one convince himself without feeling guilty that he may use such events for literary purposes?"Weisel says that any survivor who has told the story of their experiences in the Holocaust cannot tell the whole story, or people will think that they are crazy. "Most novelists of this category, or most writers, seem to have followed the same pattern. Viewing literature as a way to correct their friends, to their families, to their own childhood and to their people (Weisel 8)." Some of the victims of the Holocaust realized how important it was to keep a record of the events of the time. "Chaim Kaplan wrote in his diary on January 16, 1942, "The whole nation is sinking in a sea of horror and cruelty. I do not know whether anyone else is recording these daily events. The conditions of life which surround us are not conducive to such literary labors. Anyone who keeps such a record endangers his life. But it doesn't alarm me. I sense within me the magnitude of this hour and my responsibility to it (Weisel 9)." Another entry in Kaplan's journal on the date of July 31, 1942, he said, "My powers are insufficient to record all that is worthy of being recorded. Most of all I am worried that I may be consuming my strength for naught. Should I too be taken, all my effort will be wasted. My utmost concern is for hiding my diary so that it will be preserved for future generations. As long as my pulse beats I shall continue y sacred task (Weisel 10)." Weisel later goes on to recall the words of Professor Simon Dubnow, "as he was led to the execution place in Riga with his community, turned to his companions and urged them, "Open your eyes and your ears. Remember every word, every gesture, every outcry, every tear." He was killed but his words remained. Somebody remembered these words. Eugene Heimler, a psychiatrist, a young Hungarian Jewish boy, wrote in he memoir, "There were messages I had to deliver to the living from the dead. The...
