Answer Explanation:

• (a) - Yes. Good job! This is the best summary statement of the speech from among the four that we have here.
• (b) - Nope. While Wiesel does say this, it is not a complete summary of his main ideas in this speech.
• (c) - This answer is incorrect. The Holocaust was undoubtedly terrible, but Wiesel wants us to remember it, not forget it.
• (d) - This statement is possibly true, but it is not an accurate summary statement of the main ideas in this speech.

Answer Explanation:

• (a) - Nope. He discusses these terms later in the speech, but not in the very beginning.
• (b) - Right! The old Hasidic legend that he narrates is about the “power of memory,” which he then goes on to speak about in greater detail.
• (c) - Wiesel does not ask questions in the opening section of his speech. The only questions present are those asked by a character in the story he narrates.
• (d) - While he does tell a story that his audience might find entertaining, it is not a “funny” story.

Answer Explanation:

• (a) - This is probably true, but there are more specific details in the speech about his experiences.
• (b) - Nope.
• (c) - Wiesel didn’t just hear about these things – he actually witnessed them, so this answer is incorrect.
• (d) - Great job! This can be tricky to figure out. When Wiesel mentions that his family was killed, he talks about himself in the third person: “The time: After the war. The place: Paris. A young man struggles to readjust to life. His mother, his father, his small sister are gone. He is alone.” And his description of the concentration camp is full of figurative language, which can make it hard to figure out exactly what he means. This section begins with the line, “For he has just returned from a universe where God, betrayed by His creatures, covered His face in order not to see,” and continues from there. This description concludes with the specific detail of which camp it was: “All found their ultimate expression in Auschwitz.”

Answer Explanation:

• (a) - Nope. He says the current state of the world will be inexplicable and unbelievable to them, but he doesn’t mention stress or trauma.
• (b) - Right! Wiesel says: “If someone had told us in 1945 that in our lifetime religious wars would rage on virtually every continent, that thousands of children would once again be dying of starvation, we would not have believed it. Or that racism and fanaticism would flourish once again, we would not have believed it.”
• (c) - This is the complete opposite of what he says.
• (d) - Nowhere does Wiesel say this.

Answer Explanation:

• (a) - Yes! Wiesel would disagree with this. He doesn’t think that forgetting the past leads to hope. He says: “If dreams reflect the past, hope summons the future. Does this mean that our future can be built on a rejection of the past? Surely such a choice is not necessary. The two are not incompatible.”
• (b) - Wiesel would strongly agree with this. In fact, one of the most famous lines of this speech is: “There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.”
• (c) - He would agree with this. He says: “War leaves no victors, only victims.”
• (d) - According to Wiesel, this is true. He says: “And yet real despair only seized us later. Afterwards. As we emerged from the nightmare and began to search for meaning.”