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Jews of Silence
In the fall of 1965 the I sraeli newspaper Haaretz sent a young journalist named Elie Wiesel to the Soviet Union to report on the lives of Jews trapped behind the Iron Curtain. “I would approach Jews who had never been placed in the Soviet show window by Soviet authorities,” wrote Wiesel. “They alone, in their anonymity, could describe the conditions under which they live; they alone could tell whether the reports I had heard were true or false—and whether their children and their grandchildren, despite everything, still wish to remain Jews. From them I would learn what we must do to help . . . or if they want our help at all.”
What he discovered astonished him: Jewish men and women, young and old, in Moscow, Kiev, Leningrad, Vilna, Minsk, and Tbilisi, completely cut off from the outside world, overcoming their fear of the ever-present KGB to ask Wiesel about the lives of Jews in America, in Western Europe, and, most of all, in Israel. They have scant knowledge of Jewish history or current events; they celebrate Jewish holidays at considerable risk and with only the vaguest ideas of what these days commemorate. “Most of them come [to synagogue] not to pray,” Wiesel writes, “but out of a desire to identify with the Jewish people—about whom they know next to nothing.” Wiesel promises to bring the stories of these people to the outside world. And in the home of one dissident, he is given a gift—a Russian-language translation of Night, published illegally by the underground. “‘My God,’ I thought, ‘this man risked arrest and prison just to make my writing available to people here!’ I embraced him with tears in my eyes.”
From the Trade Paperback edition.
116 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1966
14 people are currently reading
474 people want to read
About the author
Elie Wiesel
274 books4,549 followersEliezer "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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
July 17, 2017
This book, is a classic testament to the brutal persecution of Jews in the Soviet Union during the dark days of Communist oppression.
With both poetic and potent eloquence Wiesel describes the atmosphere of fear and silence, that reigned among Soviet Jewry during the 1960's when this book was written. The attempts to force Jews to abandon their faith and identity, and to cut ties with their brothers and sisters in Israel, by the malignant and brutal Communist tyrants. then there was the daily disparagement of the State of Israel and the maligning of Zionism by the State Media (something we see in may countries around the world today).
Indeed even though Communist tyranny in Russia has collapsed, the crusade of hate by the Left, formulated by Soviet propagandists has only got more vicious and irascible, in recent years.
In South Africa, for example, the ruling ANC and its affiliates, daily comes up with venomous and ruthless attacks on the Jewish State and it's supporters, and are directing a campaign of ethnic hatred against Israel and it's Jews.
But the Jews of the Soviet Union refused to forget who they were, or to give up their faith or their love for the State of Israel.
Referring to the violent anti-Israel propaganda formulated in the Soviet Union, the author explains : "The purpose of such propaganda is to make Israel seem hateful to the general populace but to the Jews as well, to undermine the esteem in which they hold the Jewish state, and to convince them finally to relinquish an idea which has failed, a vision of redemption which has somehow been made profane..."
But this form of psychological warfare, directed against the Jewish dream, and designed to divide Jews of the diaspora from their own people in Israel, failed in Russia.
Jews all over the world need to reject it, wherever it raises it's ugly head.
As Wiesel describes 'there are Jews who will under no circumstances let themselves be severed from their people'.
With both poetic and potent eloquence Wiesel describes the atmosphere of fear and silence, that reigned among Soviet Jewry during the 1960's when this book was written. The attempts to force Jews to abandon their faith and identity, and to cut ties with their brothers and sisters in Israel, by the malignant and brutal Communist tyrants. then there was the daily disparagement of the State of Israel and the maligning of Zionism by the State Media (something we see in may countries around the world today).
Indeed even though Communist tyranny in Russia has collapsed, the crusade of hate by the Left, formulated by Soviet propagandists has only got more vicious and irascible, in recent years.
In South Africa, for example, the ruling ANC and its affiliates, daily comes up with venomous and ruthless attacks on the Jewish State and it's supporters, and are directing a campaign of ethnic hatred against Israel and it's Jews.
But the Jews of the Soviet Union refused to forget who they were, or to give up their faith or their love for the State of Israel.
Referring to the violent anti-Israel propaganda formulated in the Soviet Union, the author explains : "The purpose of such propaganda is to make Israel seem hateful to the general populace but to the Jews as well, to undermine the esteem in which they hold the Jewish state, and to convince them finally to relinquish an idea which has failed, a vision of redemption which has somehow been made profane..."
But this form of psychological warfare, directed against the Jewish dream, and designed to divide Jews of the diaspora from their own people in Israel, failed in Russia.
Jews all over the world need to reject it, wherever it raises it's ugly head.
As Wiesel describes 'there are Jews who will under no circumstances let themselves be severed from their people'.
August 13, 2014
In 1966 Elie Wiesel went to the Soviet Union to find out for himself, albeit an eye witness, as what as happening with the Russian Jews. Nothing had been heard from them (3 million strong), so there was fear that there were no openly practicing Jews left in the Soviet Union. What Wiesel found was the complete opposite. Although the Soviets tried to denounce Judaism (as they did all religions really), the Jewish youth were desperate to understand their Jewishness, even if there were no books or teachers or Rabbis to teach them.
October 24, 2013
Since my two visits to the Jewish Autonomous Region of Eastern Russia in 2008 I have had laid on my heart questions of why and how Stalin forced the Jewish people there and the way in which their population during my visit to the region had diminished to 2%. In Elie Wiesel's moving description of the fear surrounding a one night celebration of Simchat Torah in Moscow in 1965 and again in 1966 I was brought to tears with the youth coming together in a sea of commonality and the need to congregate. A need to worship that in the Western World pales in comparison.
March 30, 2025
We are so lucky to have Elie Wiesel's writing.
August 19, 2016
This is one of Elie Wiesel's reported stories about Judaism in Soviet Russia. Wiesel is taken with dancing in the street, worship and spiritual connection that come about even in an oppressive state. He protects the characters and even includes people he met in passing. It's a very different kind of reporting - blending ethnography and literary journalism. This book changed the course of history and was a good read.
October 23, 2013
Powerful & provocative. Absolute first stop for anybody interested in the Soviet Jewry movement
August 19, 2021
3.5 stars:
"first I encountered fear among the old people, then it was replaced by the exuberance of the young... perhaps I survived only to serve as a witness to the anguished ancestral faith of the former and the inspiring courage of the latter...
Fear has created a language of its own, and only one who lives with it day after day can hope to master the intricacies of its syntax...
The people crowding into the synagogue tonight were simple Jews who had come to learn that it was possible to be a Jew and to find reasons for rejoicing... or to rejoice for no reason at all...
And a thousand and one thanks for finding the strength to thank a Jew like me for being a Jew...
With us, being Jewish is not a matter of words, but of simple endurance, not of definition but of existence...
An ancient proverb says: God bestowed two gifts upon men. To some He gave the gift of wine, and to some the faculty of thirst. He gave the reality of Israel to us; the dream of Israel he left to the Jews of Russia. We are in need of them, just as they are in need of us. Perhaps more...
There are some visions which I am convinced we must not behold more than once...
There are certain silent glances that are worth more than all the prayers composed by the ancients...
Judaism is no longer a matter of apologetics with them. Unlike many of their counterparts in the West, they are not defensive about their Jewishness, but regard it as a basic fact of life which is not open to discussion or philosophical debate. "Anyone who wants to defame us can go ahead and do so," said a chemistry student... "That's their business. We simply don't answer. We refuse to argue with them. Our answer lies in the fact that we continue to survive--and that we wish to go on surviving." ...
"No one denies that there are anti-Semites here. We present a problem to them, but we've decided not to let them present a problem to us. Once and for all, we've simply refused." And yet it is the anti-Semites who have caused these youngsters to return to Judaism, who have coerced them into becoming more Jewish. "It hurts me that our 'revival' has come about because of external, rather than internal, pressures; my only comfort is that this fact hurts the anti-Semites even more," said a man who teaches foreign languages at one of the Soviet universities."
"first I encountered fear among the old people, then it was replaced by the exuberance of the young... perhaps I survived only to serve as a witness to the anguished ancestral faith of the former and the inspiring courage of the latter...
Fear has created a language of its own, and only one who lives with it day after day can hope to master the intricacies of its syntax...
The people crowding into the synagogue tonight were simple Jews who had come to learn that it was possible to be a Jew and to find reasons for rejoicing... or to rejoice for no reason at all...
And a thousand and one thanks for finding the strength to thank a Jew like me for being a Jew...
With us, being Jewish is not a matter of words, but of simple endurance, not of definition but of existence...
An ancient proverb says: God bestowed two gifts upon men. To some He gave the gift of wine, and to some the faculty of thirst. He gave the reality of Israel to us; the dream of Israel he left to the Jews of Russia. We are in need of them, just as they are in need of us. Perhaps more...
There are some visions which I am convinced we must not behold more than once...
There are certain silent glances that are worth more than all the prayers composed by the ancients...
Judaism is no longer a matter of apologetics with them. Unlike many of their counterparts in the West, they are not defensive about their Jewishness, but regard it as a basic fact of life which is not open to discussion or philosophical debate. "Anyone who wants to defame us can go ahead and do so," said a chemistry student... "That's their business. We simply don't answer. We refuse to argue with them. Our answer lies in the fact that we continue to survive--and that we wish to go on surviving." ...
"No one denies that there are anti-Semites here. We present a problem to them, but we've decided not to let them present a problem to us. Once and for all, we've simply refused." And yet it is the anti-Semites who have caused these youngsters to return to Judaism, who have coerced them into becoming more Jewish. "It hurts me that our 'revival' has come about because of external, rather than internal, pressures; my only comfort is that this fact hurts the anti-Semites even more," said a man who teaches foreign languages at one of the Soviet universities."
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 4, 2025
gosh, i feel so guilty rating a book by elie wiesel three stars! but it just wasn’t for me. i learned a bit about the jews of the former soviet union— i certainly didn’t know or understand the extent of the oppression they suffered— but the book itself felt extremely repetitive and a little confusing at times. as someone with very little knowledge of the soviet union and its treatment of jews (outside of “it was bad”), i felt that wiesel assumed his readers would have a solid base knowledge of the subject before opening this book. i didn’t, so i was immediately a bit lost. i felt like i had opened the book in the middle of the story.
i was further confused because wiesel wasn’t consistent in his opinions. i think this was because it was written more stream-of-consciousness/diary style, and maybe he was just adjusting his opinion over time. i’m still not entirely sure.
ironically, the simplicity and straight-forwardness of the epilogue (written by a different author) was more my style. i was grateful that the epilogue showed the significance of wiesel’s publishing of this book and all the work he did for the jews of russia.
i write these reviews mostly for myself, so if you see this, please don’t let my review disuade you from picking up this book. nonfiction is a challenge for me regardless, and i think i set myself up for failure when i didn’t realize i should’ve had more background knowledge than i did before i picked up this book. if you go into the book with interest in the subject and an understanding of what the book wants to be (more of a series of diary-like entries than an informational book about the jews of russia), you’ll likely have a better experience than i did.
i was further confused because wiesel wasn’t consistent in his opinions. i think this was because it was written more stream-of-consciousness/diary style, and maybe he was just adjusting his opinion over time. i’m still not entirely sure.
ironically, the simplicity and straight-forwardness of the epilogue (written by a different author) was more my style. i was grateful that the epilogue showed the significance of wiesel’s publishing of this book and all the work he did for the jews of russia.
i write these reviews mostly for myself, so if you see this, please don’t let my review disuade you from picking up this book. nonfiction is a challenge for me regardless, and i think i set myself up for failure when i didn’t realize i should’ve had more background knowledge than i did before i picked up this book. if you go into the book with interest in the subject and an understanding of what the book wants to be (more of a series of diary-like entries than an informational book about the jews of russia), you’ll likely have a better experience than i did.
July 8, 2022
A book about the persecution of Soviet Jews, but what's interesting is that the persecution is unclear, always under the cover of plausible deniability. What Wiesel notes most is the paranoia among Jews in the Soviet Union. Even if they aren't for certain being persecuted, the feeling is there, the sense that they are being followed, being watched, and the degradation of their souls under this condition. It reminds me of Orwell's comment that totalitarian systems hollow out the souls of its citizens even those who oppose the government.
Yet there is a silver lining. Despite the fact that synagogues are kept closed, that top jobs are denied to Jews, that doctors won't perform circumcisions, the Jew in the Soviet Union still identifies as Jewish and celebrates their Jewishness on the holidays. This is despite being communist, despite being atheists, despite knowing nothing about what Judaism. They only know that people hate them for being a Jew so they are a Jew and this is a shield.
Despite being interesting, I think the reason it's only three stars is the book could have told more stories of persecution in the Soviet Union. Far more time is dedicated to the celebration of Jewish holidays, and not as many specific stories of persecution within the Soviet union, so much so that one walks away from the book not remembering exactly how the Soviet union persecuted its Jews so much so that they are living in fear. In this sense, I think the book was written in a period of time where maybe this persecution was more understood. Reading it in 2022 is missing some critical details. But it did affect my ability to appreciate the book.
Yet there is a silver lining. Despite the fact that synagogues are kept closed, that top jobs are denied to Jews, that doctors won't perform circumcisions, the Jew in the Soviet Union still identifies as Jewish and celebrates their Jewishness on the holidays. This is despite being communist, despite being atheists, despite knowing nothing about what Judaism. They only know that people hate them for being a Jew so they are a Jew and this is a shield.
Despite being interesting, I think the reason it's only three stars is the book could have told more stories of persecution in the Soviet Union. Far more time is dedicated to the celebration of Jewish holidays, and not as many specific stories of persecution within the Soviet union, so much so that one walks away from the book not remembering exactly how the Soviet union persecuted its Jews so much so that they are living in fear. In this sense, I think the book was written in a period of time where maybe this persecution was more understood. Reading it in 2022 is missing some critical details. But it did affect my ability to appreciate the book.
May 7, 2017
Originally published in 1966 and reissued in the mid 80s, Wiesel's account of his travels across the Soviet Union to report on the state of the USSR's Jews made for fascinating reading. Great insight into life in the old USSR.
July 24, 2021
One of the writers who has the ability to draw in .
March 23, 2024
every time i read about soviet antisemitism it's crazy to me how it's still infecting society. the chapter on simchat torah made me weep- scary that it was october 7 that year too.
March 15, 2025
This was an incredible book - written almost 60 years ago and still, unfortunately, an extremely necessary read.
November 12, 2021
Riveting and beautiful look into Soviet Jewry before mass emigration to Israel. Paused often while reading this one to hold the book close to my heart.
February 26, 2008
more wiesel
September 1, 2023
A wondrous read.
want-to-obtain
March 16, 20241966 paperback
Author went to the USSR to investigate anti-semitism there and found it rampant. Lots of hate to go around.
Author went to the USSR to investigate anti-semitism there and found it rampant. Lots of hate to go around.
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April 1, 2018Its my favorite
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews