The Art of Inventing Hope: Intimate Conversations with Elie Wiesel by Howard Reich

The Art of Inventing Hope: Intimate Conversations with Elie Wiesel Reviews

• 
  Quo

  I learned of The Art of Inventing Hope: Intimate Conversations with Elie Wiesel via commentary by Howard Reich, the Arts Critic for the Chicago Tribune, the book's author. Both Elie Wiesel and Howard Reich had parents who were victims of the Holocaust & both Wiesel and Reich's own father were incarcerated at Auschwitz & later Buchenwald, though they never met, with both surviving their confinement & battling memories of the Nazi death-camps throughout their lives. Reich's mother also was haunted by her concentration camp experiences, while Elie Wiesel's parents & little sister died in the camps.
  
  
  
  Within much of the book, Elie Wiesel serves as a kind of therapist to Howard Reich, attempting to assist him in dealing with "survivor's guilt", which afflicts children such as Wiesel & Reich himself, who was afraid to push his parents to discuss the repressed horror of such life-changing experience but who also felt that he could have done more to assist them in coping with the aftermath of imprisonment in a place like Auschwitz. Wiesel contends that only the guilty should feel guilt, also commenting that "I did nothing in camp to survive, being too weak & too timid."
  
  Wiesel, who was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 1986, acknowledged the dark sentiments children of survivors are confronted with but offered a different view than some:

  They participate in a different dynamic, a role reversal in which the survivor parent needs protection & the child oddly finds himself or herself attempting to provide it, children taking responsibility--emotional & otherwise--for the situation they & their parents are in. In a strange way, the child becomes the parents' parent, protecting the parent from the after-effects of a tragedy that's difficult to discuss & yet impossible to escape.

  Instead, Elie Wiesel suggests that even if one's parents or grandparents are gone, one must recreate them with heart & mind, gathering what's left of the memories. For, "they may be gone physically but not metaphysically", so that "the survivor should use the surplus of love he or she feels, and not just on Jews." This is wonderfully concrete & uplifting counsel, offered not just to Howard Reich but to all of us.
  
  
  
  Mr. Reich asks Wiesel how the Holocaust was allowed to occur, especially in a country of mostly educated, cultured Europeans & he points to a general human fear of "the other", with a recent survey of 53,000 people taken in 102 countries covering 96 languages & dialects, indicating that 26% were deeply anti-Semitic, though 70% of them had never met a Jew. Beyond that, 54% had never even heard of the Holocaust.
  
  According to Wiesel, the killing of the Jews goes back to the time of the pharaohs but during WWII, the Nazis even killed Jews who had converted to Christianity. Thus, the Holocaust was somehow different, with Nazi Germany turning hatred of the Jews into an obsession & the Nazis creating a "calculus of death", continuing to murder Jews even when it was clear that the war was lost.
  
  As to why so few seemed to see it coming? There is an interesting comment, one I first heard about in Elie Wiesel's Night, relating that in his own village of Sighet in present-day Romania, a man known as "Moishe the Beadle", who had somehow escaped from a concentration camp in 1944 warned his townsfolk about the Nazi mass murder of Jews. No one, Wiesel included, believed the man, just considering him meshuggah, Yiddish for mad or insane. It just seemed too unreasonable that such a thing could occur, even in spite of past pogroms visited on Jews. In effect, the people of Sighet, as well as most others, simply lacked sufficient imagination to envision the Holocaust.
  
  
  
  It is felt that there is in fact a quality known as "active pessimism", which can still lead to change. Likewise, Wiesel's religious views are rather ambiguous because he intones that "the Messiah came too late & the creation of Israel came too late." He quotes Kafka: "When the Messiah will come, it will not be on the last day but the day after that." Call that "gallows' humor" if you wish but I rather enjoyed the quote. Nevertheless, Israel is absolutely indispensable to Jewish identity.
  
  In spite of the Holocaust & continuing anti-Semitism, The Art of Inventing Hope is in fact a hopeful book, as the title implies. There is a quote from a French poet & Holocaust survivor: "I am so weak that a pebble can kill me but as long as I breathe, I am immortal." Wiesel declares that "in moments of grace, words can attain the quality of deeds." And, at least for Jews, "hope is more than just an aspiration; it is an imperative."
  
  Ultimately, reprisal is a lost cause, in a way a 2nd loss for those who practice it. For, "hatred is a disease, especially when the hater sees aspects of those he hates in himself." There is no such thing as either collective guilt or collective innocence, according to Elie Wiesel.
  
  To be honest, Wiesel's thoughts were quite uplifting, while often the commentary of Howard Reich, especially his staunch defense of Netanyahu & the Israeli settler mentality with regard to continuing to force Palestinians from their homeland to allow for the expansion of Israel. I found The Art of Inventing Hope quite an interesting book to read, especially considering the inspirational life of Elie Wiesel following his survival from the charnel houses that claimed so very many lives.
• 
  Pam

  The Art of Inventing Hope: Intimate Conversations with Elie Wiesel is by Howard Reich. This outstanding work will long remain one of my favorite books on Holocaust history. I have long been an admirer of Elie Wiesel and this book just makes that admiration more intense. Howard Reich has let us into his private thoughts with Elie Wiesel and has given us an in-depth look at Elie Wiesel’s thoughts separate from his own books. This is done with such emotion and such a sense of respect and admiration that the reader is left in awe.
  Along with Elie Wiesel’s comments and beliefs that are exposed with this book, we also get a look at Howard Reich’s own family history or what little he knows of it. As those interested in Holocaust history, we often forget that not everyone who survived the Holocaust has made their story known, not even to their children. Although many more are sharing their stories now, they still represent a minute number compared to those who survived. Although it is understandable that they would not talk about it, it is also a shame that they did not get the chance nor see the need for it. For those who did and do tell their stories, it has to be extremely difficult to do so. Those memories must be horrific to remember much less tell anyone about.
  Their conversations cover a number of items of importance. However, the chapters on “We Are Witnesses”, “ How did our parents stay sane”, and “How do we speak of this.” Are possibly the most meaningful to me and the most troubling. As an educator, I always told my students that they were now witnesses and I have tried to do that as well. In hearing survivors speak, I often wondered how they managed to stay sane while in the camps or in hiding. It is something I simply can’t imagine. Of course, “Why we speak of this” appeals to the ultimate teacher in me. The thought that this event is not remembered as it should be and possibly will be forgotten except as a footnote in history sincerely upsets me. This is an important time in history and we should be compelling all students to learn the lessons it teaches.
  The book was one that I had to stop and think about the chapters before going on to the next. It was not one to be rushed through nor read in one sitting, although I could have. It was emotional and yet at the same time uplifting. One could just imagine being the person sitting in the room listening to these great men speak. It was truly inspiring. It is a book which should be talked about as well as read. It is perfect for a reading circle who is interested in Holocaust topics. I would love to be able to hear Howard Reich speak about his book; but unfortunately, distance is an issue.
  
• 
  Val

  Ellie Wiesel is so well-known there are few who do not know his story or that he authored the universally-studied “Night” and other books based on his Holocaust experiences. What made this an interesting read were Wiesel’s thoughts on how the Holocaust affected multiple generations. Children in the Holocaust generation who survived the camps but whose parents were murdered. Children who were born after the war but never knew their grandparents, aunts, or uncles who were murdered. Survivors who did their best to move forward with some semblance of life despite crippling PTSD (before anyone really understood that medical condition), Survivors and those who lost loved ones not wanting to talk about the Holocaust.
  
  That was something I had not known before reading Wiesel’s explanation that most Jews did not talk much about the Holocaust publicly or in private, it was a dark shadow hovering over them and they were afraid to talk about it and dredge up horrible memories and long-suppressed feelings. Wiesel describes how that didn’t really change until 1980 with the first TV documentary about the Holocaust, which although filled with inaccuracies, started some international dialogue on the subject and led to more study, more documentaries, and eventually an all-out effort to memorialize what happened in hopes of preventing a future reoccurrence. Wiesel and the author spend a great deal of time in their talks discussing the word “remember” and how heavily it is emphasized as a duty in the Jewish faith and scriptures. Most of the key dates in the Jewish calendar are held in order to remember important events, keeping memories fresh and faith strong. It was intriguing to read Wiesel’s explanation of why it took decades for a movement within the Jewish community to remember to start gaining momentum, while in Germany the government instituted school curriculum to sear into the German psyche the shame and horror of what the nation had done.
  
  Another intriguing part of this book is Wiesel’s responses to questions about FDR and America’s initial isolation and avoidance of entering WWII. In particular Wiesel addresses what history shows FDR knew about violence against Jews in Europe and when he knew it. Wiesel does not cast FDR as a villain, pointing out that FDR was reelected on a “keep us out of war” platform regardless of sympathies he may have had with the worsening situation for Europe’s Jews, but it is clear he knew long before the US entered the war that there was an ongoing systematic removal of Jews with accompanying violence and great loss of property.
  
  This book has value for anyone who wants to learn a little more about Ellie Wiesel, a little about the establishment of Israel, and a little about how Jews of his generation felt when hearing Wagner’s music, knowing of Wagner’s anti-semitism and that his music was in essence the nazi soundtrack for the war and Hitler’s Final Solution. The book is very insightful if you want to learn a lot more about how the Holocaust affected multiple generations and Jewish collective memory for decades after the last concentration camp was liberated.
  
• 
  David

  If you've read books by Elie Wiesel like Night, and haven't read The Art of Inventing Hope: Intimate Conversations with Elie Wiesel yet, you definitely want to add this one. Author Howard Reich was a journalist with the Chicago Tribune when he got an assignment to interview Elie Wiesel. This was particularly meaningful to him as his father was also a Holocaust survivor who had been liberated on April 11, 1945 from the Buchenwald death camp along with Mr. Wiesel. Growing up, his father said little about his experiences until it was too late. Likewise his mother, also a Holocaust survivor, said little until her later years when she developed memory problems. So he was excited about meeting and talking with one of the most recognized and revered Holocaust survivors; little did he know that this would develop into regular meetings and friendship and partnership that would go on for over four years until Elie Wiesel's death in 2016. The result of all of those conversations about his life, his ideas, his writings, and his insights on life, ethics, and memory. This is a very well-written (Elie Wiesel, upon reading the draft manuscript, told the author to not change a word), intimate, and thought-provoking look at the life of one of the best of humanity.
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  Drick

  Howard Reich is the son of Holocaust survivors and Elie Wiesel is a survivor of the HOlo;caust. Both Wiesel and Reich's father were freed by the Allies in Buchenwald. Late in life realized he did not know what had happened to his parents, but a traumatic reenactment by his mother started him on a path to greater understanding. Through a series of fortuitous circi=umstances he met and developed a friendship with Elie Wiesel and what followed was about 4 years of conversations which are summarized in this book.
  
  The conversations ranged from the experiences of the Holocaust and after, the meaning of hope, faith and the role of Israel in history and in the world today, The conversations were insightful and deeply moving, as well as deeply troubling, realizing the depths to which human evil can go. While I have read Wielesl's account of Auschwitz and Buchenwald in his book Night, this book has prompted me to seek out more of his writings to learn for them.
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  Judy G

  A gem and yet I doubt that non jewish people will be attracted to this book which has one focus. It is conversations between the author Howard Reich (no relation to Robert Reich economist) in Chicago a journalist and Elie Wiesel between 2012-2016. Wiesel was a child in Europe Romania when Nazi G began to deliver on its evil intent to destroy the jewish people and the jewish identity. Wiesel and his father and his sisters and his mother were sent to the death camps - Auschwitz and Buchenwald. After it ended it was Elie and 2 sisters who lived. He never ever got over the death of his father in the camp.
  So that is some background. This book focuses on life of the survivors ' children and that includes the author Howard Reich who at that time was dealing with his living mother who had cracked up from the repressed memories of that time.
  This book as I said is a gem and it is conversations on this subject
  
  from Judy g
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  Relstuart

  Fascinating consideration of what it was like to be a child of parents that survived concentration camps or being on the run during the holocaust.
  
  The author noted his mother always stayed up at night sitting in the living room periodically checking the window out the front of their house. He never saw his mom go to bed and as far as he was aware, she never slept in the bed with his father the whole time he was growing up. As a child he just assumed it was normal. It wasn't until much later he learned she escaped a National Socialist ghetto and was on the run for years as a child/young teen during WWII. She spent every night watching in case someone was going to come looking to kill her or her family.
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  Liza Wiemer

  Incredible. Thought-provoking. Captivating. Important. Timeless.
  Imagine having the opportunity to sit down and ask Elie Wiesel some of life's toughest question. Not just once, but many times over a four-year period. Howard Reich had that opportunity and he shares those conversations in THE ART OF INVENTING HOPE: Intimate Conversations with Elie Wiesel.
  
  The audiobook was phenomenal and the narrator did an outstanding job, so much so that I forgot that I wasn't listening to Howard, but someone who was performing as Howard. Outstanding choice.
  
  Without a doubt readers—or listeners—will walk away with gems. One in particular important message is that when we hear a story, even if we are not at the event, we become witnesses. That is why it's crucial to read books on the Holocaust, speak to survivors and their descendants. We become a crucial link to "Never again!"
  
  I am grateful that I also own a copy of this book. Reading it once is not enough. I have no doubt that this wisdom-filled book will speak to me in different ways each time I read it.
  
  Highly recommend!
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  DC

  This book presents us with the many paradoxes that surround anyone's understanding of the Holocaust - that is a cental theme of the text. (I don't mean contradictions like whether it happened or not; it did.) It is over, but still happening. It leads us both towards faith and towards disbelief.
  
  That's really what this book is - something so beautiful and so sad. So hopeful and so bleak.
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  Eric

  A good resource for someone interested in what it is like to be a child of Holocaust survivors. Wiesel's words are as comfortable as ever. This is a slim volume, and not where a newcomer to Weisel's story should start. In fact it is written by Howard Reich, a music critic for the Chicago Tribune, who discovered his family's history relatively late in life.
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  Vanessa Ehrlich

  Howard Reich brings us into the room with him as he spends hour after hour with Eli Wiesel. You feel like you you know Eli Wiesel as a friend, professor and Jewish hero. I have heard Howard speak and his personal story as the child of survivors is also poignant and informing. I reccommend this book as a wonderful introduction to Eli Wiesel.
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  Lynne

  I was a bit disappointed in that the author spent a lot of time on his own autobiography...from the title and promos, it seemed it would be even more of Wiesel's thoughts.
  
  Two of the chapters stand out and make the book worthwhile: "Moment of grace" and "The art of inventing hope"...
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  Erin Woodall

  Elie Wiesel always seemed to try to do things positively. Even his answers to the questions he stayed severe he was comfortable. He has an interesting view on the horrors that happened at the camps. I'm so glad he talks and shares but does not encourage hate.
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  Philip

  There are no answers. The saddest and most disgusting commentary on humanity. It continues even today.
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  Karen

  Elie Wiesel's words in conversation are explored and explained in this text. The authors's beautiful writing and Elie Wiesel's magnificent thoughts are both sad and uplifting at the same time.
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  Sariqd

  Enjoyed reading how the author's perceptions of his own family changed upon hearing Elie Wiesel's experiences.
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  Terri

  Unexpected. This book touched me to my core.
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  Sue Putnam

  Many reasons why not to lash back at the attacker.....
  And what to do and who to be instead.
  Inspiring!
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  Missy

  Deeply moving. The world is a darker place without Elie Wiesel. I will read anything pertaining to him, his life, his thoughts. But I also enjoyed reading the author’s thoughts alongside Wiesel’s and seeing the relationship between the two men. I grieve not only for the author’s loss of his mentor and friend but also the world’s loss.