“When a term of office is over, the job has been accomplished, and age has made the horizon move up closer, there may be a strong urge to assemble one’s scattered thoughts and to turn to writing as a way of putting order into one’s life.

“At the place where I now stand, I too feel the need to say what matters to me, uttering words that have been held back for so long. Such is the aim of this book. That is why I have undertaken the task of memory with Elie Wiesel.” François Mitterrand