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Inside Auschwitz
Oprah's Book Club  |  May 24, 2006
Elie and Oprah at Block 17


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.
Printed from Oprah.com on Wednesday, May 22, 2013
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