Read the excerpt from elie wiesel’s all rivers run to the sea. i didn’t understand, though i wanted to. ask any survivor and you will hear the same thing: above all, we tried to understand. why all these deaths? what was the point of this death factory? how to account for the demented mind that devised this black hole of history called birkenau? perhaps there was nothing to understand. based on the excerpt, the author would most likely agree that the rationale for the holocaust will always be incomprehensible. history is likely to repeat itself if past events remain unresolved. there have been few mentally competent leaders throughout history. understanding the past enabled him to move on with his life.