How we cite our quotes: (Paragraph, Sentence)
Quote #1
He makes a few friends who, like himself, believe that the memory of evil will serve as a shield against evil; that the memory of death will serve as a shield against death. (5, 11)
One of the main things memory is (at least, in theory) good for is a reminder not to do terrible things. But, memory's not such a perfect record.
Quote #2
"Forget", they were told, "Forget where you came from; forget who you were. Only the present matters." (7, 2)
The Nazis had a vested interest in having their victims forget their lives outside of the camp. If you take away thoughts of a person's family, job, and life before the concentration camps, then you might have an easier job getting them to accept their terrible conditions as the way things are.
Quote #3
Of course we could try to forget the past. Why not? Is it not natural for a human being to repress what causes him pain, what causes him shame? (10, 1-3)
Forgetting's a powerful coping mechanism. But when you forget things that cause you shame completely, you won't learn that powerful lesson that shame is trying to bash into your skull right when you're trying to go to sleep.
Quote #4
Remembering is a noble and necessary act. The call of memory, the call to memory, reaches us from the very dawn of history. (12, 2-3)
After all, what is history even about but the formal remembering of the past? Learning from past mistakes is the heart of the whole heart of the study
Quote #5
And he is not alone. Governments of the Right and of the Left go much further, subjecting those who dissent, writers, scientists, intellectuals, to torture and persecution. How to explain this defeat of memory? (24, 4-6)
This is the central paradox, the central moral failing that Elie Wiesel is using this speech to speak against. Memories of the '30s and '40s were needed in order to avoid the atrocities that occurred during those decades from repeating…but instead, those memories were avoided.