Not speaking up when something is wrong is as bad as participating in the crime, Boston University professor Elie Wiesel said in a lecture Monday.
‘To be silent in moments of danger is a sin,’ Wiesel, Holocaust survivor and author, said.
The lecture, called ‘The Tragedy of the Saint Louis,’ was the last of the series of ‘Three Encounters with Elie Wiesel: The Fascination with Jewish Tales’ at Metcalf Hall. Over 1,300 people were in attendance.’
Wiesel spoke about what he called a ‘scandalous ethical failure in refusing to save hundreds of innocent victims in danger.’
In 1939, in an attempt to escape ‘vicious German anti-Semitism,’ 900 German Jews had boarded the MS St. Louis for Cuba, only to be effectively prohibited from disembarking onto Cuban territory and ultimately denied return to their homeland from which they had first fled, he said.’
‘Their only hope could be and was America,’ Wiesel said.
But President Franklin Roosevelt denied their entry.’
‘American officials received telegrams from desperate passengers, but they gave them no answer,’ Wiesel said.’
Wiesel talked about the political indifference and scandalous ethical failure that loomed during the St. Louis tragedy.
‘The whole world was aware of the fury of hatred against the Jews,’ he said. ‘The press had done its job. News of the St. Louis was covered on front pages across the world.’
However, he said, response from the world community was largely apathetic.’
‘If only the world had been less indifferent,’ Wiesel said. ‘Why were there not delegations sent to the White House? Why were there not reunions held to plan immediate assistance and rescue? Where was the sense of urgency?’
Rabbi Joseph Polak of the BU Hillel House said Wiesel’s example showed the struggle in obtaining justice.’
‘This story shows us how hard you have to push when injustice rears its ugly head,’ he said. ‘You have to push so hard to get people on their feet and moving.’
Polak said he hopes the story teaches students that it is not enough to count on their leaders.’
‘ ‘Roosevelt was a god everywhere, even in Transylvania, where Wiesel is from,’ he said. ‘But he didn’t do anything.”
College of Engineering freshman Brian Norton said he came to listen to Wiesel, who he thinks is ‘a living legend.’
‘ ‘Everything Wiesel said tonight is completely relevant to today,’ he said. ‘We have to learn this history to learn about its mistakes so we won’t repeat them.’
College of Communication sophomore Jessica Friedowitz said Wiesel was engaging and moving.’
‘Students today are in their own world, consumed by their own subject-matter,’ she said. ‘They’re text messaging, they aren’t reading the newspaper, they aren’t aware that there is a world that needs their attention. They aren’t aware of the impact young people have with their energy and their ideals.’
Wiesel concluded his lecture with a message of hope.’
‘Do not rely on others to do things for you,’ he said. ‘Help will never come if you don’t offer it. You must never give in to despair, but rely on man’s capacity for hope.’
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
