A-7713: Remembering Elie Wiesel and the Liberation of Buchenwald

In March of 1944, fifteen-year-old Elie Wiesel and his family were sent to the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz, where he was tattooed with the number A-7713. His mother and sister were killed shortly thereafter; he and his father were later sent to Buchenwald, where his father would die just weeks before the camp was liberated. In the span of barely a year, the young man had had his whole life ripped away. He would later write in his memoir, Night :

"Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky. Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my faith forever. Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me, for all eternity, of the desire to live. Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never."