Letter from Alice Alexander to Mr. Wiesel on broader Holocaust remembrance

This letter, dated April 11, 1991, from the White House, is addressed to Elie Wiesel. The author, implicitly President George H.W. Bush, expresses pleasure at seeing Elie Wiesel and Marion, and meeting members of the Elie Wiesel Foundation's Executive Board during their visit to the White House. The letter expresses gratitude for receiving the organization's second Humanitarian Award and the 1990 tribute, along with mementos intended for the author's future Presidential library and museum. The letter concludes with best wishes to Elie, Marion, and the foundation's entire membership.

Hava Ben-Zvi, a writer, sent an email to Jean J Maras on July 25, 2014, requesting permission to reprint a letter by Elie Wiesel in her forthcoming book. Her book is a memoir detailing her experiences as a Jewish child during the German occupation of Poland in World War II. The email includes the full text of Elie Wiesel's letter, addressed to American GIs who liberated the concentration camp where he was imprisoned. Wiesel's letter poignantly describes the profound impact of the liberation and the lasting importance of the survivors' and liberators' testimonies against hate, violence, and forgetfulness. Ben-Zvi asks Maras to convey her request to Mr. Elie Wiesel. Handwritten notes on the document indicate that the manuscript must be seen ("Before permission must see manuscript") and note it as "very nice", with a date "sent 8/6 Lm".

Rabbi Relles born in Skala, Poland June 2, 1908 lived in Italy from 1933 to 1944. He studied at a university and a rabbinical college. He explains how he managed to remain in Italy as a student. He describes Mussolini’s treatment of Jews and his changing attitude towards Hitler. Even after anti-Jewish laws were passed in1938, and his arrest and brief internment in June 1940 first in Campagna, then in Ferramonti, he was treated extremely well by the Italians. In December 1943, after police warned Jews they would be arrested, Rabbi Relles tried to flee. He was arrested near the Swiss border and detained first at a Questara in Como, then at a barracks in Camerlata in Northern Italy. He describes his escape to Milan, stays at various safe houses, and living in a rest home under a false name, using papers giving him a new identity, helped by individual Italians, nuns and a committee that worked to rescue Jews. He explains how he survived and gives a very detailed account of his escape to Switzerland in April 1944 - when he was brought to Como from Milan as part of a group rescue organized by a Mrs. Comelli. He cites many instances of help by non-Jews and kind treatment from Italians during this period. He arrived in the United States from Switzerland November 8, 1951. Interviewee: RELLES, Rabbi Mayer Date: June 27, 1983

John (formerly György/George) Sauber, was born August 14, 1926 in Budapest, Hungary. His family lived in Rakoskeresztur until 1936 when they moved back to Budapest. After 1942 or 1943 food shortages, persecution of Jews, wearing the yellow star, and deportations started. Non-Jewish Hungarians brought his family some food. His mother’s store was taken over by two Christian “partners”. He attended school with non-Jewish students, had religious instruction and attended the Dohany Temple. He experienced a few instances of discrimination while a student. In 1944, when he was 17 years old, Mr. Sauber was drafted into a forced labor unit that went to the Russian front. He was wounded and put on a Red Cross train. Because he was Jewish, he received no medical treatment and was transferred to a deportation train for Hungarian Jews. He describes conditions on the train and his arrival and processing at Bergen-Belsen Concentration camp. He talks about conditions at Bergen-Belsen pre and post liberation and his activities in great detail, including removing hair and gold teeth from corpses and how he managed to survive. He witnessed brutal treatment of inmates. The Germans fled just before the camp was liberated by Allied troops. The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) cared for the survivors. Mr. Sauber returned to Budapest and was reunited with his father. His mother and sister had been deported and killed. He had gone to medical school in Hungary, resumed his education, then went to a Displaced Persons camp in Germany, run by UNRRA, and to a camp in Bamberg with a group planning to go to Palestine. He emigrated to Saskatoon, Canada with a group of Jewish orphans sponsored by the Canadian Jewish Congress, in January 1946, and was helped by Jewish community. He brought his father and stepmother to Canada. He is still haunted by his experiences and trying to cope with the loss of most of his family. He relates a touching episode when saying Kaddish for his stepmother brought him some peace. Interviewee: SAUBER, John Date: October 21, 1999

This letter, dated May 27, 1998, is from Louie Freeh of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to Elie Wiesel. Freeh expresses gratitude to Wiesel for speaking at the FBI's New York Office Holocaust Memorial Ceremony on April 20, 1998, praising his remarks as poignant and thought-provoking. The letter also mentions the enclosure of an autographed picture taken at the ceremony and conveys Freeh's honor in being Wiesel's friend and benefiting from his counsel. It concludes with wishes for Wiesel and his family's continued health, happiness, and peace.