Elie Wiesel#Criticism

{{Short description|American writer and activist (1928–2016)}}

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{{Use American English|date=August 2023}}

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{{Infobox writer

| image = ELIE WIESEL (5112581267).jpg

| caption = Wiesel in 1996

| birth_name = Eliezer Wiesel

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1928|09|30}}

| birth_place = Sighet, Kingdom of Romania

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2016|07|02|1928|09|30}}

| death_place = New York City, U.S.

| occupation = {{cslist|Author|professor|activist|journalist}}

| alma_mater = University of Paris

| subjects = {{cslist|The Holocaust|religion|philosophy}}

| notableworks = Night (1960)

| citizenship = {{plainlist|

  • Romania (until 1940)
  • Hungary (1940–1944){{Cite web|title=Elie Wiesel Timeline and World Events: 1928–1951|url=https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/elie-wiesel-timeline-and-world-events-1928-1951|access-date=March 10, 2023|website=encyclopedia.ushmm.org|language=en|archive-date=March 10, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230310115157/https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/elie-wiesel-timeline-and-world-events-1928-1951|url-status=live}}
  • Stateless (1944–1963){{Cite web|title=Elie Wiesel Timeline and World Events: From 1952|url=https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/elie-wiesel-timeline-and-world-events-from-1952|access-date=March 10, 2023|website=encyclopedia.ushmm.org|language=en|archive-date=March 10, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230310115156/https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/elie-wiesel-timeline-and-world-events-from-1952|url-status=live}}
  • United States (from 1963)

}}

| spouse = {{marriage|Marion Erster Rose|April 2, 1969}}

| children = Elisha

| awards = {{indented plainlist|

}}

| module = {{Listen|pos=center|embed=yes|filename=Elie Wiesel voice.ogg|title=Elie Wiesel's voice|type=speech|description=Wiesel's "The Perils of Indifference" speech
Recorded April 12, 1999}}

| resting_place = Sharon Gardens Cemetery, Valhalla, New York, U.S.

}}

Eliezer "Elie" Wiesel{{efn|{{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɛ|l|i|_|v|iː|ˈ|z|ɛ|l}} {{respell|EL|ee|_|vee|ZEL}} or {{IPAc-en|ˈ|iː|l|aɪ|_|ˈ|v|iː|s|əl}} {{respell|EE|ly|_|VEE|səl}};{{cite web|url=https://www.teachingbooks.net/pronounce.cgi?aid=76|title=Audio Name Pronunciation {{!}} Elie Wiesel|website=TeachingBooks.net|access-date=July 3, 2016|archive-date=August 12, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220812114021/https://www.teachingbooks.net/pronounce.cgi?aid=76|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/nls/about/organization/standards-guidelines/uvwx/|title=NLS Other Writings: Say How, U-X|website=National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS)|publisher=Library of Congress|access-date=December 30, 2017|archive-date=October 30, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191030141405/http://www.loc.gov/nls/about/organization/standards-guidelines/uvwx/|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/elie-wiesel|title=Wiesel, Elie|work=Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English|access-date=2023-11-07|archive-date=November 16, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221116174444/https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/elie-wiesel|url-status=live}} {{Langx|yi|אליעזר "אלי" װיזל|Eliezer "Eli" Vizl}}}} (September 30, 1928 – July 2, 2016) was a Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He authored 57 books, written mostly in French and English, including Night, which is based on his experiences as a Jewish prisoner at Auschwitz and Buchenwald during the Holocaust.{{cite news |url=https://www.today.com/popculture/winfrey-selects-wiesel-s-night-book-club-wbna10879079 |title=Winfrey selects Wiesel's 'Night' for book club |agency=Associated Press |date=January 16, 2006 |access-date=May 17, 2011 |archive-date=June 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220614112833/https://www.today.com/popculture/winfrey-selects-wiesel-s-night-book-club-wbna10879079 |url-status=live }}

As a political activist, Wiesel became a regular speaker on the subject of the Holocaust and remained a strong defender of human rights during his lifetime, advocating for justice in numerous causes around the globe, including that of Soviet Jews and Ethiopian Jews, South African apartheid, the Rwandan genocide, the Bosnian genocide, the War in Darfur, the Kurdish independence movement, the Armenian genocide, Argentina's Desaparecidos, Nicaragua's Miskito people, the Sri Lankan Tamils, and the Cambodian genocide. He was also an outspoken advocate for Israel and frequently weighed in to support the country during escalations of the Arab–Israeli conflict and throughout the Iran–Israel proxy conflict, while also hosting direct talks to facilitate the Israeli–Palestinian peace process.[https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2016-07-03/elie-wiesel-was-a-witness-to-evil-and-a-symbol-of-endurance "Elie Wiesel was a witness to evil and a symbol of endurance"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170118042109/http://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2016-07-03/elie-wiesel-was-a-witness-to-evil-and-a-symbol-of-endurance|date=January 18, 2017}}, US News & World Report, July 3, 2016[http://jewishstandard.timesofisrael.com/remebering-elie-wiesel/ "Remembering Elie Wiesel"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160709185836/http://jewishstandard.timesofisrael.com/remebering-elie-wiesel/|date=July 9, 2016}}, Jewish Standard, July 7, 2016{{Cite web |last=Wiesel |first=Elisha |title=My father, Elie Wiesel, survived Auschwitz. He'd ask these questions about Israel-Hamas war. |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2023/11/01/israel-hamas-war-antisemitic-violence/71392141007/ |access-date=2025-05-20 |website=USA TODAY |language=en-US}}{{Cite news |last=Erlanger |first=Steven |date=2006-06-22 |title=Abbas and Olmert Embrace at Informal First Meeting |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/22/world/middleeast/22cnd-mideast.html |access-date=2025-05-20 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}

Wiesel was a professor of the humanities at Boston University, which created the Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Studies in his honor. He received a number of awards, including the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986.{{cite web |date=October 14, 1986 |title=The Nobel Peace Prize for 1986: Elie Wiesel |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1986/press-release/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071016190029/http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1986/press.html |archive-date=October 16, 2007 |access-date=May 17, 2011 |publisher=The Nobel Foundation}}{{Cite web |last=Corinne Segal |date=July 2, 2016 |title=Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize winner, dies at 87 |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/elie-wiesel-holocaust-survivor-and-nobel-peace-prize-winner-dies-at-87 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230810230626/https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/elie-wiesel-holocaust-survivor-and-nobel-peace-prize-winner-dies-at-87 |archive-date=August 10, 2023 |access-date=August 8, 2023 |website=PBS |language=en-us}}{{Cite web |last=Carrie Kahn |date=July 2, 2016 |title=Elie Wiesel, Holocaust Survivor And Nobel Laureate, Dies At 87 |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/07/02/166184644/elie-wiesel-holocaust-survivor-and-nobel-laureate-dies-at-87 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180405033745/https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/07/02/166184644/elie-wiesel-holocaust-survivor-and-nobel-laureate-dies-at-87 |archive-date=April 5, 2018 |access-date=August 8, 2023 |website=npr}} He was a founding board member of the Human Rights Foundation and remained active in it throughout his life.{{cite web |url=https://humanrightsfoundation.org/about/board-and-international-council/elie-wiesel |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140725001907/http://humanrightsfoundation.org/about/board-and-international-council/elie-wiesel |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 25, 2014 |title=Elie Wiesl |work=Human Rights Foundation |access-date=July 3, 2016 }}{{cite web |title=Human Rights Foundation Lauds OAS Discussion on Venezuela |url=http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=2414947&CategoryId=10717 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160625133259/http://laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=2414947&CategoryId=10717 |archive-date=June 25, 2016 |access-date=July 3, 2016 |work=Latin American Herald Tribune}} Wiesel was one of the main figures who spearheaded the establishment of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1993.

Early life

File:Eli wiesel house in sighet01.jpg

Eliezer Wiesel was born in Sighet (now Sighetu Marmației), Maramureș, in the Carpathian Mountains of Romania.{{cite web |url=http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/wiesel.htm |title=Elie Wiesel |website=Books and Writers (kirjasto.sci.fi) |first=Petri |last=Liukkonen |publisher=Kuusankoski Public Library |location=Finland |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100107170206/http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/wiesel.htm |archive-date=January 7, 2010 |url-status=dead }} His parents were Sarah Feig and Shlomo Wiesel. At home, Wiesel's family spoke Yiddish most of the time, but also German, Hungarian, and Romanian.{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/eliewiesel/life/ |title=The Life and Work of Wiesel |publisher=Public Broadcasting Service |access-date=August 15, 2010 |year=2002 |archive-date=December 25, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225014415/https://www.pbs.org/eliewiesel/life/%20 |url-status=live }}{{cite web|title=Elie Wiesel Biography and Interview|website=achievement.org|publisher=American Academy of Achievement|url=https://achievement.org/achiever/elie-wiesel/#interview|access-date=April 15, 2020|archive-date=October 5, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101005074258/http://achievement.org/autodoc/page/wie0bio-1#interview|url-status=live}} Wiesel's mother, Sarah, was the daughter of Dodye Feig, a Vizhnitz Hasid and farmer from the nearby village of Bocskó. Dodye was active and trusted within the community.

Wiesel's father, Shlomo, instilled a strong sense of humanism in his son, encouraging him to learn Hebrew and to read literature, whereas his mother encouraged him to study the Torah. Wiesel said his father represented reason, while his mother Sarah promoted faith.Fine 1982:4. Wiesel was instructed that his genealogy traced back to Rabbi Schlomo Yitzhaki (Rashi), and was a descendant of Rabbi Yeshayahu ben Abraham Horovitz ha-Levi.Wiesel, Elie, and Elie Wiesel Catherine Temerson (Translator). "Rashi (Jewish Encounters)". {{ISBN|9780805242546}}. Schocken, January 1, 1970. Web. October 27, 2016.

Wiesel had three siblings—older sisters Beatrice and Hilda, and younger sister Tzipora. Beatrice and Hilda survived the war, and were reunited with Wiesel at a French orphanage. They eventually emigrated to North America, with Beatrice moving to Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Tzipora, Shlomo, and Sarah did not survive the Holocaust.

Imprisonment and orphaning during the Holocaust

File:Buchenwald Slave Laborers Liberation.jpg, photo taken April 16, 1945, five days after liberation of the camp. Wiesel is in the second row from the bottom, seventh from the left, next to the bunk post.{{cite web |url=https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/photo/former-prisoners-of-the-little-camp-in-buchenwald |title=Elie Wiesel — Photograph |publisher=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum |access-date=November 15, 2022 |archive-date=November 15, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221115152158/https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/photo/former-prisoners-of-the-little-camp-in-buchenwald |url-status=live }}]]

In March 1944, Germany occupied Hungary, thus extending the Holocaust into Northern Transylvania as well.{{efn|In 1940, after the Second Vienna Award, Northern Transylvania, including the town of Sighet (Máramarossziget) was returned to Hungary.}} Wiesel was 15, and he, with his family, along with the rest of the town's Jewish population, was placed in one of the two confinement ghettos set up in Máramarossziget (Sighet), the town where he had been born and raised. In May 1944, the Hungarian authorities, under German pressure, began to deport the Jewish community to the Auschwitz concentration camp, where up to 90 percent of the people were murdered on arrival.

Immediately after they were sent to Auschwitz, his mother and his younger sister were murdered in the gas chambers. Wiesel and his father were selected to perform labor so long as they remained able-bodied, after which they were to be murdered in the gas chambers. Wiesel and his father were later deported to the concentration camp at Buchenwald. Until that transfer, he admitted to Oprah Winfrey, his primary motivation for trying to survive Auschwitz was knowing that his father was still alive: "I knew that if I died, he would die."[http://www.oprah.com/world/Inside-Auschwitz/5 "Inside Auschwitz"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160821173547/http://www.oprah.com/world/Inside-Auschwitz/5 |date=August 21, 2016 }}, Oprah Winfrey broadcast visit, January 2006 After they were taken to Buchenwald, his father died before the camp was liberated. In Night,{{cite web|url=http://aazae.com/night-by-elie-wiesel/|title=Night by Elie Wiesel|work=Aazae|access-date=October 27, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171025095029/http://aazae.com/night-by-elie-wiesel/|archive-date=October 25, 2017|url-status=dead}} Wiesel recalled the shame he felt when he heard his father being beaten and was unable to help.{{Cite web|date=July 2, 2016|title=Holocaust Survivor And Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel Dies|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/elie-wiesel-dead_n_57781653e4b0a629c1aa51bb|access-date=August 8, 2023|website=HuffPost|language=en|archive-date=October 20, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020031541/https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/elie-wiesel-dead_us_57781653e4b0a629c1aa51bb|url-status=live}}{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/20/books/review/Donadio-t.html | work=The New York Times | title=The Story of 'Night' | first=Rachel | last=Donadio | date=January 20, 2008 | access-date=May 17, 2011 | archive-date=December 25, 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225014415/https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/20/books/review/Donadio-t.html%20 | url-status=live }}

Wiesel was tattooed with inmate number "A-7713" on his left arm.{{cite web|url=http://www.nobelpeacelaureates.org/pdf/elem_EliezerWiesel.pdf|title=Eliezer Wiesel, 1986: Not caring is the worst evil|publisher=Nobel Peace Laureates|access-date=May 17, 2010|archive-date=July 27, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727125147/http://www.nobelpeacelaureates.org/pdf/elem_EliezerWiesel.pdf|url-status=live}}{{cite magazine|magazine=Time|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,141324,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111129004140/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,141324,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 29, 2011|title=Author, Teacher, Witness|last=Kanfer |first=Stefan |date=June 24, 2001 |access-date=May 17, 2011}} The camp was liberated by the U.S. Third Army on April 11, 1945, when they were just prepared to be evacuated from Buchenwald.See the film Elie Wiesel Goes Home, directed by Judit Elek, narrated by William Hurt. {{ISBN|1-930545-63-0}}

March of the Living

The March of the Living is an annual educational program that has brought over 300,000 participants from around the world to Poland, where they visit historical sites of the Holocaust, make a two-mile trek from Auschwitz to the former extermination site of Birkenau. Students learn about the experience through live testimony from survivors. Wiesel participated in the first March of the Living in 1988, during its founding year. Wiesel also attended in 1990, and in 2005, during the 60th anniversary of the end of WWII. Wiesel addressed over 18,000 in attendance. It was the biggest event in the program's history .{{Cite web |last=Staff |first=O. U. |date=2016-07-06 |title=Rabbi Lau: Elie Wiesel was a man of tremendous faith |url=https://www.ou.org/rabbi-lau-eli-weisel-man-tremendous-faith/ |access-date=2025-01-02 |website=Orthodox Union |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=MOTLorg |date=2023-04-11 |title=The International March of the Living's 35th anniversary – interview - International March of the Living |url=https://www.motl.org/the-international-march-of-the-livings-35th-anniversary-interview/#:~:text=Rosenman%20has%20attended%20every%20March,had%20not%20yet%20been%20accomplished.%E2%80%9D |access-date=2025-01-02 |language=en-US}}{{Cite news |date=2005-05-06 |title=A 'March of the Living' for the Holocaust dead |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/06/world/europe/a-march-of-the-living-for-the-holocaust-dead.html#:~:text=The%2018th%20March%20of%20the%20Living,%20which%20began,anniversary%20of%20the%20end%20of%20World%20War%20II |access-date=2025-01-06 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite web |title=Auschwitz March to Recall Holocaust Victims – DW – 05/04/2005 |url=https://www.dw.com/en/auschwitz-march-to-recall-holocaust-victims/a-1573658 |access-date=2025-01-06 |website=dw.com |language=en}}

On the 1990 March of the Living, Elie Wiesel addressed the participants at Auschwitz about his concerns about antisemitism. He stated, "We were convinced that antisemitism perished here. Antisemitism did not perish here; its victims perished here." He started to share a story of a young girl, paused, and left the stage. The footage stated Wiesel was simply unable to continue the story.{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQHwt40OmWE&ab_channel=JewishRemembrance |title=The Day Words Failed Elie Wiesel - Auschwitz-Birkenau 1990 March of the Living |date=2011-12-12 |last=Jewish Remembrance |access-date=2025-01-02 |via=YouTube}} The corroborating article from Eli Rubenstein, who was in attendance that day described that even "the world's most eloquent witness to the Holocaust," was not able to convey the story that led to the fate of this young girl.{{Cite web |last=MOTLorg |date=2016-07-27 |title=THE DAY WORDS FAILED ELIE WIESEL - International March of the Living |url=https://www.motl.org/the-day-words-failed-elie-wiesel/ |access-date=2025-01-02 |language=en-US}}

in 2017, Wiesel's son, Elisha participated in the March of the Living in memory of his father, honoring his legacy.{{Cite web |last=MOTLorg |date=2017-05-12 |title=Elie Wiesel's Only Son Steps Up to His Father's Legacy - International March of the Living |url=https://www.motl.org/elie-wiesels-only-son-steps-up-to-his-fathers-legacy/ |access-date=2025-01-02 |language=en-US}} Since his father's passing, he has spoken at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum and Auschwitz, and has begun working on his late father's foundation, the Elie Wiesel Foundation.{{Cite web |title=Awards and Honors |url=https://eliewieselfoundation.org/about-elisha-wiesel/#:~:text=In%20the%20last%20few%20years,of%20upholding%20DACA;%20organized%20a |access-date=2025-01-02 |website=The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity |language=en-US}}

Wiesel is included in the publication Witness: Passing the Torch of Holocaust Memory to New Generations. Along with his picture from when he was imprisoned at Buchenwald, he was quoted from the 1990 March of the Living: {{Cite book |last=Rubenstein |first=Eli |title=Witness: Passing the Torch of Holocaust to New Generations |publisher=Second Story Press |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-927583-89-0 |edition=1 |location=Canada |pages=5 |language=En}}

{{Quotes|text="Forever will I see the children who no longer have the strength to cry. Forever will I see the elderly who no longer have the strength to help them. Forever will I see the mothers and the fathers, the grandfathers and grandmothers, the little schoolchildren…their teachers…the righteous and the pious…. From where do we take the tears to cry over them? Who has the strength to cry for them?"|author=Elie Wiesel|title=Witness: Passing the Torch of Holocaust Memory to New Generations|source=Page 5}}

Post-war career as a writer

=France=

After World War II ended and Wiesel was freed, he joined a transport of 1,000 child survivors of Buchenwald to Ecouis, France, where the Œuvre de secours aux enfants (OSE) had established a rehabilitation center. Wiesel joined a smaller group of 90 to 100 boys from Orthodox homes who wanted kosher facilities and a higher level of religious observance; they were cared for in a home in Ambloy under the directorship of Judith Hemmendinger. This home was later moved to Taverny and operated until 1947.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PJ4ANr2oLpwC&pg=PA49|title=The Buchenwald Child: Truth, Fiction, and Propaganda|first=William John|last=Niven|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=2007|isbn=978-1571133397|page=49}}Schmidt, Shira, and Mantaka, Bracha. "A Prince in a Castle". Ami, September 21, 2014, pp. 136-143.

Afterwards, Wiesel traveled to Paris where he learned French and studied literature, philosophy and psychology at the Sorbonne. He heard lectures by philosopher Martin Buber and existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre and he spent his evenings reading works by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Franz Kafka, and Thomas Mann.

By the time he was 19, he had begun working as a journalist, writing in French, while also teaching Hebrew and working as a choirmaster.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bf-NNeya2IcC |title=Student Companion to Elie Wiesel |publisher=Greenwood Press |location=Westport, Conn. |first=Sanford V. |last=Sternlicht |year=2003 |page=7 |isbn=0-313-32530-8}} He wrote for Israeli and French newspapers, including Tsien in Kamf (in Yiddish).Snodgrass, Mary Ellen. Beating the Odds: A Teen Guide to 75 Superstars Who Overcame Adversity, ABC CLIO (2008) pp. 154–156

In 1946, after learning of the Irgun's bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, Wiesel made an unsuccessful attempt to join the underground Zionist movement. In 1948, he translated articles from Hebrew into Yiddish for Irgun periodicals, but never became a member of the organization.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ym8KcrzUZKYC&pg=PA81 |title=Elie Wiesel: Conversations |first1=Elie |last1=Wiesel |first2=Robert |last2=Franciosi |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |year=2002 |page=81 |isbn=9781578065035 |quote=Interviewer: Why after the war did you not go on to Palestine from France? Wiesel: I had no certificate. In 1946 when the Irgun blew up the King David Hotel, I decided I would like to join the underground. Very naively I went to the Jewish Agency in Paris. I got no further than the janitor who asked: "What do you want?" I said, "I would like to join the underground." He threw me out. About 1948 I was a journalist and helped one of the Yiddish underground papers with articles, but I was never a member of the underground.}} In 1949, he traveled to Israel as a correspondent for the French newspaper L'arche. He then was hired as Paris correspondent for the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, subsequently becoming its roaming international correspondent.{{cite web|work=JewishVirtualLibrary.org|title=Elie Wiesel|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Wiesel.html|access-date=July 6, 2014|archive-date=December 27, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161227173536/http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Wiesel.html|url-status=live}}

{{quote box|align=right|width=25em|title=Excerpt from Night|bgcolor = LightCyan|quote=Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky. Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my faith forever. Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me, for all eternity, of the desire to live. Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never.|source= —Elie Wiesel, from Night.}}

For ten years after the war, Wiesel refused to write about or discuss his experiences during the Holocaust. He began to reconsider his decision after a meeting with the French author François Mauriac, the 1952 Nobel Laureate in Literature who eventually became Wiesel's close friend. Mauriac was a devout Christian who had fought in the French Resistance during the war. He compared Wiesel to "Lazarus rising from the dead", and saw from Wiesel's tormented eyes, "the death of God in the soul of a child".Fine, Ellen S. Legacy of Night: The Literary Universe of Elie Wiesel, State Univ. of New York Press (1982) p. 28Wiesel, Elie. Night, Hill and Wang (2006) p. ix Mauriac persuaded him to begin writing about his harrowing experiences.

Wiesel first wrote the 900-page memoir Un di velt hot geshvign (And the World Remained Silent) in Yiddish, which was published in abridged form in Buenos Aires.{{cite journal|author=Naomi Seidman|title=Elie Wiesel and the Scandal of Jewish Rage|journal=Jewish Social Studies|volume= 3 |date=Fall 1996|issue=1 |page= 5}} Wiesel rewrote a shortened version of the manuscript in French, La Nuit, in 1955. It was translated into English as Night in 1960.{{cite web|url=http://www.beneaththecover.com/2008/02/25/elie-wiesel-and-the-holocaust/|work=Beneath The Cover|access-date=August 29, 2012|title=Elie Wiesel and the Holocaust|author=Andrew Grabois|date=February 25, 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080430161253/http://www.beneaththecover.com/2008/02/25/elie-wiesel-and-the-holocaust/|archive-date=April 30, 2008}} The book sold few copies after its initial publication, but still attracted interest from reviewers, leading to television interviews with Wiesel and meetings with writers such as Saul Bellow.

As its profile rose, Night was eventually translated into 30 languages with ten million copies sold in the United States. At one point film director Orson Welles wanted to make it into a feature film, but Wiesel refused, feeling that his memoir would lose its meaning if it were told without the silences in between his words.{{cite web |last=Ravitz |first=Jessica |url=http://www.sltrib.com/faith/ci_3864884 |title=Utah Local News – Salt Lake City News, Sports, Archive|work=The Salt Lake Tribune |date=May 27, 2006 |access-date=May 14, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131103133816/http://www.sltrib.com/faith/ci_3864884 |archive-date=November 3, 2013 }} Oprah Winfrey made it a spotlight selection for her book club in 2006.

=United States=

In 1955, Wiesel moved to New York as foreign correspondent for the Israel daily, Yediot Ahronot. In 1969, he married Austrian Marion Erster Rose, who also translated many of his books. They had one son, Shlomo Elisha Wiesel, named after Wiesel's father.Telushkin, Joseph. "Rebbe", pp. 190–191. HarperCollins, 2014.

File:Elie Wiesel (1987) by Erling Mandelmann - 2.jpg

In the U.S., he eventually wrote over 40 books, most of them non-fiction Holocaust literature, and novels. As an author, he was awarded a number of literary prizes and is considered among the most important in describing the Holocaust from a highly personal perspective. As a result, some historians credited Wiesel with giving the term Holocaust its present meaning, although he did not feel that the word adequately described that historical event.Wiesel:1999, 18. In 1975, he co-founded the magazine Moment with writer Leonard Fein.

The 1979 book and play The Trial of God are said to have been based on his real-life Auschwitz experience of witnessing three Jews who, close to death, conduct a trial against God, under the accusation that He has been oppressive towards the Jewish people.{{cite book|title=And the Sea Is Never Full: Memoirs, 1969–|first=Elie|last=Wiesel|year=2000|publisher=Random House Digital, Inc.|quote=Some of the questions: God? 'I'm an agnostic.' A strange agnostic, fascinated by mysticism.|isbn=978-0-8052-1029-3}}

Wiesel also played a role in the initial success of The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinski by endorsing it before it became known the book was fiction and, in the sense that it was presented as all Kosinski's true experience, a hoax.{{cite web|title=The Painted Bird [NOOK Book]|url=http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/painted-bird-jerzy-n-kosinski/1101317543?ean=9780802195753|website=Barnes and Noble|access-date=September 9, 2014|archive-date=July 6, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170706144148/https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/painted-bird-jerzy-n-kosinski/1101317543?ean=9780802195753|url-status=live}}{{cite book |first=Norman G. |last=Finkelstein |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VrqK5VdO2i0C&pg=PA56 |title=The Holocaust Industry |date=December 5, 2023 |publisher=Verso |page=56|isbn=9781859844885 }}

Wiesel published two volumes of memoirs. The first, All Rivers Run to the Sea, was published in 1994 and covered his life up to the year 1969. The second, titled And the Sea is Never Full and published in 1999, covered the years from 1969 to 1999.[https://www.nytimes.com/books/00/01/02/reviews/000102.02carrolt.html And the Sea Is Never Full] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170118154800/http://www.nytimes.com/books/00/01/02/reviews/000102.02carrolt.html |date=January 18, 2017 }}, The New York Times book review, January 2, 2000

Political activism

Wiesel and his wife, Marion, started the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity in 1986. He served as chairman of the President's Commission on the Holocaust (later renamed the US Holocaust Memorial Council) from 1978 to 1986, spearheading the building of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.video: [https://vimeo.com/182905116 2016 Presidential Tribute to Elie Wiesel] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160920013229/https://vimeo.com/182905116 |date=September 20, 2016 }}, 6 minutes{{cite web |url=https://www.ushmm.org/educators/lesson-plans/holocaust-unit/resources/handout-1 |title=President Clinton's and Elie Wiesel's Remarks on Bosnia Troops |website=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum |date=December 13, 1995 |access-date=July 2, 2016 |archive-date=June 9, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160609210417/https://www.ushmm.org/educators/lesson-plans/holocaust-unit/resources/handout-1 |url-status=dead }} Sigmund Strochlitz was his close friend and confidant during these years.{{Cite web|last=Lerman|first=Miles|date=October 17, 2006|title=In Memorium: Sigmund Strochlitz|url=https://amgathering.org/2006/10/1858/in-memorium-sigmund-strochlitz/|access-date=January 12, 2021|website=Together|language=en-US|archive-date=January 13, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210113212914/https://amgathering.org/2006/10/1858/in-memorium-sigmund-strochlitz/|url-status=dead}}

The Holocaust Memorial Museum gives the Elie Wiesel Award to "internationally prominent individuals whose actions have advanced the Museum's vision of a world where people confront hatred, prevent genocide, and promote human dignity".{{Cite web|title=The Elie Wiesel Award — United States Holocaust Memorial Museum|url=https://www.ushmm.org/information/about-the-museum/the-elie-wiesel-award|access-date=August 8, 2023|website=ushmm.org|archive-date=March 8, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180308055111/https://www.ushmm.org/information/about-the-museum/the-elie-wiesel-award|url-status=live}} The Foundation had invested its endowment in money manager Bernard L. Madoff's investment Ponzi scheme, costing the Foundation $15 million and Wiesel and his wife much of their own personal savings.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/03/world/europe/elie-wiesel-auschwitz-survivor-and-nobel-peace-prize-winner-dies-at-87.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220102/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/03/world/europe/elie-wiesel-auschwitz-survivor-and-nobel-peace-prize-winner-dies-at-87.html |archive-date=January 2, 2022 |url-access=limited |url-status=live|title=Elie Wiesel, Auschwitz Survivor and Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Dies at 87|last=Berger|first=Joseph|date=July 2, 2016|newspaper=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=July 2, 2016}}{{cbignore}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/business/27madoff.html|title=Out Millions, Elie Wiesel Vents About Madoff|first=Stephanie|last=Strom|date=February 26, 2009|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=February 21, 2017|archive-date=March 10, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170310191131/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/business/27madoff.html|url-status=live}}

=Support for the Israeli government=

In 1982, at the request of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Wiesel agreed to resign from his position as chairman of a planned international conference on the Holocaust and the Armenian genocide. Wiesel then worked with the Foreign Ministry in its attempts to get the conference either canceled or to remove all discussion of the Armenian genocide from it, and to those ends he provided the Foreign Ministry with internal documents on the conference's planning and lobbied fellow academics to not attend the conference.Ofer Aderet (May 2, 2021) [https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.MAGAZINE-how-israel-quashed-efforts-to-acknowledge-the-armenian-genocide-1.9766390 "How Israel Quashed Efforts to Acknowledge the Armenian Genocide"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210502212642/https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.MAGAZINE-how-israel-quashed-efforts-to-acknowledge-the-armenian-genocide-1.9766390 |date=May 2, 2021 }}, Haaretz

Wiesel was a co-founder of the Writers and Artists for Peace in the Middle East, a pro-Israel group.{{Cite web |title=Gop Platform Committee Urged to Give Support to Israel |url=https://www.jta.org/archive/gop-platform-committee-urged-to-give-support-to-israel |access-date=2025-05-23 |website=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |language=en-US}}Considine, p. 299 In 1984, he signed a letter protesting German arms sales to Saudi Arabia.{{Cite web |title=Jewish Groups, Writers and Artists Join in a Campaign Urging Germany to Reconsider Arms Sales to Sau |url=https://www.jta.org/archive/jewish-groups-writers-and-artists-join-in-a-campaign-urging-germany-to-reconsider-arms-sales-to-sau |access-date=2025-03-30 |website=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |language=en-US}}

== On the Arab–Israeli conflict ==

Wiesel was critical of Hamas; he condemned them for the "use of children as human shields" during the 2014 Gaza War, and ran an ad in several large newspapers to express this message.{{cite news |last1=Almasy |first1=Steve |last2=Levs |first2=Josh |date=August 3, 2014 |title=Nobel laureate Wiesel: Hamas must stop using children as human shields |url=http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/03/world/meast/elie-wiesel-hamas-ad/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140813055528/http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/03/world/meast/elie-wiesel-hamas-ad/ |archive-date=August 13, 2014 |access-date=August 13, 2014 |publisher=CNN}} The Times refused to run the advertisement, saying, "The opinion being expressed is too strong, and too forcefully made, and will cause concern amongst a significant number of Times readers."{{cite news |date=August 6, 2014 |title=London Times refuses to run Elie Wiesel ad denouncing Hamas' human shields |url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/world/1.609096 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140813195428/http://www.haaretz.com/news/world/1.609096 |archive-date=August 13, 2014 |access-date=August 13, 2014 |newspaper=Haaretz |publisher=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}}{{cite news |last1=Greenslade |first1=Roy |date=August 8, 2014 |title=The Times refuses to carry ad accusing Hamas of 'child sacrifice' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2014/aug/08/hamas-thetimes |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812183434/http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2014/aug/08/hamas-thetimes |archive-date=August 12, 2014 |access-date=August 13, 2014 |newspaper=The Guardian}}

During his lifetime, Wiesel had deflected questions on the topic of the Israeli settlements, claiming to abstain from commenting on Israel's internal debates.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/24/opinion/jerusalem-in-my-heart.html|title=Jerusalem in My Heart|first=Elie|last=Wiesel|work=The New York Times|date=January 24, 2001|access-date=December 6, 2022|archive-date=December 6, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221206181838/https://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/24/opinion/jerusalem-in-my-heart.html|url-status=live}} According to Lebanese-American columnist Hussein Ibish, despite this position, Wiesel had gone on record as supporting the idea of expanding Jewish settlements into the Palestinian territories conquered by Israel during the Six-Day War; such settlements are considered illegal by the international community.{{cite web|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/07/04/elie-wiesels-moral-imagination-never-reached-palestine/|title=Elie Wiesel's Moral Imagination Never Reached Palestine|date=July 4, 2016|access-date=December 6, 2022|archive-date=December 6, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221206181840/https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/07/04/elie-wiesels-moral-imagination-never-reached-palestine/|url-status=live}} Wiesel often emphasized the Jewish connection to Jerusalem, and criticized the Obama administration for pressuring Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to halt the construction of settlements in East Jerusalem,{{cite news |last=Cooper |first=Helene |date=May 4, 2010 |title=Obama Tries to Mend Fences With American Jews |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/05/world/05prexy.html |url-access=limited |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220102/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/05/world/05prexy.html |archive-date=January 2, 2022 |newspaper=The New York Times}}{{cbignore}}{{cite web |date=April 17, 2010 |title=Elie Wiesel: Jerusalem is Above Politics (ad also placed in 3 newspapers on April 16) |url=http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/137057 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110826185139/http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/137057 |archive-date=August 26, 2011 |access-date=May 17, 2011 |publisher=Arutz Sheva}} stating that "Jerusalem is above politics. It is mentioned more than six hundred times in Scripture—and not a single time in the Koran ... It belongs to the Jewish people and is much more than a city".{{cite web |title=For Jerusalem |url=http://www.eliewieselfoundation.org/statementsandappeals.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150815025625/http://www.eliewieselfoundation.org/statementsandappeals.aspx |archive-date=August 15, 2015 |access-date=May 17, 2011 |publisher=The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity}}{{Citation |title='Tension, I Think, is Gone', Elie Wiesel Says of U.S. and Israel |date=May 4, 2010 |work=Political Punch |url=http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2010/05/tension-i-think-is-gone-elie-wiesel-says-of-us-and-israel/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141216003036/http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2010/05/tension-i-think-is-gone-elie-wiesel-says-of-us-and-israel/ |archive-date=December 16, 2014 |url-status=unfit |publisher=ABC News}}

= Awards and other activism=

Wiesel was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986 for speaking out against violence, repression, and racism. The Norwegian Nobel Committee described Wiesel as "one of the most important spiritual leaders and guides in an age when violence, repression, and racism continue to characterize the world" and called him a "messenger to mankind". It also stressed that Wiesel's commitment originated in the sufferings of the Jewish people but that he expanded it to embrace all repressed peoples and races.

In his acceptance speech he delivered a message "of peace, atonement, and human dignity". He explained his feelings: "Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant."{{cite web |title=Elie Wiesel – Acceptance Speech |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1986/wiesel/26054-elie-wiesel-acceptance-speech-1986/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190205164126/https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1986/wiesel/26054-elie-wiesel-acceptance-speech-1986/ |archive-date=February 5, 2019 |access-date=February 5, 2019 |publisher=The Nobel Foundation}}

He received many other prizes and honors for his work, including the Congressional Gold Medal in 1985, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and The International Center in New York's Award of Excellence.[http://www.whartondc.com/article.html?aid=1309 "Elie Weisel {sic}: Nobel Laureate, Author, Professor"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160814231659/http://www.whartondc.com/article.html?aid=1309 |date=August 14, 2016 }}, Wharton Club of DC

He was also elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1996.{{cite web|url=http://www.artsandletters.org/academicians2_current.php |title=American Academy of Arts and Letters - Current Members |access-date=July 3, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624004136/http://www.artsandletters.org/academicians2_current.php |archive-date=June 24, 2016 }}

Wiesel co-founded Moment magazine with Leonard Fein in 1975. They founded the magazine to provide a voice for American Jews.{{Cite web|url=http://www.momentmag.com/about/|title=About – Moment Magazine|website=Moment|access-date=June 22, 2016|archive-date=June 5, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160605122349/http://www.momentmag.com/about/|url-status=live}} He was also a member of the International Advisory Board of NGO Monitor.{{cite web |url=http://www.ngo-monitor.org/article.php?viewall=yes&id=2029 |title=International Advisory Board Profiles: Elie Wiesel |publisher=NGO Monitor |access-date=May 17, 2011 |year=2011 |archive-date=August 7, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807093434/http://www.ngo-monitor.org/article.php?viewall=yes&id=2029 |url-status=live }}

A staunch opponent of the death penalty, Wiesel stated that he thought that even Adolf Eichmann should not have been executed.{{cite web |last1=Kieval |first1=Daniel |title=Is Society the Angel of Death? Elie Wiesel's Take |url=https://momentmag.com/is-society-the-angel-of-death-elie-wiesels-take/ |website=Moment Magazine |date=November 3, 2010 |access-date=16 December 2023}} Wiesel advocated clemency in the Cheshire murder case, instead supporting a life sentence of hard labor for the perpetrators.{{cite web |last1=Italiano |first1=Laura |title=Elie Wiesel opposes death penalty in Connecticut home-invasion murders |url=https://nypost.com/2010/10/30/elie-wiesel-opposes-death-penalty-in-connecticut-home-invasion-murders/ |website=The New York Post |date=October 30, 2010 |access-date=25 March 2025}}

Wiesel, a supporter of immigrant's rights, popularized the slogan "No human being is illegal". stating "you who are so-called illegal aliens should know that no human being is illegal. That is a contradiction in terms Human beings can be beautiful or more beautiful, they can be fat or skinny, they can be right or wrong, but illegal? How can a human being be illegal?"{{cite web |last1=Haque |first1=Shahid |title=Elie Wiesel: "No Human Being is Illegal" |url=https://bordercrossinglaw.com/elie-wiesel-no-human-being-is-illegal/ |website=Border Crossing Law Firm |date=February 27, 2009 |access-date=1 February 2025}}

In April 1999, Wiesel delivered the speech "The Perils of Indifference" in Washington D.C., criticizing the people and countries who chose to be indifferent while the Holocaust was happening.{{Cite web |last=Commons Librarian |date=2024-07-08 |title=Watch Inspiring Activist and Protest Speeches: Elie Wiesel, The Perils of Indifference, 1999 [Holocaust survivor] |url=https://commonslibrary.org/watch-inspiring-activist-and-protest-speeches/ |access-date=2024-08-10 |website=The Commons Social Change Library |language=en-AU}} He defined indifference as being neutral between two sides, which, in this case, amounts to overlooking the victims of the Holocaust. Throughout the speech, he expressed the view that a little bit of attention, either positive or negative, is better than no attention at all.

In 2003, he discovered and publicized the fact that at least 280,000 Romanian and Ukrainian Jews, along with other groups, were massacred in Romanian-run death camps.[https://www.yahoo.com/news/hundreds-pay-tribute-elie-wiesels-native-romania-173059615.html "Hundreds pay tribute in Elie Wiesel's native Romania"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201204123150/https://www.yahoo.com/news/hundreds-pay-tribute-elie-wiesels-native-romania-173059615.html |date=December 4, 2020 }}, Agence France-Presse, July 7, 2016

In 2005, he gave a speech at the opening ceremony of the new building of Yad Vashem, the Israeli Holocaust History Museum:

I know what people say – it is so easy. Those that were there won't agree with that statement. The statement is: it was man's inhumanity to man. NO! It was man's inhumanity to Jews! Jews were not killed because they were human beings. In the eyes of the killers they were not human beings! They were Jews!{{Cite web| title = Echoes & Reflections: Speech by Elie Wiesel - Education & E-Learning - Yad Vashem| access-date = April 17, 2018| url = http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/educational_materials/adl/lesson5_speech.asp| archive-date = April 18, 2018| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180418032000/http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/educational_materials/adl/lesson5_speech.asp| url-status = dead}}

In early 2006, Wiesel accompanied Oprah Winfrey as she visited Auschwitz, a visit which was broadcast as part of The Oprah Winfrey Show. The trip was organized by International March of the Living's Vice Chair, David Machlis.{{cite web |url=http://www.oprah.com/oprahsbookclub/Oprah-and-Elie-Wiesel-Travel-to-Auschwitz |title=Oprah and Elie Wiesel Travel to Auschwitz |date=January 1, 2006 |access-date=May 17, 2011 |publisher=oprah.com |archive-date=March 7, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120307215711/http://www.oprah.com/oprahsbookclub/Oprah-and-Elie-Wiesel-Travel-to-Auschwitz |url-status=live }} On November 30, 2006, Wiesel received a knighthood in London in recognition of his work toward raising Holocaust education in the United Kingdom.{{cite web |url=http://www.totallyjewish.com/news/national/?content_id=4994 |title=Wiesel Receives Honorary Knighthood |last=Cohen |first=Justin |publisher=TotallyJewish.com |date=November 30, 2006 |access-date=May 17, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606065918/http://www.totallyjewish.com/news/national/?content_id=4994 |archive-date=June 6, 2011 }}

In September 2006, he appeared before the UN Security Council with actor George Clooney to call attention to the humanitarian crisis in Darfur. When Wiesel died, Clooney wrote, "We had a champion who carried our pain, our guilt, and our responsibility on his shoulders for generations."[http://bigstory.ap.org/article/c4e0c64c09434f30bb41e114a66f7f9e/reaction-death-holocaust-survivor-author-elie-wiesel "Reaction to death of Holocaust survivor, author Elie Wiesel"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170216191629/http://bigstory.ap.org/article/c4e0c64c09434f30bb41e114a66f7f9e/reaction-death-holocaust-survivor-author-elie-wiesel |date=February 16, 2017 }}, Associated Press, July 2, 2016

In 2007, Wiesel was awarded the Dayton Literary Peace Prize's Lifetime Achievement Award.{{cite web |url=http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2007/10/14/ddn101507peace.html |title=Dayton awards 2007 peace prizes |first=Kristin |last=McAllister |date=October 15, 2007 |access-date=May 17, 2011 |work=Dayton Daily News |archive-date=June 22, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110622064440/http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2007/10/14/ddn101507peace.html |url-status=live }} That same year, the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity issued a letter condemning Armenian genocide denial, a letter that was signed by 53 Nobel laureates including Wiesel. Wiesel repeatedly called Turkey's 90-year-old campaign to downplay its actions during the Armenian genocide a double killing.{{cite web |url=http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=935 |title=State of Denial: Turkey Spends Millions to Cover Up Armenian Genocide |first=David |last=Holthouse |publisher=Southern Poverty Law Center |date=Summer 2008 |access-date=May 17, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100120144925/http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=935 |archive-date=January 20, 2010 |url-status=dead }}

File:Dalai Lama and Bush welcome Elie Wiesel (2007).jpg, joined by the Dalai Lama and Wiesel, October 17, 2007, to the ceremony at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., for the presentation of the Congressional Gold Medal to the Dalai Lama]]

In 2009, Wiesel criticized the Vatican for lifting the excommunication of controversial bishop Richard Williamson, a member of the Society of Saint Pius X.{{cite news |url=http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-37701220090128 |title=Elie Wiesel attacks pope over Holocaust bishop |first=Philip |last=Pullella |date=January 28, 2009 |access-date=May 17, 2011 |work=Reuters |archive-date=March 12, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090312093309/http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-37701220090128 |url-status=dead }} The excommunication was later reimposed.

In June 2009, Wiesel accompanied US President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel as they toured the Buchenwald concentration camp.{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/06/05/obama.germany/index.html |title=Visiting Buchenwald, Obama speaks of the lessons of evil |date=June 5, 2009 |publisher=CNN |access-date=May 17, 2011 |archive-date=July 22, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100722094016/http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/06/05/obama.germany/index.html |url-status=live }} Wiesel was an adviser at the Gatestone Institute.{{Cite web|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E05EFDC113AF936A35754C0A9609D8B63|title=Paid Notice: Deaths Wiesel, Elie|website=The New York Times|access-date=March 18, 2019|archive-date=December 5, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231205013624/https://archive.nytimes.com/query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage-9E05EFDC113AF936A35754C0A9609D8B63.html|url-status=live}} In 2010, Wiesel accepted a five-year appointment as a Distinguished Presidential Fellow at Chapman University in Orange County, California. In that role, he made a one-week visit to Chapman annually to meet with students and offer his perspective on subjects ranging from Holocaust history to religion, languages, literature, law and music.{{cite web|last=Sahagun|first=Louis|title=Wiesel offers students first-hand account of Holocaust|url=https://www.latimes.com/local/la-xpm-2011-apr-02-la-me-beliefs-wiesel-20110402-story.html|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=January 28, 2014|date=April 2, 2011|archive-date=February 22, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222180225/http://articles.latimes.com/2011/apr/02/local/la-me-beliefs-wiesel-20110402|url-status=live}}

In July 2009, Wiesel announced his support to the minority Tamils in Sri Lanka. He said that, "Wherever minorities are being persecuted, we must raise our voices to protest ... The Tamil people are being disenfranchised and victimized by the Sri Lanka authorities. This injustice must stop. The Tamil people must be allowed to live in peace and flourish in their homeland."{{Cite web|url=http://www.eliewieselfoundation.org/inthenews.aspx|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090704192819/http://www.eliewieselfoundation.org/inthenews.aspx|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 4, 2009|title=The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity|website=eliewieselfoundation.org|access-date=July 3, 2016}}{{cite web|url=http://www.tamilguardian.com/article.asp?articleid=2385|title=Sri Lanka's victimization of Tamil people must stop - Elie Wiesel|access-date=July 3, 2016|archive-date=July 24, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090724204019/http://www.tamilguardian.com/article.asp?articleid=2385|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.tamilguardian.com/article.asp?articleid=2385|title=Sri Lanka's victimization of Tamil people must stop - Elie Wiesel|website=tamilguardian.com|access-date=July 3, 2016|archive-date=July 24, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090724204019/http://www.tamilguardian.com/article.asp?articleid=2385|url-status=live}}

In 2009, Wiesel returned to Hungary for his first visit since the Holocaust. During this visit, Wiesel participated in a conference at the Upper House Chamber of the Hungarian Parliament, met Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai and President László Sólyom, and made a speech to the approximately 10,000 participants of an anti-racist gathering held in Faith Hall.{{cite web |author=Quatra.Net Kft. |url=http://stop.hu/articles/article.php?id=564533 |language=hu |title=Elie Wiesel Magyarországon |publisher=Stop.hu |date=November 10, 2009 |access-date=September 13, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721112828/http://stop.hu/articles/article.php?id=564533 |archive-date=July 21, 2011 }}{{cite web |url=http://www.hetek.hu/kulfold/200911/magyarorszagra_jon_elie_wiesel |title=Magyarországra jön Elie Wiesel |language=hu |publisher=Hetek.hu |date=November 13, 2009 |access-date=September 13, 2010 |archive-date=November 26, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091126195342/http://www.hetek.hu/kulfold/200911/magyarorszagra_jon_elie_wiesel |url-status=live }} However, in 2012, he protested against "the whitewashing" of Hungary's involvement in the Holocaust, and he gave up the Great Cross award he had received from the Hungarian government.Reuters. [http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishNews/Article.aspx?id=274446 Wiesel raps Hungary's Nazi past 'whitewash'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121011102051/http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishNews/Article.aspx?id=274446 |date=October 11, 2012 }}. The Jerusalem Post. June 19, 2012.

Wiesel was active in trying to prevent Iran from making nuclear weapons, stating that, "The words and actions of the leadership of Iran leave no doubt as to their intentions".{{cite news |url=http://www.algemeiner.com/2013/12/18/elie-wiesel-says-iran-must-not-be-allowed-to-remain-nuclear-in-full-page-ads-in-nyt-wsj/ |title=Elie Wiesel Says 'Iran Must Not Be Allowed to Remain Nuclear' in Full-Page Ads in NYT, WSJ |newspaper=Algemeiner Journal |date=December 18, 2013 |access-date=June 30, 2015 |archive-date=September 19, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150919170348/http://www.algemeiner.com/2013/12/18/elie-wiesel-says-iran-must-not-be-allowed-to-remain-nuclear-in-full-page-ads-in-nyt-wsj/ |url-status=live }}

Teaching

Wiesel held the position of Andrew Mellon Professor of the Humanities at Boston University from 1976,[https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/07/02/fond-memories-elie-wiesel-boston/7pMwRcSBDU9KtJykuS5mJP/story.html "Fond memories of Elie Wiesel in Boston"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160704125446/https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/07/02/fond-memories-elie-wiesel-boston/7pMwRcSBDU9KtJykuS5mJP/story.html |date=July 4, 2016 }}, The Boston Globe, July 2, 2016 teaching in both its religion and philosophy departments. He became a close friend of the president and chancellor John Silber.{{cite web |url=http://alcalde.texasexes.org/2012/11/illustrious-friends-remember-john-r-silber/ |title=Illustrious Friends Remember John R. Silber |publisher=The Alcalde |date=November 30, 2012 |access-date=February 20, 2013 |archive-date=January 28, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130128142041/http://alcalde.texasexes.org/2012/11/illustrious-friends-remember-john-r-silber/ |url-status=live }} The university created the Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Studies in his honor. From 1972 to 1976 Wiesel was a Distinguished Professor at the City University of New York and member of the American Federation of Teachers.{{Cite news|last=Passy|first=Charles|date=July 3, 2016|title=For Holocaust Survivor Elie Wiesel, New York City Became Home|language=en-US|work=The Wall Street Journal|url=http://www.wsj.com/articles/for-holocaust-survivor-elie-wiesel-new-york-city-became-home-1467509525|access-date=August 8, 2023|issn=0099-9660|archive-date=November 1, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231101172951/https://www.wsj.com/articles/for-holocaust-survivor-elie-wiesel-new-york-city-became-home-1467509525|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|date=August 19, 2022|title=About Us|url=https://www.aft.org/about|access-date=August 8, 2023|website=American Federation of Teachers|language=en|archive-date=August 10, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230810230629/https://www.aft.org/about|url-status=live}}

In 1982 he served as the first Henry Luce Visiting Scholar in Humanities and Social Thought at Yale University. He also co-instructed Winter Term (January) courses at Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, Florida. From 1997 to 1999 he was Ingeborg Rennert Visiting professor of Judaic Studies at Barnard College of Columbia University.{{cite web |url=http://www.columbia.edu/cu/record/23/10/14.html |title=Wiesel to Speak at Barnard; Lectures Help Launch a $2.5M Judaic Studies Chair. Columbia University Record, November 21, 1997 |publisher=Columbia.edu |date=November 21, 1997 |access-date=July 24, 2013 |archive-date=April 29, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210429205619/http://www.columbia.edu/cu/record/23/10/14.html |url-status=live }}

Personal life

File:Elie Wiesel and wife Marion 2012 Shankbone.JPG]]

In 1969 he married Marion Erster Rose, who originally was from Austria and also translated many of his books.{{cite web|url=http://www.centralsynagogue.org/about_us/shofar_shabbat/wiesel|title=Central Synagogue|work=centralsynagogue.org|access-date=January 2, 2015|archive-date=May 18, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200518225110/https://www.centralsynagogue.org/about_us/shofar_shabbat/wiesel|url-status=dead}} They had one son, Shlomo Elisha Wiesel, named after Wiesel's father. The family lived in Greenwich, Connecticut.{{cite news|url=http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Human-rights-advocate-Elie-Wiesel-turns-86-5792439.php|title=Human rights advocate Elie Wiesel turns 86|newspaper=Connecticut Post |access-date=July 3, 2016|date=October 2014|archive-date=May 28, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190528122034/https://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Human-rights-advocate-Elie-Wiesel-turns-86-5792439.php|url-status=live |last1=Semmes |first1=Anne W. }}

Wiesel was attacked in a San Francisco hotel by 22-year-old Holocaust denier Eric Hunt in February 2007, but was not injured. Hunt was arrested the following month and charged with multiple offenses.{{cite news |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna17193352 |title=Police arrest man accused of attacking Wiesel: Holocaust-surviving Nobel laureate was allegedly accosted in elevator |agency=Associated Press |publisher=NBC News |date=February 18, 2007 |access-date=May 17, 2011 |archive-date=October 13, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131013123658/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/17193352/ |url-status=live }}{{cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-08-18-wiesel-accosted_N.htm |title=Man gets two-year sentence for accosting Elie Wiesel |date=August 18, 2008 |access-date=August 27, 2008 |work=USA Today |agency=Associated Press |archive-date=March 27, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090327150142/http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-08-18-wiesel-accosted_N.htm |url-status=live }}

In May 2011, Wiesel served as the Washington University in St. Louis commencement speaker.{{Cite web|url=https://libguides.wustl.edu/wustl-commencement/speakers|title=Research Guides: WU Commencement History: Commencement Speakers|last=Rectenwald|first=Miranda|website=libguides.wustl.edu|language=en|access-date=August 26, 2019|archive-date=July 25, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190725222709/https://libguides.wustl.edu/wustl-commencement/speakers|url-status=live}}

In February 2012, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints performed a posthumous baptism for Simon Wiesenthal's parents without proper authorization.{{cite news | last = Fletcher Stack | first = Peggy | title = Mormon church apologizes for baptisms of Wiesenthal's parents | newspaper = The Salt Lake Tribune | location = Salt Lake City, Utah | date = February 13, 2012 | url = http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/53506130-78/church-mokotoff-jewish-lds.html.csp | access-date = February 17, 2012 | archive-date = June 22, 2017 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170622162916/http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/53506130-78/church-mokotoff-jewish-lds.html.csp | url-status = live }} After his own name was submitted for proxy baptism, Wiesel spoke out against the unauthorized practice of posthumously baptizing Jews and asked presidential candidate and Latter-day Saint Mitt Romney to denounce it. Romney's campaign declined to comment, directing such questions to church officials.{{cite news |last1=Wallsten |first1=Peter |last2=Horowitz |first2=Jason |date=14 February 2012 |title=Elie Wiesel calls on Mitt Romney to make Mormon church stop proxy baptisms of Jews |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/elie-wiesel-calls-on-mitt-romney-to-make-mormon-church-stop-proxy-baptisms-of-jews/2012/02/14/gIQAZK6bER_story.html |url-status= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190528122020/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/elie-wiesel-calls-on-mitt-romney-to-make-mormon-church-stop-proxy-baptisms-of-jews/2012/02/14/gIQAZK6bER_story.html |archive-date=28 May 2019 |access-date=3 July 2016 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}

Death and aftermath

Wiesel died on the morning of July 2, 2016, at his home in Manhattan, aged 87. After a private funeral service was conducted in honor of him at the Fifth Avenue Synagogue, he was buried at the Sharon Gardens Cemetery in Valhalla, New York, on July 3.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/02/elie-wiesel-nobel-winner-holocaust-survivor-dies|title=Elie Wiesel, Nobel winner and Holocaust survivor, dies aged 87|last=Yuhas|first=Alan|date=July 2, 2016|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=July 2, 2016|archive-date=May 28, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190528122017/https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/02/elie-wiesel-nobel-winner-holocaust-survivor-dies|url-status=live}}{{cite news|url=http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.575072|title=Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and renowned Holocaust survivor, dies at 87|newspaper=Haaretz|first=Ronen|last=Shnidman|date=July 2, 2016|access-date=July 2, 2016|archive-date=July 2, 2016|archive-url=https://archive.today/20160702191557/http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.575072|url-status=live}}{{cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2016/07/03/elie-wiesel-remembered-private-service/86655480/|title=Elie Wiesel remembered at private service|newspaper=USA Today|first=Greg|last=Toppo|date=July 3, 2016|access-date=September 24, 2022|archive-date=September 23, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220923141144/https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2016/07/03/elie-wiesel-remembered-private-service/86655480/|url-status=live}}{{cite news|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/mourners-say-farewell-to-elie-wiesel-in-new-york-funeral/|title=Mourners say farewell to Elie Wiesel at New York funeral|newspaper=The Times of Israel|first=Thomas|last=Urbain|date=July 3, 2016|access-date=September 24, 2022|archive-date=September 23, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220923141144/https://www.timesofisrael.com/mourners-say-farewell-to-elie-wiesel-in-new-york-funeral/|url-status=live}}

Utah senator Orrin Hatch paid tribute to Wiesel in a speech on the Senate floor the following week, in which he said that "With Elie's passing, we have lost a beacon of humanity and hope. We have lost a hero of human rights and a luminary of Holocaust literature."[http://www.weeklystandard.com/orrin-hatch-pays-tribute-to-elie-wiesel/article/2003215 "Orrin Hatch Pays Tribute to Elie Wiesel"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180619035923/https://www.weeklystandard.com/orrin-hatch-pays-tribute-to-elie-wiesel/article/2003215 |date=June 19, 2018 }}, The Weekly Standard, July 8, 2016

In 2018, antisemitic graffiti were found on the house where Wiesel was born.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45072951|title=Anti-semitic graffiti on Auschwitz survivor Elie Wiesel's house|work=BBC News|date=August 4, 2018|access-date=August 5, 2018|archive-date=July 17, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190717074518/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45072951|url-status=live}}

Marion Wiesel died on February 2, 2025, at the age of 94.{{cite news |title=Marion Wiesel, Translator, Strategist and Wife of Elie Wiesel, Dies at 94 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/02/obituaries/marion-wiesel.html |access-date=4 February 2025 |work=The New York Times |date=2 February 2025}}

Awards and honors

  • Prix de l'Université de la Langue Française (Prix Rivarol) for The Town Beyond the Wall, 1963.{{cite book |last=Davis |first=Colin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qkv2bkuXX0YC&pg=PA2 |title=Elie Wiesel's Secretive Texts |location=Gainesville, FL |publisher=University Press of Florida |year=1994 |isbn=0-8130-1303-8}}
  • National Jewish Book Award for The Town Beyond the Wall, 1965.{{Cite web|url=https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/awards/national-jewish-book-awards/past-winners|title=Past Winners|website=Jewish Book Council|language=en|access-date=January 19, 2020|archive-date=August 18, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190818195619/https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/awards/national-jewish-book-awards/past-winners|url-status=live}}
  • Ingram Merrill award, 1964.{{cite encyclopedia

| title = Elie Wiesel Timeline and World Events: From 1952

| encyclopedia = Holocaust Encyclopedia

| publisher = United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

| url = http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007201

| access-date = February 4, 2012

| archive-date = July 13, 2018

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180713134921/https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007201

| url-status = live

}}

  • Prix Médicis for A Beggar in Jerusalem, 1968.
  • National Jewish Book Award for Souls on Fire: Portraits and Legends of Hasidic Masters, 1973.{{Cite web|url=https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/awards/national-jewish-book-awards/past-winners?category=30766|title=Past Winners|website=Jewish Book Council|language=en|access-date=January 23, 2020|archive-date=June 5, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200605122003/https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/awards/national-jewish-book-awards/past-winners?category=30766|url-status=live}}
  • Jewish Heritage Award, Haifa University, 1975.
  • Holocaust Memorial Award, New York Society of Clinical Psychologists, 1975.
  • S.Y. Agnon Medal, 1980.
  • Jabotinsky Medal, State of Israel, 1980.
  • Prix Livre Inter, France, for The Testament, 1980.
  • Grand Prize in Literature from the City of Paris for The Fifth Son, 1983.
  • Commander in the French Legion of Honor, 1984.
  • U.S. Congressional Gold Medal, 1984.[https://web.archive.org/web/20110723055434/http://artandhistory.house.gov/house_history/goldMedal.aspx Congressional Gold Medal Recipients] (1776 to Present)
  • Four Freedoms Award for the Freedom of Worship, 1985.{{Cite web|url=http://www.rooseveltinstitute.org/four-freedoms-awards|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150325223647/http://www.rooseveltinstitute.org/four-freedoms-awards|url-status=dead|title=Rooseveltinstitute.org|archive-date=March 25, 2015}}
  • Medal of Liberty, 1986.{{Citation

| last1 = Ferraro

| first1 = Thomas

| title = 12 Famous Immigrants Presented with Medal of Liberty

| newspaper = St. Petersburg Times

| date = July 4, 1986

| url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=p7gMAAAAIBAJ&pg=2936%2C2369392

| pages = 18A

}}

  • Nobel Peace Prize, 1986.
  • Grand Officer in the French Legion of Honor, 1990.{{Cite web |title=Elie Wiesel scheduled to appear at Distinguished Speaker Series--Click here for more information and to order tickets |url=https://www.speakersla.com/season-archives/2002-03/wiesel.htm |access-date=2024-02-15 |website=www.speakersla.com}}
  • Presidential Medal of Freedom, 1992
  • Niebuhr Medal, Elmhurst College, Illinois, 1995.{{cite web

|title = The Niebuhr Legacy: Elie Wiesel

|publisher = Elmhurst College

|url = http://public.elmhurst.edu/collections/niebuhrlegacy/2607586.html

|access-date = February 5, 2012

|url-status = dead

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120205214340/http://public.elmhurst.edu/collections/niebuhrlegacy/2607586.html

|archive-date = February 5, 2012

|df = mdy-all

}}

  • Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement, 1996, presented by Awards Council member Rosa Parks at the academy's 35th annual Summit in Sun Valley, Idaho.{{cite web|title=Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement|website=achievement.org|publisher=American Academy of Achievement|url=https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#public-service/|access-date=April 15, 2020|archive-date=December 15, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161215023909/https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#public-service/|url-status=live}}
  • Grand Cross in the French Legion of Honor, 2000.{{Cite web|title=Elie Wiesel Timeline and World Events: From 1952|url=https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/elie-wiesel-timeline-and-world-events-from-1952|access-date=August 8, 2023|website=encyclopedia.ushmm.org|language=en|archive-date=July 18, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230718114949/https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/elie-wiesel-timeline-and-world-events-from-1952|url-status=live}}
  • Order of the Star of Romania, 2002.
  • Man of the Year award, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, 2005.
  • Light of Truth award, International Campaign for Tibet, 2005.
  • Honorary Knighthood, United Kingdom, 2006.
  • Honorary Visiting professor of humanities, Rochester College, 2008.{{cite web |url=http://www.christianchronicle.org/article2158505~Holocaust_survivor_honored |work=Christian Chronicle |title=Holocaust survivor honored |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081003102219/http://www.christianchronicle.org/article2158505~Holocaust_survivor_honored |archive-date=October 3, 2008 }}
  • National Humanities Medal, 2009.{{cite web|url=https://www.neh.gov/taxonomy/term/246 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721054114/http://www.neh.gov/whoweare/nationalmedals.html |archive-date=July 21, 2011 |title=Winners of the National Humanities Medal and the Charles Frankel Prize |date=July 21, 2011 |url-status=live |access-date=February 20, 2013}}
  • Norman Mailer Prize, Lifetime Achievement, 2011.
  • Loebenberg Humanitarian Award, Florida Holocaust Museum, 2012.{{cite web |url=https://www.flholocaustmuseum.org/events/to-life-annual-event.aspx |publisher=Florida Holocaust Museum |title=To Life: Celebrating 20 Years |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207230401/https://www.flholocaustmuseum.org/events/to-life-annual-event.aspx |archive-date=February 7, 2012 }}
  • Kenyon Review Award for Literary Achievement, 2012{{cite web|title=Kenyon Review for Literary Achievement|url=http://www.kenyonreview.org/programs/kenyon-review-award-for-literary-achievement/|website=KenyonReview.org|access-date=August 20, 2017|archive-date=January 9, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180109090416/https://www.kenyonreview.org/programs/kenyon-review-award-for-literary-achievement/|url-status=live}}
  • Nadav Award, 2012.{{cite news |url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4303500,00.html |title=Elie Wiesel receives 2012 Nadav Award. Ynetnews. November 11, 2012 |newspaper=Ynetnews |date=November 11, 2012 |access-date=February 20, 2013 |archive-date=July 3, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170703080927/http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4303500,00.html |url-status=live }}
  • S. Roger Horchow Award for Greatest Public Service by a Private Citizen, an award given out annually by Jefferson Awards, 2013.{{cite web|url=http://www.jeffersonawards.org/pastwinners/national|title=National Winners – public service awards – Jefferson Awards.org|access-date=October 6, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101124043935/http://jeffersonawards.org/pastwinners/national|archive-date=November 24, 2010|url-status=dead}}
  • John Jay Medal for Justice John Jay College, 2014.{{cite web|url=http://johnjay.jjay.cuny.edu/acalendar/EventList.aspx?view=EventDetails&eventidn=6912&information_id=18766&type=&syndicate=syndicate|title=John Jay Justice Award 2014|work=cuny.edu|access-date=April 30, 2014|archive-date=February 1, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170201235814/http://johnjay.jjay.cuny.edu/acalendar/EventList.aspx?view=EventDetails&eventidn=6912&information_id=18766&type=&syndicate=syndicate|url-status=dead}}
  • Bust of Wiesel was carved on the Human Rights Porch of the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., 2021.{{Cite web |title=Cathedral Adds Stone Carving of Elie Wiesel to Its Human Rights Porch |url=https://cathedral.org/press-room/cathedral-adds-stone-carving-of-elie-wiesel-to-its-human-rights-porch/ |access-date=September 30, 2022 |website=Washington National Cathedral |language=en-US |archive-date=May 21, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220521035643/https://cathedral.org/press-room/cathedral-adds-stone-carving-of-elie-wiesel-to-its-human-rights-porch/ |url-status=live }}

=Honorary degrees=

Wiesel had received more than 90 honorary degrees from colleges worldwide.[http://www.newswise.com/articles/elie-wiesel-commencement-speaker "Elie Wiesel: Commencement Speaker"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160813033131/http://www.newswise.com/articles/elie-wiesel-commencement-speaker |date=August 13, 2016 }}, Newswise, May 7, 1999

  • Doctor of Humane Letters, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, 1985.{{cite news

| title = Honorary Degrees Going To 6 At Lehigh

| newspaper = The Morning Call

| date = May 15, 1985

| url = https://www.mcall.com/1985/05/15/honorary-degrees-going-to-6-at-lehigh/

| access-date = February 3, 2012

| archive-date = January 19, 2012

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120119233446/http://articles.mcall.com/1985-05-15/news/2471811_1_honorary-humane-letters-elie-wiesel

| url-status = live

}}

| title = Presidents, premiers and peacemakers merit honorary degrees

| publisher = DePaul University

| url = http://distinctions.depaul.edu/Pages/honorarydegree.aspx

| access-date = February 5, 2012

| archive-date = June 9, 2010

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100609214505/http://distinctions.depaul.edu/Pages/honorarydegree.aspx

| url-status = live

}}

| title = Honorary Degree Recipients

| publisher = Seton Hall University

| url = http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2005-04-17/news/0504160074_1_carroll-county-elie-wiesel-public-school

| date = April 17, 2005

| access-date = February 5, 2012

| archive-date = April 7, 2014

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140407092133/http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2005-04-17/news/0504160074_1_carroll-county-elie-wiesel-public-school

| url-status = dead

}}

  • Doctor of Humanities, Michigan State University, 1999.{{cite web|url=http://hgar-srv3.bu.edu/web/elie-wiesel/search/results?query=name:46369&size=10|title=Results - Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center|access-date=July 3, 2016|archive-date=August 15, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160815030943/http://hgar-srv3.bu.edu/web/elie-wiesel/search/results?query=name:46369&size=10|url-status=dead}}
  • Doctorate, McDaniel College, Westminster, Maryland, 2005.{{cite news

| title = Convocation set tomorrow to honor Elie Wiesel

| newspaper = The Baltimore Sun

| url = http://www.shu.edu/events/commencement/honorary-degree-recipients.cfm

| access-date = February 5, 2012

| archive-date = April 28, 2012

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120428214021/http://www.shu.edu/events/commencement/honorary-degree-recipients.cfm

| url-status = dead

}}

  • Doctor of Humane Letters, Chapman University, 2005.{{cite web|last=Coker|first=Matt|title=Elie Wiesel Joins Chapman University, to Guide Undergrads Spring Semesters Through 2015|url=http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/2010/08/elie_wiesel_joins_chapman_univ.php|work=OC Weekly|access-date=January 28, 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131103042543/http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/2010/08/elie_wiesel_joins_chapman_univ.php|archive-date=November 3, 2013}}
  • Doctor of Humane Letters, Dartmouth College, 2006.{{cite journal

| title = Elie Wiesel to Speak at Commencement

| journal = Vox of Dartmouth

| publisher = Dartmouth College

| date = May 15, 2006

| url = http://www.dartmouth.edu/~vox/0506/0515/commencement.html

| access-date = February 6, 2012

| archive-date = June 7, 2010

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100607215713/http://www.dartmouth.edu/~vox/0506/0515/commencement.html

| url-status = dead

}}

  • Doctor of Humane Letters, Cabrini College, Radnor, Pennsylvania, 2007.{{cite journal

| title = Message from the President

| journal = Cabrini Magazine

| volume = 4

| issue = 2

| page = 2

| publisher = Cabrini College

| location = Pennsylvania

| date = February 22, 2007

| url = https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:g2jsRW9eWk8J:www.cabrini.edu/News-and-Events/~/media/Files/Magazine/07WinterMagazine.ashx+&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESi5UHqlQEm0LChUbRQhgb1PRFhHjBlbU5uXRIanw-H_wlkPejvxBzgoiUhf8LzlQsVLRXb7XY55xLCTWR7yPKpchyd-9n-5DPneDQYWAIdb8bytyMfOHGdjqYtXG2DZebF2UGkS&sig=AHIEtbTeO1qSM1mxAIV9Aqc-Y8nEbKFpuQ&pli=1

}}

| title = Elie Wiesel to Speak At UVM April 25, Receive Honorary Degree

| publisher = University of Vermont

| date = April 24, 2007

| url = http://www.uvm.edu/~uvmpr/?Page=News&storyID=10390

| access-date = February 5, 2012

| archive-date = October 19, 2001

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20011019123910/http://www.uvm.edu/~uvmpr/?Page=News

| url-status = live

}}

{{cite web

|title = OU to award Elie Wiesel honorary degree during lecture

|publisher = Oakland University

|date = October 2, 2007

|url = http://www.oakland.edu/news/?sid=34&nid=4191

|access-date = February 5, 2012

|url-status = dead

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140407103315/http://www.oakland.edu/news/?sid=34&nid=4191

|archive-date = April 7, 2014

|df = mdy-all

}}

| title = ELIE WIESEL TO DELIVER INAUGURAL PRESIDENT'S LECTURE AT THE CITY COLLEGE OF NEW YORK

| publisher = City College of New York

| date = March 25, 2008

| url = http://www1.ccny.cuny.edu/advancement/pr/ELIE-WIESEL-TO-DELIVER-INAUGURAL-PRESIDENTS-LECTURE-AT-THE-CITY-COLLEGE-OF-NEW-YORK.cfm

| access-date = February 5, 2012

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081003100536/http://www1.ccny.cuny.edu/advancement/pr/ELIE-WIESEL-TO-DELIVER-INAUGURAL-PRESIDENTS-LECTURE-AT-THE-CITY-COLLEGE-OF-NEW-YORK.cfm

| archive-date = October 3, 2008

| url-status = dead

}}

| title = Elie Wiesel and Martin J. Whitman Among Notable American Recipients of TAU's Highest Honor

| publisher = American Friends of Tel Aviv University

| date = May 20, 2008

| url = http://www.aftau.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=7031

| access-date = February 5, 2012

| archive-date = January 26, 2012

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120126175755/http://www.aftau.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=7031

| url-status = dead

}}

  • Doctorate, Weizmann Institute, Rehovot, Israel, 2008.{{cite web |url=http://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/honorary-doctorates-of-the-weizmann-institute-of-science |title=Honorary Doctorates of the Weizmann Institute of Science |access-date=February 4, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120125153730/http://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/honorary-doctorates-of-the-weizmann-institute-of-science |archive-date=January 25, 2012 }}
  • Doctor of Humane Letters, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, 2009.

{{cite web

|title = Honorary Degrees

|publisher = Bucknell University

|url = http://www.bucknell.edu/Documents/Commencement/Honary%20Degrees_Wiesel.pdf

|access-date = February 5, 2012

|url-status = dead

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120802001644/http://www.bucknell.edu/Documents/Commencement/Honary%20Degrees_Wiesel.pdf

|archive-date = August 2, 2012

|df = mdy-all

}}

| title = 2010 honorary degree recipients announced

| publisher = Lehigh University

| date = March 26, 2010

| url = http://www4.lehigh.edu/news/newsarticle.aspx?Channel=%2FChannels%2FNews%3A+2010&WorkflowItemID=a5a6a73d-c3e6-4380-ba67-402257a7fa9b

| access-date = February 3, 2012

| archive-date = August 8, 2010

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100808160523/http://www4.lehigh.edu/news/newsarticle.aspx?Channel=/Channels/News:+2010&WorkflowItemID=a5a6a73d-c3e6-4380-ba67-402257a7fa9b

| url-status = live

}}

| title = Holocaust survivor, human rights activist Wiesel to deliver Commencement address

| publisher = Washington University in St. Louis

| date = April 5, 2011

| url = http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/22126.aspx

| access-date = February 5, 2012

| archive-date = January 9, 2016

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160109062827/https://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/22126.aspx

| url-status = live

}}

  • Doctor of Humane Letters, College of Charleston, 2011.[http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20110926/PC1602/309269940 "Nobel laureate Wiesel holds hope for future"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160817060755/http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20110926/PC1602/309269940 |date=August 17, 2016 }}, The Post and Courier, September 26, 2011
  • Doctorate, University of Warsaw, June 25, 2012.

{{cite web

|title = Professor Elie Wiesel awarded the University of Warsaw Honorary Doctorate

|publisher = University of Warsaw

|year = 2012

|url = http://www.uw.edu.pl/en/page.php/news/wiesel.html

|access-date = July 6, 2012

|url-status = dead

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120716234729/http://www.uw.edu.pl/en/page.php/news/wiesel.html

|archive-date = July 16, 2012

|df = mdy-all

}}

| title = Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel receives UBC honorary degree

| work = UBC Public Affairs

| publisher = University of British Columbia

| year = 2012

| url = http://www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/2012/09/10/nobel-laureate-elie-wiesel-receives-ubc-honorary-degree/

| access-date = September 10, 2012

| archive-date = September 13, 2012

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120913211528/http://www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/2012/09/10/nobel-laureate-elie-wiesel-receives-ubc-honorary-degree/

| url-status = live

}}

  • Doctorate, Pontifical University of John Paul II, June 30, 2015{{Cite journal|year=2015|title=Other Important Events|journal=Analecta Cracoviensia|volume=47|pages=253–323}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/polish-school-honors-elie-wiesel/|title=Polish school honors Elie Wiesel|agency=Associated Press|website=The Times of Israel|language=en-US|access-date=March 23, 2020|archive-date=March 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200323013209/https://www.timesofisrael.com/polish-school-honors-elie-wiesel/|url-status=live}}
  • Doctorate of Humane Letters, Fairfield University, May 22, 1983{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Honorary Degrees |url=https://www.fairfield.edu/about/university-profile/honorary-degrees/index.html |access-date=August 8, 2023 |website=Fairfield University |language=en |archive-date=June 3, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230603101738/https://www.fairfield.edu/about/university-profile/honorary-degrees/index.html |url-status=live }}

{{Incomplete list|date=November 2011}}

See also

References

Informational notes

{{notelist}}

Citations

{{Reflist}}

Speeches and interviews

{{Refbegin}}

  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20080914135645/http://www.jinsider.com/channel/39/top-jews/series/63/elie-wiesel.html Elie Wiesel Video Gallery]
  • {{Citation

| title = Nobel Peace Prize Winner Elie Wiesel Examines 'Building a Moral Society' in Ubben Lecture

| publisher = DePauw University

| date = September 21, 1989

| url = http://www.depauw.edu/news/index.asp?id=17914

| access-date = February 3, 2012

| archive-date = June 26, 2011

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110626010301/http://www.depauw.edu/news/index.asp?id=17914

| url-status = live

}}

  • {{cite episode

| title = Facing Hate with Elie Wiesel

| url = http://billmoyers.com/content/facing-hate-with-elie-wiesel/

| series = Bill Moyers

| airdate = November 27, 1991

| access-date = February 6, 2012

| archive-date = February 8, 2012

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120208050602/http://billmoyers.com/content/facing-hate-with-elie-wiesel/

| url-status = live

}}

  • {{cite web | title=Elie Wiesel Biography and Interview | website=achievement.org | date=June 29, 1996 | publisher=American Academy of Achievement | url=https://www.achievement.org/achiever/elie-wiesel/#interview | access-date=April 3, 2019 | archive-date=January 3, 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190103162642/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/elie-wiesel#interview | url-status=live }}
  • [https://www.pbs.org/speaktruthtopower/elie.html The Kennedy Center Presents: Speak Truth to Power: Elie Wiesel] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171018092050/http://www.pbs.org/speaktruthtopower/elie.html |date=October 18, 2017 }}, PBS, October 8, 2000.
  • [http://www.uctv.tv/search-details.aspx?showID=6716 An Evening with Elie Wiesel] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201128113817/http://www.uctv.tv/search-details.aspx?showID=6716 |date=November 28, 2020 }}. Herman P. and Sophia Taubman Endowed Symposia in Jewish Studies. UCTV (University of California). August 19, 2002
  • [https://www.pbs.org/eliewiesel/ Elie Wiesel: First Person Singular] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101222202307/http://www.pbs.org/eliewiesel/ |date=December 22, 2010 }}, PBS, October 24, 2002.
  • {{Citation

|last = Diamante

|first = Jeff

|title = Elie Wiesel on his beliefs

|newspaper = The Star

|location = Toronto

|date = July 29, 2006

|url = https://www.thestar.com/Life/Religion/article/126609

|url-status = dead

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080602173852/http://www.thestar.com/Life/Religion/article/126609

|archive-date = June 2, 2008

|df = mdy-all

}}.

  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20070607042953/http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/focus/antisemitism/voices/transcript/index.php?content=20070524 Voices on Antisemitism Interview with Elie Wiesel] from the [http://www.ushmm.org/ United States Holocaust Memorial Museum], May 24, 2007.
  • {{cite episode

|title = 'We must not forget the Holocaust'

|url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_7616000/7616231.stm

|series = Today (BBC Radio 4)

|series-link = Today (BBC Radio 4)

|network = BBC

|station = BBC Radio 4

|airdate = September 15, 2008

|access-date = February 6, 2012

|archive-date = September 14, 2020

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200914190151/http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_7616000/7616231.stm

|url-status = live

}}

  • {{cite episode

|title = A conversation with Elie Wiesel

|url = http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/10370

|series = Charlie Rose

|series-link = Charlie Rose (talk show)

|network = PBS

|airdate = June 8, 2009

|url-status = dead

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090613021629/http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/10370

|archive-date = June 13, 2009

|df = mdy-all

}}

  • {{cite episode

|title = Unmasking Evil – Elie Wiesel, featuring Soledad O'Brien, 2009

|url = https://www.oslofreedomforum.com/speakers/elie-wiesel

|series = Oslo Freedom Forum 2009

|series-link = Oslo Freedom Forum

|station = Oslo Freedom Forum

|airdate = 2010

|access-date = July 4, 2016

|archive-date = June 8, 2019

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190608162953/https://oslofreedomforum.com/speakers/elie-wiesel

|url-status = live

}}

  • {{cite episode

|title = Elie Wiesel on the Leon Charney Report (Segment)

|url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhwmPIE4E78

|series = The Charney Report

|series-link = Leon Charney#The Charney Report

|station = WNYE-TV

|airdate = 2006

|access-date = November 8, 2013

|archive-date = September 14, 2020

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200914190216/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhwmPIE4E78

|url-status = live

}}

  • {{cite episode

|title = Elie Wiesel on the Leon Charney Report

|url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6UKnqxB9hA

|series = The Charney Report

|series-link = Leon Charney#The Charney Report

|station = WNYE-TV

|airdate = 2006

|access-date = November 29, 2016

|archive-date = February 2, 2017

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170202193250/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6UKnqxB9hA

|url-status = live

}}

{{Refend}}

Further reading

{{Refbegin}}

  • Berenbaum, Michael. The Vision of the Void: Theological Reflections on the Works of Elie Wiesel. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1979. {{ISBN|0-8195-6189-4}}
  • {{cite book |last1=Burger |first1=Ariel |title=Witness: Lessons from Elie Wiesel's Classroom |date=2018 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |isbn=978-1328802699 |url=https://arielburger.com/witness-lessons-from-elie-wiesels-classroom/#description |access-date=November 13, 2018 |archive-date=November 14, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181114060329/https://arielburger.com/witness-lessons-from-elie-wiesels-classroom/#description |url-status=live }}
  • {{cite web

| last = Chighel

| first = Michael

| title = Hosanna! Eliezer Wiesel's Correspondence with the Lubavitcher Rebbe

| medium = online book

| date = 2015

| url = http://www.chighel.com/hosanna/

| access-date = July 23, 2015

| archive-date = March 4, 2016

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160304104957/http://www.chighel.com/hosanna/

| url-status = dead

}}

  • Davis, Colin. Elie Wiesel's Secretive Texts. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 1994. {{ISBN|0-8130-1303-8}}
  • {{cite video

|people = Doblmeier, Martin

|title = The Power of Forgiveness

|medium = Documentary

|publisher = Journey Films

|location = Alexandria, VA

|date = 2008

|url = http://www.thepowerofforgiveness.com/about/peopleinthefilm/wiesel.html

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080908013631/http://www.thepowerofforgiveness.com/about/peopleinthefilm/wiesel.html

|url-status = dead

|archive-date = September 8, 2008

}}

  • Downing, Frederick L. Elie Wiesel: A Religious Biography. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2008. {{ISBN|978-0-88146-099-5}}
  • Fine, Ellen S. Legacy of Night: The Literary Universe of Elie Wiesel. New York: State University of New York Press, 1982. {{ISBN|0-87395-590-0}}
  • Fonseca, Isabel. Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and Their Journey. London: Vintage, 1996. {{ISBN|978-0-679-73743-8}}
  • {{cite journal | last = Friedman | first = John S. | url = http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/2995/the-art-of-fiction-no-79-elie-wiesel | title = Elie Wiesel, The Art of Fiction No. 79 | journal = The Paris Review | volume = Spring 1984 | issue = 91 | date = Spring 1984 | access-date = November 29, 2010 | archive-date = October 28, 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101028143601/http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/2995/the-art-of-fiction-no-79-elie-wiesel | url-status = live }}
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20110721022925/http://iefr.univ-artois.fr/spip.php?article46 Rota, Olivier. Choisir le français pour exprimer l'indicible. Elie Wiesel], in {{Lang|fr|Mythe et mondialisation. L'exil dans les littératures francophones, Actes du colloque organisé dans le cadre du projet bilatéral franco-roumain « Mythes et stratégies de la francophonie en Europe, en Roumanie et dans les Balkans », programme Brâcuşi des 8–9 septembre 2005, Editura Universităţii Suceava}}, 2006, pp. 47–55. Re-published in Sens, dec. 2007, pp. 659–668.

{{Refend}}