There were very few Nazi concentration camp survivors who were willing to tell their stories after World War II ended.

A decade passed and then some, they had lived through something that was beyond words. But

Ellie Visell, who had survived Auschwitz and Bookenvault, knew the stakes were too high for silence. His parents and younger sister

had been killed. Six million of his fellow Jews had been killed. He shattered the silence with a slim volume called simply

Night.

I pinched to myself. Was I still alive? Was I awake?

How was it possible that men, women and children were being burned

and that the world kept silent.

No, all this could not be real.

A nightmare, perhaps.

Soon I would wake up with a start, my heart pounding, and find that I was back in the room of my childhood with my books.

My father's voice tore me from my daydreams.

What a shame, a shame that you did not go with your mother.

I saw many children your age go with their mothers. His voice was terribly sad. I understood

that he did not wish to see what they would do to me. He did not wish to see his only son go up in flames.

My forehead was covered with cold sweat. Still I told him that I could not believe that human beings

were being burned in our times. The world would never tolerate such crimes.

The world is not interested in us. Today everything is

possible. Even the crematoria.

That excerpt was from the audiobook version of Night, read by actor George Guidal.

Here is Ellie Visele. I wrote it not for myself really. I wrote it for the other survivors who found it difficult to speak.

And I wanted really to tell them, look, you must speak.

...