Letter from the President of Romania, Traian Băsescu, to Elie Wiesel on his 80th Birthday

In this interview with Der Spiegel, Elie Wiesel reflects on his experiences during the Holocaust and his views on post-war Germany and Israel. He expresses concern over Germany's initial forgetfulness of Kristallnacht during its 1990 unification celebrations but is pleased with the current sensitivity of German youth and Germany's consistent support for Israel. Wiesel discusses the concept of collective guilt, emphasizing individual responsibility over intergenerational blame. He recounts his early life in Sighet (then part of Hungary, now Romania), his deportation to Auschwitz in May 1944, and the separation from his family, detailing the inhumane conditions in Auschwitz, Birkenau, and Monowitz-Buna. He shares his father's suffering and death in Buchenwald, and his own struggle with faith and humanity following the atrocities, stating that his passion for study helped him maintain sanity. Wiesel describes the death march to Gleiwitz, the liberation of Buchenwald, and his subsequent career as a writer and activist. He stresses his role as a witness to the Holocaust and the importance of testimonies in preserving its memory, while expressing skepticism about docudramas that might distort the truth of such sensitive events.