They can move us to despair or to hope. The Romanian-born Wiesel was 15 when taken to an Auschwitz concentration camp where both his mother and younger sister were killed. Many of his books delve into the gory details of his 11 months there. But Wiesel, now 72, maintains that he never hated the Germans. I believe in justified anger, in creative anger and compassionate anger but not hatred, he said.
Hatred destroys the victim and the hater.
The Gates of Chai Lectureship is sponsored through the generosity of Gates of Chai Inc. in memory of Larry Kornbleet and family members of Stanley and Marcia Kornbleet Kurtz who perished in the Holocaust. Proceeds from the lecture will be donated to the Gates of Chai endowment, part of the Jewish Studies program at Brite.