“One who says that he hears the footsteps of the Messiah hears only the steps of my old friends. Those who went into the pale night twenty years ago, and were engulfed in flames by the angels.”

Elie Wiesel, “Mayne khaveyrim” (My Friends) from the Yiddish Forward in 1966 translated into English. You can read the whole reminiscence here.

The old Yiddish page is severe.