After the Darkness: Reflections on the Holocaust

by Elie Wiesel

A poignant, powerful distillation of the Holocaust experience from the internationally acclaimed writer and Nobel laureate.

In his first book, Night , Elie Wiesel described his concentration camp experience, but he has rarely written directly about the Holocaust since then. Now, as the last generation of survivors is passing and a new generation must be introduced to mankind’s darkest hour, Wiesel sums up the most important aspects of Hitler’s years in power and provides a fitting memorial to those who suffered and perished. He writes about the creation of the Third Reich, Western acquiescence, the gas chambers, and memory. He criticizes Churchill and Roosevelt for what they knew and ignored, and he praises little-known Jewish heroes. Augmenting Wiesel’s text are testimonies from survivors, who recall, among other moments and the establishment of the Nurembourg Laws, Kristallnacht, transport to the camps, and liberation.

With this book—richly illustrated with 45 photographs from the U.S. Holocaust
Museum—Wiesel proves once again the ineluctable importance of bearing witness.

Genres: History, Holocaust, Nonfiction, World War II, War, Historical, Photography

48 pages, Hardcover

First published October 22, 2002

About the author

Eliezer "Elie" Wiesel was a Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He authored 57 books, written mostly in French and English, including Night, a work based on his experiences as a Jewish prisoner in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps.
In his political activities Wiesel became a regular speaker on the subject of the Holocaust and remained a strong defender of human rights during his lifetime. He also advocated for many other causes like the state of Israel and against Hamas and victims of oppression including Soviet and Ethiopian Jews, the apartheid in South Africa, the Bosnian genocide, Sudan, the Kurds and the Armenian genocide, Argentina's Desaparecidos or Nicaragua's Miskito people.
He was a professor of the humanities at Boston University, which created the Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Studies in his honor. He was involved with Jewish causes and human rights causes and helped establish the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.
Wiesel was awarded various prestigious awards including the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. He was a founding board member of the New York Human Rights Foundation and remained active in it throughout his life.

Reviews

[Pamela · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had the pleasure of meeting Elie Wiesel and having him sign this book for me at a lecture at the National Press Club. Anyone and everyone who survived the debacle of the holocaust deserves to tell their story. It is a testament to the human spirit.

[Bev · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just finished re-reading Night by Wiesel and stumbled across this one. It was very good, a concise description of what happened before, during, and then after the Holocaust. It includes several small vignettes of individual experiences by various survivors. It is quite short, lots of photographs, and I think it was well worth reading.

[Chris Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you only read one book on the Holocaust, make it this one. Although the subject is a difficult one to read about and believe that mankind could have let it happened, this book reflects back with clarity and simplicity of how did happen. It takes the reader through the important details of how the world's darkest history began and escalated into the evil that led the world into war. Beginning with the creation of the Third Reich and traveling through time, including critical events like Kristallnacht, and adding a photographic journey which adds a visual for those who did not live through WWII. Flaps folded over the right side of the pages of photographs are first-hand testimonies from Jewish survivors. A book not meant for enjoyment but to bear witness to a tragic event of history. Each generation who did not live through WWII should read it, to ensure "Never again."

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an awesome book. I love what Wiesel has done for history. I loved the pictures in this as well.

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another compelling account from Elie Wiesel.

[Cami · Rating 3 out of 5]

A simple collection of photographs, history and touching reflection from Elie Wiesel and remembrances of survivors of the greatest, large-scale tragedy in human history.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can you tell I've been teaching Night recently? Powerful first-hand accounts in this book.

[Peter Quesnel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elie Wiesel's summary of the history of the Holocaust accomplishes something that would seem to be nearly impossible. It gives the reader even with little or limited exposure to the topic a basic understanding of the history, the gravity and the legacy of the worst crime against humanity the world has ever known. Just reading this one volume and seeing the chilling accompanying photos from The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum allows a reader to grasp the history whether or not they chose to learn more by reading other sources.

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A powerful description of the facts on the ground, and how they looked from afar. How governments knew what was going on but did nothing, or even refused to help when refugees were at their doorstep.

Various survivors' personal accounts also vividly illustrate how their lives changed as Germans took more and more rights away from the Jews; how it felt to stand in the sorting line upon arriving at a death camp; how it felt to be among hundreds running away from the camp at Sobibor, too numerous and too fast for the Germans to stop them.

[Jeffrey Rubenstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

In After the Darkness, Elie Wiesel writes poignantly on his reflections on the Holocaust. The book is illustrated with photos of the death camps. Ellie Wiesel distills the most important aspects of Adolph Hitler's years in power from 1933-1945 beginning with the creation of the Third Reich, gas chambers, liberation and memory. This is a book that should be read and remembered by an author who experienced the Holocaust.

[Lysergius · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a difficult book to read. Tears form in the eyes, and the heart leaps. The photographs are powerful, and the survivors testimonies heart rending. One is left with the sense that the world altered for ever, and will never be the same. The genie will not go back into that bottle.

[Hubert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, damning, portrait of the Holocaust. Excerpts of memoirs of survivors accompany large-scale pictures, along with Wiesel's incisive narrative. Illustrates the complicity of all of us, not only the Nazi regime, in allowing this atrocity to happen.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a short, picture book style review of the holocaust. There are gripping pictures and first hand survivor accounts. It is starkly explained in only the way Weisel can write.

[Codepoetz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nobel prize winning author Elie Wiesel has assembled a moving collection of old letters and period photographs into a worthy book describing the historical background of the Holocaust.

[John Bond · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovingly and beautifully crafted book. So important to read or own.

[Ellie Noire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Succinct, gives you all the information you need, with powerful pictures and survivor passages.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very necessary read to see even further the history surrounding the Holocaust.

[Alexandra Escamilla]

A poignant, powerful distillation of the Holocaust experience from the internationally acclaimed writer and Nobel laureate. In his first book, Night, Elie Wiesel described his concentration camp experience, but he has rarely written directly about the Holocaust since then. Now, as the last generation of survivors is passing and a new generation must be introduced to mankind's darkest hour, Wiesel sums up the most important aspects of Hitler's years in power and provides a fitting memorial to those who suffered and perished. He writes about the creation of the Third Reich, Western acquiescence, the gas chambers, and memory. He criticizes Churchill and Roosevelt for what they knew and ignored, and he praises little-known Jewish heroes. Augmenting Wiesel's text are testimonies from survivors, who recall, among other moments and events: the establishment of the Nurembourg Laws, Kristallnacht, transport to the camps, and liberation (Smith, 2010).
Awards: No awards found
5th and up

[Evan Childress · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not an easy book to read, but as more and more of the Holocaust survivors die, we will need to turn to these written memories, photographs, and stories to remind ourselves of the horrors committed and to never allow them to be repeated. It is too terrible to even imagine, and yet, it happened.

[Becki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book...seriously. The images are stark and the words just enough. I'm going to buy it for my classroom next year for the spring Holocaust unit with the 8th graders.

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good follow-up to reading Night. I have owned this book for many years and only finally read it. The pictures are staggering.

[Linda "The Book Lady" Warner]

Wiesel has other voices of survivors of the Holocaust.

[Angelina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book before going to The Holocaust Museum in Washington DC. It gives a synopsis of the Holocaust--events and stories--with photographs.

[Kim Freitas · Rating 5 out of 5]

eye opening, riveting, raw