It's important if you remember…but it's only going to help if you actually do something about it.
Elie Wiesel thinks that memory should stir people to act against injustice, instead of just tuning it out and going on with their lives. In "Hope, Despair and Memory" he urges people not only to remember for themselves, but pass along the memories that they have heard and to make sure they act against the repetition of the past.
Questions About Passivity
- Why does Wiesel think speaking up is action enough?
- What does Wiesel think is the "fault of memory"?
- How does Wiesel explain those who weren't moved to action by the stories of Holocaust survivors?
Chew on This
For Elie Wiesel, forgetting and passivity are tied inherently with each other—to be passive is to ignore a problem, or to willfully choose to push it out of your mind.
Passivity can stand in as a tolerance for injustice, a tolerance that feels particularly bad in a time of global turmoil. The problems facing 1986 were dire enough that Elie Wiesel needed to rouse the average listener to put pressure on the institutions keeping the injustices of the time alive.