Letter of Gratitude from Elie Wiesel to Monsieur Migiovanni

Danny Siegel sends a letter dated January 10, 2014, to Mori VeRabbi, Rebbi Eliezer. Siegel offers a "short rough draft" of something he wrote concerning "Pharaoh's daughter" for the recipient to review. The letter is signed "Danny" and includes Siegel's full contact information and personal website in the letterhead.

This letter, dated May 27, 2015, is from Elie Wiesel of The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity to Sho Tin Chen, Associate Director of Research Grants at the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation. The purpose of the letter is to support the nomination of David Hamburg for the Pardes Humanitarian Prize, recognizing his extensive efforts in preventing conflict and genocide. Wiesel elaborates on the concept of genocide, tracing its origins to the horrors of the Second World War and its evolving definition to include destruction based on religion and nationality. He references historical genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, and Bosnia (including Srebrenica) as examples of preventable atrocities. The letter emphasizes the importance of foresight and international intervention to identify and prevent such crimes against humanity, highlighting Hamburg's significant contributions, including his book "Preventing Genocide" and his engagement with the United Nations on these critical issues. Wiesel praises Hamburg's dedication and calls him uniquely qualified to address these challenges.

Henry (formerly Hans Arnold) Froehlich was born in August 7, 1922 in Rottweil, Germany. In 1935, the Nazi boycott forced his father to close his shoe store, Henry had to leave school, and the family moved to Stuttgart. Henry describes how the family’s life changed. He talks about Kristallnacht, his efforts to warn Jews to flee and how he avoided arrest. His father was arrested, sent to Dachau, and was killed there one month later. The family had to pay 500 Marks to claim his body. Henry worked for the Oberrat (the Jewish community office in Stuttgart that processed immigration) for two years. He describes his activities and contacts with the American Consulate, Gestapo and S.D. (Sicherheitsdienst German Security Service). In 1940, Henry, his younger brother and their mother emigrated separately to the United States. An older brother, crippled since birth, had been placed in a Catholic Home for crippled children and there is some evidence he was killed in a Nazi euthanasia program. In the United States, Henry worked in a CCC program in Berlin, New Hampshire until he was suspected of being a German spy. He was reunited with his family in Philadelphia, where he married, had two children, and became a successful businessman.

The document is a brief, handwritten note from Elie Wiesel to a woman named Martine, written on the letterhead of The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity in New York and dated August 6, 2010. In French, Wiesel expresses heartfelt thanks to Martine for all the help she provided to his sister before and during her illness. The note also includes the Hebrew phrase "תודה רבה" (Toda Raba - Thank you very much) and is signed "Amicalement, Elie Wiesel," conveying a warm and personal tone of gratitude.

Sylvia Ebner, née Klein, was born September 10, 1929, in Bodrogkisfalud, Hungary. She describes her education, relations with non-Jews, and learning to cope with children who stoned her on her way to school. After the German invasion in March 1944, persecution and anti-Jewish measures increased. Sylvia and her family were taken to the Satoraljaujhely Ghetto with Jews from several other towns. Their house was looted as soon as they walked out. She describes several incidents of extreme brutality by Germans. She describes the transport to Auschwitz in cattle cars and their dehumanization. Her parents managed to observe Shabbat and her father tried to prepare Sylvia to cope with what she had to face. Sylvia describes their arrival at Auschwitz May 1944, processing and selections by Dr. Mengele. Many, including her mother and other relatives, were loaded on trucks and gassed immediately. Sylvia was marched to Birkenau. She describes the horrible conditions, the smell from the crematorium and how they tried to survive. She worked as a slave laborer in Brzézinka also known as “Canada”, sorting belongings taken from Jews. She risked her life to smuggle food to her cousin. The starving girls were offered food on fast days such as Tisha B’ Av but refused to eat because the food was not kosher. Sylvia got Scarlet Fever and was hospitalized in a Revier (sick quarters) for six weeks. She survived seven selections by Dr. Mengele, saw him operate without any anesthesia, and a Christian woman kill her newborn baby to save him from Mengele’s experiments. Germans drained large amounts of blood from girls who survived typhus or scarlet fever to make serums. After Sylvia recovered, she worked as a slave laborer. First at heavy-duty unproductive work while living in the barracks, then in a factory in Oberhohen-Elbe, Sudeten, Germany. The German woman in charge risked her life to find food for the prisoners. She was liberated by Russian troops May 1, 1945, returned to Hungary, received aid from the Joint Distribution Committee (Joint); escaped from Hungary and immigrated to Canada. Interviewee: EBNER, Sylvia Date: February 14, 2001