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A CONVERSATION WITH ELIE WIESEL
The author of "And the Sea Is Never Full" discusses his work, the Middle East, Rwanda and his friend Primo Levi.

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By Jill Priluck

Jan. 5, 2000 | The world hasn't been the same since the 1958 publication of Elie Wiesel's "Night," his slim, powerful script of being deported with his family from the Transylvanian village of Sighet to Buchenwald and then Auschwitz. Neither has Wiesel, the celebrated writer, teacher and Nobel Prize-winner who recently published the second volume of his memoirs, "And the Sea Is Never Full."

With millions of readers in some 30 languages, "Night" spawned a generation of Holocaust writings. But "Night" did something else. It gave voice to Wiesel's memory -- and, in turn, to the memory of thousands of genocide victims.

And the Sea Is Never Full: Memoirs 1969 by Elie Wiesel, translated by Marion Wiesel Alfred A. Knopf Nonfiction Buy this book at B&N.com Night By Elie Wiesel, translated by Stella Rodway, foreword by Francois Mauriac Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group Nonfiction Buy this book at B&N.com

Wiesel, 71, lives on Manhattan's Upper East Side, a neighborhood dominated by high-rise apartment buildings. We meet in his study -- a separate apartment adjacent to the one he shares with his wife -- which, with books everywhere, resembles a library. Behind Wiesel's desk are volumes of both the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmud. Above it is a picture of the house in Sighet where he was born. He looks tired, as if he's been working all night, and at times he speaks so softly it's difficult to hear him. Wiesel's deep, brown eyes hold infinite layers of sadness, testament to the darkness he witnessed in the Nazi death camps during World War II.

Last night at the 92nd Street Y you told a story about an unclothed man escaping Babi-Yar, a concentration camp, who knocked on a stranger's door and pretended to be Jesus in order to be asked inside. That's the kind of story that none of us would have heard without you.

Well, that's why I have to make [telling] these stories my goal. So I can testify to the world as much as possible. Some say there were 33,000 killed by Nazi Germany at Babi-Yar.

The title of the second volume of your memoirs -- like that of the first volume -- comes from the writings of King Solomon.

I love the joys of the ancient text. The title of the second volume is the second part of the same verse: "All the rivers run to the sea/And the sea is never full." I cut it in half.

Why that particular verse?

Because of its meaning. The sea, which is of course infinite -- I think memories are infinite. Whatever we do, whatever we say, whatever we give, whatever we write, it would still not be enough. My feeling is that if I knew all the survivor's stories, and had done nothing else but speak about them, still the sea would not be full. My role is to write and to teach. Occasionally, if people think I can help them, I will help. Sometimes I feel I can break through. Other times I don't break through. I have no power, but I have access to those who have power.

You have words.

And words, of course.

Where are the most frightening human rights violations occurring?

Iran. The religious fanaticism is atrocious. And then the Balkans -- still they have not settled that huge disaster; it'll take many years, maybe decades. And then we have Ireland. It's moving in the right direction. I'm optimistic it will pick up in the Middle East. My feeling is that in the year 2000 a serious breakthrough will occur.

In what sense?

Barak is Rabin's disciple, and I think he will provide the necessary hope for Israelis to trust that it's possible to make peace with Syria and the Palestinians. As you can see in the papers today, it's moving. It's moving.

And you think it will result in Palestinian statehood?

My feeling is that this is what the Israelis are going to do. I have no idea about how they will do that, but Barak is now moving very fast. Ultimately I am sure they are ready. I am absolutely [in agreement] with Israel that Jerusalem must remain a united city as the capital of Israel. My feeling is that the doves -- and Barak is a dove -- would not touch it.

You went to Cambodia in 1980.

I went for the International Rescue Committee's March Against Hunger. We had just discovered the atrocities, and we went to help the survivors. We saw the people coming through, but we were not allowed to bring them food and medicine. Aranyaprathet is a huge camp -- 100,000 people were there. At least.

But you didn't go to Rwanda.

No, I only go to places that I am called to go to if I can help by being there. In that case, I spoke with enough people who were there. It was atrocious. It could have been prevented. No doubt about it.

Next page | Missing Primo Levi