Professor Wiesel tells Oprah how he overcame insurmountable odds as they stand in front of Block 17, one of the barracks where he lived as a prisoner.
Oprah: It is just a miracle—it feels like a miracle—that you did survive.
Elie Wiesel: Believe me, Oprah, I can't understand it. I was the wrong person for it. I was always timid, frightened, bashful...I had never taken any initiative to try to live. I never pushed myself, never volunteered. I was the wrong person. I was always sick when I was a child. I got here, and if I survived this place until Buchenwald, it was because my father was alive. And I knew that if I died, he would die.
Oprah: So you stayed alive for him?
Elie Wiesel: For him.
