Elie Wiesel Archival Documents List, 1990-1991

This letter, dated August 17, 1989, is from Benazir Bhutto, Prime Minister, to Mr. Elie Wiesel. Bhutto recalls their meeting in Paris during the French Bicentennial celebrations in July. She expresses gratitude to Wiesel for sending her a copy of his book, "Night/Dawn/Day," and states her anticipation of reading it. The letter conveys goodwill and closes with best wishes.

Morris Steiman was born August 5, 1918 in Bodzanow, a small town near Warsaw. Morris attended cheder and yeshiva and was a member ofAgudah, a religious Zionist youth group. He experienced pre-war antisemitism because of his appearance as a religious Jewish boy, in his hometown and in Warsaw, where he worked as a tailor’s apprentice. In November, 1939, he fled the German occupation and went east to the Russian-occupied area of Poland. In March 1940, homesick and concerned about his parents, he returned to Poland—first Warsaw and then made his way back to his hometown— where he worked as a tailor for the Germans until March 1941. He discusses being very aware as an older teenager about what exactly was going on and actively looking for ways to escape and emigrate. He gives a detailed description of the evacuation of Jews from Bodzanow, during which he and his father was severely beaten on the head. He describes the Germans indiscriminately beating everyone they could as they chased them into the trucks. They were taken to a camp in Dzialdowo for a few days, near the German border, with little food and no toilets or water. They were thendeported to the Czestochowa Ghetto, where he was cared for by Rose Tannenbaum. Morris’ parents fled to Warsaw to be with his sister and died of natural causes soon after. Morris and Rose married and survived the war years together, doing forced labor at HasagPelzery, in metal and ammunition factories in nearby Rakow. Morris describes one Wehrmacht commander who treated them humanely and also assisted several Jews in escaping the ghetto and retrieving money left behind in the ghetto. They were liberated by the Russians in January 1945 and stayed in Czestochowa for almost a year. He secured work as a tailor. He describes returning to his hometown after the war and digging up a kiddish cup and candlesticks that his brother had buried. He and his wife moved to Lampertheim, a displaced persons camp in the American zone of Germany, until emigrating to the United States in March 1947 where he had a sister.

This letter, dated August 20, 2013, is from Selden K. Smith and Mrs. Barbara Parker of the South Carolina Council on the Holocaust to Professor Elie Wiesel. The authors express disappointment over Wiesel's canceled visit to Greenville, South Carolina, due to health reasons, and wish him a speedy recovery. They fondly recall his past visits to Columbia College, the University of South Carolina, and the College of Charleston. Smith, a member of the SC Council and an advisory committee to the Jewish studies program at the College of Charleston, praises Wiesel's insights on Holocaust memory and education, specifically mentioning his essay in the Jerusalem Quarterly. The letter also outlines the Council's ongoing initiatives, including an upcoming October conference on Holocaust Education, efforts to secure materials from Yad Vashem Jerusalem, and the sponsorship of an Anne Frank House exhibit touring various South Carolina schools in Columbia, Walterboro, and Charleston. The authors conclude by expressing their hope to expand Holocaust education beyond Amsterdam.

Miriam writes to her aunt Rebecca, commenting on family news and mentions that she plans to run for Secretary of the Savannah Female Orphan Society.

Rebecca writes to her sister-in-law Maria, joking with her about phrenology and discussing the new building of the Orphan Society, developments with David Seixas, and Henry Clay as presidential candidate.