Anecdotal recollection of dinner with Elie Wiesel and French President François Mitterrand

4.2.12 WC: 191694 helping their own people, and they have continued to try to help their people. Elie Wiesel's work is far more universal. For example, those who have suffered most in the former Yugoslavia have been the Croats and the Muslims. It was they who Elie Wiesel risked his life to protect. Yet during the Holocaust, which took the lives of 6 million of Wiesel's people, the Croats were among the most barbarous hands-on perpetrators of genocide against Jewish babies, women and men. The Islamic world has been in conflict with Elie Wiesel's people over Israel, and many innocent Jews have been murdered by Islamic co-religionists of Muslims who have been terrorized in Sarajevo. Yet, Wiesel makes no distinctions based on religion, race, creed or even enmity against his own people. He will bear witness, even at the risk of his life, to the suffering of any human beings, so long as they are not the aggressors. To be sure, Elie Wiesel speaks up on behalf of his people as well, with a voice of unparalleled eloquence. A great Jewish sage once wrote, "If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am for myself alone what am I? And if not now, when?" Elie Wiesel lives by that tripartite philosophy. He is the voice of the Jewish people - their international moral spokesman. But he speaks not for Jews alone; instead, he can be counted to combat hatred and bigotry regardless of who the victims may be. And for Elie Wiesel, tomorrow is never an excuse for not acting today. Over the years, we have worked closely together on issues relating to Soviet dissidents, the Armenian genocide, the massacres in Rwanda and Darfur, efforts to delegitimate Israel and other human rights concerns. I have sought his advice on many occasions, and it has always been wise and useful. In 1982, Elie was asked to present me with the William O. Douglas Award by the Anti- Defamation League. In presenting the award, he paid me the highest compliment: “If there had been a few people like Alan Dershowitz during the 1930's and 1940's, the history of European Jewry might have been different.” Although I have always believed that these words were highly exaggerated—no one could have stopped Hitler’s maniacal determination to kill the Jews of Europe—I have tried to hold myself up to his expectations of me. I recall his words every time I think of slowing down or doing less to protect the victims of human rights abuses. In 19 __, Elie and his wife, Marianne, invited me to their home in New York for an intimate dinner with French President, Frangois Mitterrand. Elie and his wife speak fluent French but I do not and neither did the two other couples at the dinner. Mitterrand spoke passable English but he insisted on conducting the entire conversation in French, with a British translator at his side. At one point, Mitterrand told a joke in French. None of the French speaking people at the table laughed. His translator then repeated it in English and everyone laughed hysterically. I asked Elie 399 HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_017486