During Elie Wiesel’s time in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps, he was met with the sentiment, “Forget where you came from; forget who you were. Only the present matters.” German forces at concentration camps echoed this sentiment to many persecuted ethnic Jews, attempting to shed their last shred of individuality. Elie Wiesel did not follow the words of his oppressors. Instead, Elie learned the importance of memory, despite the repeated attempts at stripping away his identity. Elie Wiesel’s writing has imparted the value of retaining individual memory with me. Throughout Wiesel’s lecture, one major point is reinforced throughout the entirety of the reading. He begins his lecture with an old tale regarding Judaism, eventually