The Oath

The Oath is the English title of Le serment de Kolvillag, by Elie Wiesel. It tells the story of Azriel, the only surviving member of the small Hungarian town of Kolvillag. Azriel carries the secret of Kollvilag's destruction within him, forbidden to share his experiances. 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 to his promise to the dead.

Le serment de Kolvillag is a powerful work told in fragments - the point of view 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. Some of the themes of Le serment de Kolvillag include the Holocaust, death, old age, secrecy, silence, and modernity.