''The Oath'' (original title, French: ''Le serment de Kolvillàg'') is a novel by

Elie Wiesel Elie Wiesel (, born Eliezer Wiesel ''Eliezer Vizel''; September 30, 1928 – July 2, 2016) was a Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Peace Prize, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He authored Elie Wiesel b ...

. It tells the story of Azriel, the only surviving Jewish member of the small (fictionally named) Hungarian town of Kolvillàg after a

pogrom A pogrom () is a violent riot incited with the aim of massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe 19th- and 20th-century attacks on Jews in the Russia ...

perpetrated by neighboring Christians.Marcel Cornis-Pope, John Neubauer ''History of the Literary Cultures of East-Central Europe'' 9027234523 - 2004 "In Le serment de Kolvillag (1973) an oath of silence is taken by the Jewish community itself just before its annihilation. In the latter, as well as in L'Oublie (The Forgotten; 1989), the protagonists finally break the silence, sharing their tragic past" Azriel carries the secret of Kolvillàg's destruction within him, forbidden to share his experiences. However, when Azriel meets a young man on the brink of suicide fifty years later, he realizes that he must pass on his secret to save the young man's life - yet he is bound by his promise to the dead. ''Le serment de Kolvillàg'' is a work told in fragments - the

point of view Point of view or Points of View may refer to: Concept and technique * Point of view (philosophy), an attitude how one sees or thinks of something * Point of view (literature) or narrative mode, the perspective of the narrative voice; the pronou ...

changes from present-day Azriel, the Azriel of the past, the young man in the present, and the young man's past. It is unstructured to the point where it borders on

Surrealism Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

. Some of the themes of ''Le serment de Kolvillag'' include pogroms, death, old age, secrecy, silence, and modernity.

References

1973 French novels Novels by Elie Wiesel Novels set during World War II Personal accounts of the Holocaust Novels set in Hungary Éditions du Seuil books {{1970s-Holocaust-novel-stub