How does one forgive after such extreme racism and tragedy?

In the short story “The Watch” by Elie Wiesel, the author forgives what has happened during the holocaust. He spends all night digging up his watch because he wants to relive his religion and his family through the watch. He is very determined to retrieve the watch “I’ll go to the bottom of my fear, to the bottom of the night, but I will know.”, which shows how much he would like to see something that reminds him of his family. Once he has dug up the watch and looked at it, he no longer feels the need to keep it. The watch wasn’t all that pretty anymore; “the watch too lived through war and holocaust, the kind reserved for watches perhaps.”, so he wanted to return it to its hole. He feels guilty  for stealing even though it was his in the first place. He buried the watch because he wanted to leave behind his negative past. He had to look at it and accept it one last time before he could put it to bed. Living with anger and hatred will eat you apart, you must accept and forgive to regain peace.