British captured and executed the Movement would capture and execute a British soldier. Their ideology was to use violent, terrorist tactics against the English to force them out of Palestine. 

"If we must become more unjust and inhuman than those who have been unjust and inhuman to us, then we shall do so. The commandment Thou shalt not kill was given from the summit of one of the mountains here in Palestine, and we were the only ones to obey it. But that's all over; we must be like everybody else. Murder will be not our profession but our duty." (pp. 162-163)

According to the Movement's leader, called the Old Man, they were to live by the eleventh commandment--hate your enemy.

The night before Elisha is going to kill John Dawson, he is plagued with the following thoughts: "He who has killed one man alone is a killer for life. He may choose another occupation, hide himself under another identity, but the executioner or at least the executioner's mask will always be with him." (p. 195)

Day

Day, Wiesel's second novel, is a sequel to Dawn. 

The protagonist in the novel is hit by a taxi crossing Times Square in Manhattan, and struggles between life and death.

Is there meaning in life after Auschwitz? The tragedy of indifference and survivor's guilt are, among others, themes in this novel. 

After surviving surgery, the protagonist's worst enemy was a fever. He tells the doctor: "You see, Doctor, what people say is true: man (sic) carries his fiercest enemy within himself. Hell isn't others. It's ourselves." (p. 245)

The novel then moves to Paris, where the protagonist--who is still not named--meets Kathleen. In the beginning of the book he had been with Kathleen on their way to a movie, when the taxi hit him. 

In his thoughts, the protagonist struggles with theodicy and seems angry with God. "Man (sic) prefers to blame himself for all possible sins and crimes rather than come to the conclusion that God is capable of the most flagrant injustice." (p. 264)

"Yes, God needs man (sic). Condemned to eternal solitude, He made man (sic) only to use him as a toy, to amuse Himself." (p. 265)

The protagonist--a Holocaust survivor, seems like he is Elisha from the first novel, even though he's still not named--suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and has nightmares and screams. 

Elisha's thoughts as a Holocaust survivor are imprisoned by the past: "You cannot hide suffering and remorse for long. They come out. It was true: I was living in the past. Grandmother, with her black shawl on her head, wasn't giving me up." (p. 325)

He continues this line of thought concerning survivor's guilt: "We cannot forget. The images are there in front of our eyes. We feel ashamed and guilty to be alive, to eat as much bread as we want, to wear good, warm socks in the winter." (p. 325)

At the end of the novel, a Hungarian artist friend, Gyula, appears. He speaks of life and death and shares his thoughts about their meaning. He leaves by carrying out one final act.

These three works of Elie Wiesel are very sobering, difficult and challenging to read. However, I would recommend them as essential resources on the Holocaust.