The Perils of Indifference

Wiesel begins his speech by describing the state of mind of a boy from the Carpathian Mountains who, only yesterday, was saved from Buchenwald by the American soldiers who liberated the camp. Though the boy did not speak English, he understood the rage and compassion in the American soldiers’ eyes. This boy is Wiesel’s child-self, and he serves as a symbol that helps Wiesel emphasize The Relevance of the Past. Wiesel says that the boy will always be grateful to the soldiers for their rage and compassion because these emotions finally made him feel seen, marking an end to the indifference that had led to his suffering in the first place. In this sense, the boy represents remembrance and the act of bearing witness to the horrors of the Holocaust. Even though the boy escapes the camp and is able to live his life, he does so with the recognition that he must never forget what happened to the Jewish people in Buchenwald and other camps. The boy remains with the older Wiesel as a figure of suffering, hope, and remembrance, especially of those who did not survive the camps. Wiesel ends his speech with a second mention of the boy from the Carpathian Mountains.