Did Elie Wiesel Ever Show His Auschwitz Tattoo?

Posted on January 2, 2016 at 10:29 pm

Elie admits he doesn't have the tattoo A7713

A7713

The number A-7713 is hugely important in the life of Elie Wiesel, but not in the way most would think.

By Carolyn Yeager

A7713 IS A NUMBER that is widely recognized because of the story Night written by Elie Wiesel.

According to the story, 15-year old Eliezer had that number tattooed on his left forearm two days after he arrived at Auschwitz-Birkenau in May (or was it April?) 1944.

Wiesel says the story is a true report of his life experience and that he has that number on his arm still today. Yet by refusing to show it to the public for the past 60 years, he is as good as admitting that he does not have it.

In courts of law, whenever a claimant fails to provide proof of his claim, he forfeits his right to that claim. Wiesel has failed to provide proof that he has the tattoo so he must give up the claim. This is the clearest admission he could make, would you not agree? I mean, we're not talking about a private area of his body that he would not want to expose, but only his left forearm.

When this image is magnified, the possible "tattoo" is seen to be just a shadowy spot, not in any way a number. So sorry.

FALSE ALARM. When this image is magnified, the possible "tattoo" is seen to be just a denser area of spots and discoloration on Wiesel's arm, not in any way a number. See here.

Wiesel keeps his arm covered at all times in public and is never asked about it by the complicit media. However, on a few occasions he must have forgotten and did allow himself to be photographed with bare arms, so we do have a few photos of this part of his anatomy—but with no tattoo visible at all! When asked to comment on that fact, not only Mr. Wiesel, but Mrs. Wiesel, and all Wiesel's friends and business and academic associates remain totally silent. Even Oprah Winfrey has said nothing about it. This is not a reasonable way to behave.

Now put together the above with the knowledge that Wiesel's entire fabulous career, success and wealth (including the Nobel Peace Prize and other coveted awards) is dependent on his being Auschwitz prisoner A7713, and you easily see the crucial importance it has for him. There is no debate about it. A7713 is essential to Wiesel's life story and the prestige and book sales he enjoys today.

Even with all that at stake, he won't show it to anyone.

This can only be interpreted as an admission that he doesn't have it. And he knows it. He knows that he has admitted by default that he does not have that tattoo (and therefore is not who he says he is) but he obviously prefers not to say so. He will keep the charade going as long as he lives, which is not much longer.

At this point his admirers and supporters start coming up with harebrained reasons for why he doesn't have it or why he doesn't show it. Their "reasons" ignore known facts and common sense, and are easily knocked down. I look forward to receiving some in the comments, although defense for Elie doesn't have much staying power. His supporters may be starting to realize that it is he who makes them look foolish because of his refusal to engage on the issue. Especially, he refused to engage with Miklos Grüner on the issue—Grüner whose registration and other documentation at Auschwitz is in perfect order and who actually has a tattoo to match.

It was a fateful day for Elie Wiesel when, just off his great triumph at the Nobel Prize ceremony in Oslo in 1986, he went to Stockholm to meet "fellow Buchenwald child survivor" Miklos Grüner on a television show. That short meeting ("Wiesel refused to show me his tattoo") and the book Night he was given raised Grüner's suspicions. He began his search for documents relating to Elie Wiesel and Lazar Wiesel.

The result is that we discovered there are no documents at Auschwitz for Elie or Eliezer Wiesel with the birthdate 9-30-1928, nor is there a single photograph of him in any camp. Without the tattoo, Wiesel's got nothing at all to show he's a survivor except his own fake memoir.

So let's stir things up and get the information out there. A huge number of people, institutions and governments are guilty of being complicit in the fraud. It has become one of those "too big to fail" things, and in truth, without Grüner hunting down the documents (which only a former inmate could access), Wiesel would have gotten away with it.

Hats off to Michael Grüner! He's not perfect but he's done the world a great service.

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