by
Carolyn Yeager
Part III: Nine reasons why
Elie Wiesel cannot be the
author of Un di Velt Hot
Gesvign (And the World
Remained Silent).
1. The only original source
for the existence of an
862-page Yiddish manuscript
is Elie Wiesel.
Wiesel’s 1995 memoir All
Rivers Run to the Sea is the
first time he mentions
writing this book in the
spring of 1954 on an ocean
vessel on his way to Brazil.
In the original English
translation of Night, Hill
and Wang, 1960, there is no
mention of the Yiddish book
from whence it came. Nowhere
does it name the original
version and publication
date. There is no preface
from the author, only a
Foreword by Francois Mauriac
who was satisfied to simply
call the book a “personal
record.”
In his 1979 essay titled
“An Interview Unlike Any
Other,” Wiesel declares
that his first book was
written “at the insistence
of the French Catholic
writer Francois Mauriac”
after their first meeting in
May 1955. There is no
mention in this essay of a
Yiddish book, of any length.
By “his first book” he
obviously meant La Nuit,
published in 1958 in France.
38
In his Nobel Peace Prize
acceptance speech in
Dec.1986, Wiesel doesn’t
mention his books, but
refers twice to the
“Kingdom of Night” that
he lived through and once
says, “the world did know
and remained silent.” So
it’s not like he was
unaware of this book title.
39
Thus, All Rivers Run appears
to be the first mention of
the Yiddish origin of Night.
Why did Elie Wiesel decide
to finally write about And
the World Remained Silent in
that 1995 memoir? Could it
have been because in 1986,
after being formally awarded
the Nobel Peace Prize in
Stockholm, he was
“reunited” with a fellow
concentration camp inmate
Myklos Grüner, who, after
that meeting, read the book
Night that Wiesel had given
him, recognized the identity
of his camp friend Lazar
Wiesel in it, and from that
moment began his
investigation of who this
man named Elie Wiesel really
was?
Grüner writes in his book
Stolen Identity, “My work
of research to find Lazar
Wiesel born on the 4th of
September 1913 started first
in 1987, to establish
contact with the Archives of
Buchenwald.” 40 He was
also writing to politicians
and newspapers in Sweden.
This could not have failed
to attract the notice of
Elie Wiesel and his
well-developed public
relations network. Grüner
tracked down Un di Velt Hot
Gesvign as the original book
from which Night was taken,
and believed it was written
by his friend Lazar Wiesel
and “stolen” somehow by
“Elie.”41
This could account for why
Elie Wiesel suddenly began
to speak and write about his
Yiddish book, published in
Buenos Aires, Argentina in
1956. (It was actually
inserted into the larger
Polish collection in late
1954, according to the
Encyclopedia Judaica{see
part II}, and printed as a
single book in 1955, with a
1956 publication date.) 42
Wiesel claims the 862-page
typescript he handed over to
publisher Mark Turkov on the
ship docked at Buenos Aires
in spring 1954 was never
returned to him.43 (Wiesel
had not made a copy for
himself, and didn’t ask
Turkov to make copies and
send him one, according to
what he wrote in All
Rivers.)
The only other person
reported to ever have had
the typescript in his hands
was Mr. Turkov, but there is
no word from him about it.
We can only say for sure
that he published a 245-page
volume in Polish Yiddish
titled Un di Velt Hot
Gesvign by Eliezer Wiesel.
The book has no biographical
or introductory material—only
the author’s name. Eric
Hunt has made this Yiddish
book available on the
Internet 44 and is seeking a
reliable translator.
There is practically nothing
written about Mark Turkov.
You can read about his
accomplished family here. He
was born in 1904 and died
1983. There is no direct
testimony from Mark Turkov,
that I have been able to
find, that he ever received
such a manuscript. Since
Turkov lived until 1983 to
see the book Night become a
world-wide best seller, I
find this inexplicable. Did
no one seek him out to ask
him questions, ask for
interviews, take his picture?
But at the same time, that
becomes understandable if
Night was not connected with
Un di Velt until after 1986,
when Miklos Grüner entered
the picture and began asking
questions.
We’re left with asking:
was there ever an 862 page
manuscript? And if not, why
does Wiesel say he wrote
that many pages?
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