Elie Wiesel’s famous novel “Night” is not required reading in the 10th-grade curriculum, but every few years Guilderland English teacher Amy Salamone pulls it out to teach to a class she feels will be moved by the story.
This school year, one of her classes decided they were so touched they had to do more.
“This was the first time one of the classes wrote to the (Elie Wiesel) Foundation,” Salamone said. “It was really their idea. I need to give them credit.”
“Night” is a book by Wiesel about the experiences shared by himself and his father within German concentration camps during the Holocaust. Although the book is rather short at just over 100 pages, it is considered one of the most important works of Holocaust literature and is part of a trilogy consisting of “Night,” “Dawn,” and “Day” relating Wiesel’s experiences.
After reading the book, students found the story to be much different from what they learned about the Holocaust in history class.
“It was really tough to read because of all of the horrific events that happened,” said 15-year-old Tristan Komaromi. “It was a lot more graphic (than what is taught in class). I could actually visualize what happened.”
Another student, Mark Shepard, said history class is great for learning the facts of what happened during the Holocaust, but is void of the emotion contained in the stories.
Many students had trouble comprehending the actions of the Nazis and were shocked to learn of the meaningless loss of life in the gas chambers, of families physically fighting each other for food and people being made to dig their own graves before they died.
The group struggled with how sad the story was and wanted to do something to inspire hope. Having read excerpts of Anne Frank’s “The Diary of a Young Girl,” they thought of a tree — a hope tree.
Each student was given a gold star and was asked to write down something that symbolized hope in a time of despair.
One student wrote, “I believe no human should be judged on just one thing.” Another wrote, “I have learned that one can survive horrible events with hope, and their survival can teach us all to hope.” One student asked for an equal world, where people aren’t treated like objects.
The star were then turned into ornaments and placed on a fake tree inside the classroom.
Eventually the students asked if they could send a letter to Wiesel, who is 83 years old.
“I feel like they were worried about him still,” said Salamone.
The letter read, “We are grateful for your story and wanted to share what we learned from you, with you.” It also contained each of the student’s messages that were placed on the tree and a class photo.
To the students’ surprise, they soon received a reply.
“I am moved to learn of the effect that my memoir, ‘Night,’ had on you,” wrote Wiesel. “As a writer nothing is more important. From your words, it is obvious that you are all very sensitive to the darkness of which I wrote.”
Wiesel told the class he “was touched by the tree of message” and he hopes it blooms in the spring.
“You can use your knowledge and understanding to educate those who are unaware. You and your classmates can make a difference in creating a new kind of century,” he wrote.
The class was ecstatic at receiving the letter. Zach Johnston said he never thought they would hear back. “He’s such a celebrity,” he said.
The class will now plant a real “hope tree” on school property in the spring. Wiesel has been invited to attend the event.
“We want to see if he will join us, but he is elderly now so he might not,” said Salamone. “But it’s nice he responded specifically to our letter.”
She said in the future not every class would participate in the project.
“I thought it was beautiful because it came from the class and it had an impact,” she said. I don’t want it to be teacher directed because it’s not the same. I think that’s why (Wiesel) responded, because he knew it came from them.”
