The Perils of Indifference

Wiesel is concerned about how indifference enables suffering. Identify an instance of indifference that you’ve witnessed or heard about and analyze how both compassion and anger could have yielded a different outcome.

Write a historical analysis of the St. Louis that outlines President Roosevelt’s actions regarding its fate. What became of the passengers once they returned to Nazi Germany? How complicit in their collective fate do you think President Roosevelt was?

Choose one of the 20th-century conflicts that Wiesel mentions. Outline how indifference enabled the suffering that occurred in that event. In first-person accounts or interviews with victims, look for mentions of despair and hope. How do the victims’ reflections relate to the concept of indifference?