How we cite our quotes: (Sentence)
Quote #4
Indifference is not a beginning; it is an end. And, therefore, indifference is always the friend of the enemy, for it benefits the aggressor—never his victim, whose pain is magnified when he or she feels forgotten. (62-63)
In "The Perils of Indifference," Elie Wiesel talks about how indifference is seductive because it's the easy choice. It doesn't put a crimp in your style. But that doesn't solve anything. In fact, it exacerbates the problem because by ignoring the victims and what they're experiencing, you're making their suffering worse. You're affirming their belief that no one gives a fig about them—and as a result, you end up helping the bad guys.
Quote #5
The depressing tale of the St. Louis is case in point. Sixty years ago, its human cargo—nearly 1,000 Jews—was turned back to Nazi Germany. And that happened after the Kristallnacht, after the first state-sponsored pogrom, with hundreds of Jewish shops destroyed, synagogues burned, thousands of people put in concentration camps. And that ship, which was already in the shores of the United States, was sent back. I don't understand. (81-85)
The Jewish refugees on board the St. Louis were turned away from Cuba, and then from the United States, before they were accepted into various countries throughout Europe, including the United Kingdom, France, and Belgium.
But both France and Belgium eventually fell to the Nazis, and some 254 refugees from the St. Louis ended up being murdered—which means the U.S. government's choice to turn their backs on the passengers, to be indifferent to their experiences, led to the loss of innocent lives.