
It Is Impossible to Remain Silent
Reflections on Fate and Memory in Buchenwald
Indiana University Press
Published on 4. November 2019
Book
Hardback
62 pages
978-0-253-04528-7 (ISBN)
Description
On March 1, 1995, at the time of the fiftieth anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps, ARTE (a French-German state-funded television network) proposed an encounter between two highly-regarded figures of our time: Elie Wiesel and Jorge Semprun. These two men, whose destinies were unparalleled, had probably crossed paths-without ever meeting-in the Nazi concentration camp Buchenwald in 1945. This short book is the entire transcription of their recorded conversation. During World War II, Buchenwald was the center of a major network of sub-camps and an important source of forced labor. Most of the internees were German political prisoners, but the camp also held a total of 10,000 Jews, Roma, Sinti, Jehovah's Witnesses, and German military deserters.
In these pages, Wiesel and Semprun poignantly discuss the human condition under catastrophic circumstances. They review the categories of inmate at Buchenwald and agree on the tragic reason for the fate of the victims of Nazism-as well as why this fate was largely ignored for so long after the end of the war. Both men offer riveting testimony and pay vibrant homage to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Today, seventy-five years after the liberation of the Nazi camps, this book could not be more timely for its confrontation with ultra-nationalism and antisemitism.
In these pages, Wiesel and Semprun poignantly discuss the human condition under catastrophic circumstances. They review the categories of inmate at Buchenwald and agree on the tragic reason for the fate of the victims of Nazism-as well as why this fate was largely ignored for so long after the end of the war. Both men offer riveting testimony and pay vibrant homage to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Today, seventy-five years after the liberation of the Nazi camps, this book could not be more timely for its confrontation with ultra-nationalism and antisemitism.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Bloomington, IN
United States
Product notice
Paper over boards
Dimensions
Height: 220 mm
Width: 144 mm
Thickness: 11 mm
Weight
220 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-253-04528-7 (9780253045287)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Jorge Semprún | Elie Wiesel
It Is Impossible to Remain Silent
Reflections on Fate and Memory in Buchenwald
E-Book
03/2021
Indiana University Press
€11.76
Available for download
Persons
Jorge Semprun was a member of the Spanish and French communist resistance. He was captured by the Nazis in 1943 and held as a political prisoner. After the war, he was a writer and screenwriter before becoming Minister of Culture in Spain's post-Franco socialist government.
Elie Wiesel was born in Romania and deported to Auschwitz in 1944. He is the author of the autobiographical novel Night, which has been translated into more than thirty languages. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986.
Radu Ioanid is Director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's International Archival Programs Division. He is the author of several books on Romanian history and the Holocaust, including The Holocaust in Romania, which has been translated into several languages
Peggy Frankston represents the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in France.
Elie Wiesel was born in Romania and deported to Auschwitz in 1944. He is the author of the autobiographical novel Night, which has been translated into more than thirty languages. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986.
Radu Ioanid is Director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's International Archival Programs Division. He is the author of several books on Romanian history and the Holocaust, including The Holocaust in Romania, which has been translated into several languages
Peggy Frankston represents the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in France.
Content
Publisher's Note
Introduction by Radu Ioanid
Gallery of Photographs
It Is Impossible to Remain Silent
Notes
Selected Bibliographies of Jorge Semprun and Elie Wiesel
Introduction by Radu Ioanid
Gallery of Photographs
It Is Impossible to Remain Silent
Notes
Selected Bibliographies of Jorge Semprun and Elie Wiesel