Initially after enduring the horrible conditions in the ghettos, mistreatment of the Jews and other unwanted citizens, horrors of the concentration camps, and the death of his family members, Elie Wiesal sought to be silent and to try and not face the issues that haunted him. However, after discussions with friends he began to realize that unless the atrocities continued to be in the minds of men, they could continue to look away. If mankind looked away from similar situations the same thing could happen again.
Wiesal had never expected that humanity could be so cruel and that nations of people would do nothing to help people who were so badly mistreated. He knew that they had not done anything wrong. Men, women, and children had been allowed to experience torturous situations and death because people had looked away.
Wiesal wrote his book "Night" and several others to demonstrate to mankind what atrocities men were capable of committing. He also wanted his books to serve as a witness and testament to the experiences of the Jews and people the Nazi government considered to be waste products. His desired outcome was that by writing of his experiences he could prevent future generations from making the same mistakes. He thought if the truth stayed hidden it would happen again. His truth was mean to help others to feel inspired to take action and prevent such occurrences from ever happening again in our world.
Unfortunately, it has happened again to the people of Dafur and other countries due to the concept of ethnic cleansing. When the Taliban took over in Afghanistan the process also occurred. Man's nature stills hides within. The work of Eli had not been created in vain though as it has been used by groups that have rallied together to raise public awareness, funding, and resources to try and protect the citizens in other lands who are being or have been harmed due to ethnic cleaning. There are other countries where ethnic cleansing has occurred and may still be occurring.
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