A Bit of Revisionism

From an interview with Eli Weisel:

INTERVIEWER

Why after the war did you not go on to Palestine from France?

WIESEL

I had no certificate. In 1946 when the Irgun blew up the King David Hotel, I decided I would like to join the underground. Very naively I went to the Jewish Agency in Paris. I got no further than the janitor who asked: “What do you want?” I said, “I would like to join the underground.” He threw me out. About 1948 I was a journalist and helped one of the Yiddish underground papers with articles, but I was never a member of the underground.

INTERVIEWER

I am surprised to hear you say you wanted to join since the notion of killing is so foreign to you.

WIESEL

Still, at that point, I felt I had to do something. I could only hope that if I had become a member I would not have had to kill. In 1946 I wanted to do something. The Jewish people were awakening, and my place was with the Jewish people. Whatever the Jews were doing, I had to be with them. Everything about the underground was alien to me. I was against killing, against violence.

Wiesel aided the Irgun and also Lechi underground, the Fighters for the Freedom of Israel.  His book, Dawn, is powerful.

See this picture:

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