Elie Wiesel and the Power of Denial

Nobel Peace laureate, Elie Wiesel, visited Charlotte this week for the premier of “In the Footsteps of Elie Wiesel,” a documentary featuring 12 Charlotte students who traveled with him to Poland in 2000. You can check out insights he shared with Charlotte Observer reporters and editors. My thoughts on his classic memoir,“Night,” follow.

Denial is a natural defense mechanism that protects us from dealing with painful situations or recognizing facts that clash with our belief system. Why would Elie Wiesel—arguably among the wisest of men on the scene today—be linked to denial? Because having lived in denial of the Holocaust, then experienced its reality, Wiesel became a truth seeker.

He was just 15 in the spring of 1944 when he and his family were shipped to a concentration camp from their home town of Sighet in Transylvania, a remote area of Hungary.

‘Moshe the Beadle,’ a poor but wise man who tutored Wiesel in Cabala, was deported in 1943 because he was a foreigner and a Jew. Shot in the leg and taken for dead, he escaped the mass execution of the deportees and returned to Sighet to warn his friends and neighbors.

Moshe had always been odd and now he was dismissed as crazy. His story was simply too far-fetched to be true. For another year town’s people continued their normal routines, assuring themselves that Russian armies would protect them from the Nazi invasion.

And then one day the Gestapo arrived.

But rather than fearsome brutality, the Nazis displayed a certain respect for the local Jewish leaders, allowing them to set up their own government in the sealed off ghettos where they were forced to live. It was uncomfortable, yes, but they reasoned that at least they were safe.

Even when the deportation began, most bought the story that they were going to work in brick factories in Hungary. And so over a three-day period they buried money and jewelry, prepared food, packed their suitcases, waited in long lines and in an orderly fashion climbed aboard the transport.

It was only the stench of burning flesh and the sight of babies being thrown into the furnaces at Birkenau that convinced them of the terrible reality of the rumors they had heard.

Such is the power of denial.

As with the Jews in Sighet, denial far too often stays firmly in place until it’s too late. An abusive husband seriously injures or kills his wife and children. A drunken driver heads the wrong way on the interstate and an innocent person dies. A depressed spouse commits suicide.

After a tragedy it is easy to look back and see signs that were overlooked. But hindsight doesn’t change anything. It only adds to one’s guilt and complicates grief.

Far better to face the unpleasantness, deal with the conflict, confront the wrongdoing, make the hard choices. Far better to ask for help before tragedy strikes, before the destruction of homes and lives.

Jesus said, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Ponder that in the light of Elie Wiesel’s experience, in the light of recent tragic events in the world, or in your community.

What is the truth you need to face? Find courage to grow. Join Wiesel in becoming a truth seeker.