We know it's a surprise, but indifference is a prominent subject in a lecture titled "The Perils of Indifference." This speech serves as a stark warning against being oblivious to pain and injustice. Elie Wiesel understands the ramifications of ignoring what is going on around him better than most people. He had almost been lost to history until his story was told again in 1986 by Lawrence Weschler in his book "A Miracle for Breakfast." Wiesel was born on July 2, 1928 in Sighetu Marmației, Romania. When he was six years old, his family moved to Kaunas, Lithuania where he lived until he was 16. During that time, he went to public school and then worked after school as a clerk in a clothing store. One day, when he refused to bow down to a Nazi dictator, he was arrested and imprisoned for three months. He was eventually released without charge. However, due to the rise of Nazism in Europe, many Jews were arrested and held without trial or charge. Wiesel says this experience made him aware of the danger of being indifferent toward other people's suffering. After World War II ended, Wiesel went back to Kaunas to find his family home destroyed. He then went to live with an uncle in Romania where he learned that his father and older brother had died in the Holocaust. Despite all this tragedy, Wiesel says he felt no sorrow because he believed they were dead.