Basic timeline of events: WWI: 1914-1918 WWII: 1939-1945 Hitler’s rise to power: 1933 Bombing of Pearl Harbor and US entrance into war: 1941

Elie Wiesel was born in what was left of the Austrio-Hungarian Empire in the late 1920’s. http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007200

Elie with his mother, Hilda and Béa

Shlomo and Elie Wiesel

Elie’s house in Sighet

Transylvania became part of Hungary in 1940 And the Jews saw more and more of their rights removed. They were herded into smaller and smaller areas. Their possessions were seized and, eventually, they were moved to a ghetto in Hungary. From there, they were deported.

The main temple in Budapest, inside the Jewish ghetto where thousands died.

Inside the synagogue, which still serves as a temple and also houses a museum and memorial park and cemetary

A garden was put in the courtyard of the synagogue during a reconstruction phase in 1931. This garden would play a tragic role in the life of the Jews of Hungary when the synagogue became part of a closed ghetto in 1944 where it was to serve as a shelter. It now serves as a graveyard During the 2 months of the winter of 44/45, 10,000 Jews froze to death or died from starvation, illness and bloodshed in the closed ghetto. The garden then became the cemetery for over 2,000 of these victims who were buried in 24 mass graves in the garden.  A significant number of these were unnamed due to the lack of surviving relatives. By the 1960’s, memorial plaques were placed in the garden to serve as symbolic graves. According to Jewish tradition, cemeteries cannot be on the premises of the house of prayer, but this graveyard is the result of the tragic events of WW2.

Behind the synagogue in the rear courtyard is a memorial park with this most impressive object, the Holocaust Memorial Tree which commemorates the 600,000 Hungarian Jewish victims of WW2. The weeping willow tree is made of stainless steel and silver and was founded by the Emanuel Foundation, headed by American actor Tony Curtis for the memory of his perished father. The leaves of this tree bear inscriptions with the names of Holocaust victims.

A close-up of the names on the leaves.

The ghetto in Budapest – about 7 blocks by 5 blocks The ghetto in Budapest – about 7 blocks by 5 blocks. It was used to house 100,000’s of people.

Part of the wall that used to surround the entire ghetto.

The Jews left behind most of their worldly possessions The Jews left behind most of their worldly possessions. They were later confiscated by the Hungarian Arrow Cross

The arrow cross also shot and killed many Jews, sending their bodies into the Danube to float away.

The park behind the synagogue at the end of the war

Elie at the time of liberation

Wiesel today

The Final Solution: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPXPjZurupc&t=490s Crash Course WWII: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q78COTwT7nE&t=600s