“Look, honors are very, very pleasant to receive, but it all depends what you do with them,”
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Eliezer "Elie" Wiesel 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.
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sports · American writer and activist (1928–2016) · writer · political activist · Judaic scholar · novelist · autobiographer · university teacher · translator · journalist · humanist · philosopher · also Elie Wiesel, Eliezer Wiesel, A-7713, Élie Wiesel, Wiesel
Born 30 September 1928 · Died 2 July 2016 · Q18391
117 published statements · 0 followers
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“Look, honors are very, very pleasant to receive, but it all depends what you do with them,”
VPM: Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire [ASL]
Crain's New York Business: Holocaust survivor and author Elie Wiesel’s Midtown co-op sells for $5M
“The world? The world is not interested in us. Today, everything is possible, even the crematoria...”
Jewish Journal: Elie Wiesel Film Premiere, JNF-USA Golf Tournament, AJC Los Angeles Names Director
Encyclopaedia Britannica: Why was Elie Wiesel awarded the Nobel Peace Prize?
Encyclopaedia Britannica: Which Nazi concentration camps was Elie Wiesel imprisoned in during World War II?
Yahoo: Elie Wiesel’s son discusses new doc on his dad, the Ye apology and loving ‘The Producers’
“Citation choisie pour le 2 juillet 2026 10e anniversaire de son décès.”
The tenth anniversary of Wiesel’s death was marked by renewed attention to his legacy and his connection with the March of the Living
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Newsweek: Let the World Listen to Elie Wiesel | Opinion
A documentary by filmmaker Oren Rudavsky, Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire, examined the history behind the writing and publication of Night
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Newsweek: Three Years After Elie Wiesel’s Death, We Are Desperate for Voices Like His | Opinion
New York Post: Elie Wiesel’s childhood home defaced with anti-Semitic graffiti
Antisemitic graffiti were found on the house where Wiesel was born
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Wiesel's son, Elisha participated in the March of the Living in memory of his father, honoring his legacy
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Yahoo: Elie Wiesel Laid to Rest as Widow Pays Tribute: 'He Waged Countless Battles for Innocent Victims'
The Hollywood Reporter: Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel Remembered at Private Service
The Daily Beast: When Elie Wiesel Confronted Ronald Reagan
CNN: Friends and world leaders remember Elie Wiesel
Yahoo: Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor and author, dead at 87
Bustle: Elie Wiesel On Life And Death
Died 2016-07-02.
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JSTOR Daily: The Struggle for Understanding: Elie Wiesel's Literary Works
“The duty of the survivor is to bear testimony to what happened . . . You have to warn people that these things can happen, that evil can be unleashed. Race hatred, violence, idolatries—they still flourish.”
“Citation choisie pour le 11 juillet 2016.”
“There are victories of the soul and spirit. Sometimes, even if you lose, you win.”
“When a Jew visits Jerusalem for the first time, it is not the first time; it is a homecoming.”
“It's up to you now, and we shall help you — that my past does not become your future.”
“I believe mysticism is a very serious endeavor. One must be equipped for it. One doesn't study calculus before studying arithmetic. In my tradition, one must wait until one has learned a lot of Bible and Talmud and the Prophets to handle mysticism. This isn't instant coffee. There is no instant mysticism.”
“In Jewish history there are no coincidences.”
“I had anger but never hate. Before the war, I was too busy studying to hate. After the war, I thought, What's the use? To hate would be to reduce myself.”
“For me, every hour is grace. And I feel gratitude in my heart each time I can meet someone and look at his or her smile.”
“Cada judío debería guardar, en algún lugar de su corazón, una zona para el odio, ese odio sano, varonil contra todo aquello que representa el alemán y que forma parte de la esencia de lo alemán. Todo lo demás sería traición a los muertos.”
“Desde tiempos inmemoriales la gente ha hablado de paz, pero no la ha conseguido. ¿Será sencillamente que carecemos de suficiente experiencia? Aunque hablamos de paz, hacemos la guerra. A veces hasta guerreamos en el nombre de la paz. [...] Puede que la guerra sea una parte tan intrínseca de la historia que no pueda eliminarse... jamás.”
“Words can sometimes, in moments of grace, attain the quality of deeds.”
“El deber del superviviente es dar testimonio de lo que ocurrió, [...] hay que advertir a la gente de que estas cosas pueden suceder, que el mal puede desencadenarse. El odio racial, la violencia y las idolatrías todavía proliferan.”
“En la historia judía no hay coincidencias.”
“Juré no callarme jamás cuando los seres humanos soporten sufrimientos y humillaciones en cualquier lugar. Siempre debemos tomar partido. La neutralidad ayuda al opresor, nunca a la víctima. El silencio alienta al perseguidor, nunca al perseguido.”
“Ninguna raza humana es superior; ninguna fe religiosa es inferior. Todos los juicios colectivos están equivocados. Solo los racistas los hacen.”
“Notas: original en inglés [If anything can, it is memory that will save humanity].”
“Whenever an angel says "Be not afraid!" you'd better start worrying. A big assignment is on the way.”
“From time immemorial, people have talked about peace without achieving it. Do we simply lack enough experience? Though we talk peace, we wage war. Sometimes we even wage war in the name of peace. . . . War may be too much a part of history to be eliminated—ever.”
“I don't believe in accidents. There are only encounters in history. There are no accidents.”
“When a person doesn't have gratitude, something is missing in his or her humanity. A person can almost be defined by his or her attitude toward gratitude.”
Awarded honorary citizen of Jerusalem (2015).
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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
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Awarded Norman Mailer Prize (2011).
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In May 2011, Wiesel served as the Washington University in St.
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Wiesel accepted a five-year appointment as a Distinguished Presidential Fellow at Chapman University in Orange County, California
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Won National Humanities Medal (2009).
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“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.”
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Wiesel criticized the Vatican for lifting the excommunication of controversial bishop Richard Williamson, a member of the Society of Saint Pius X
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Wiesel returned to Hungary for his first visit since the Holocaust
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Awarded Great Immigrants Award (2007).
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Wiesel was awarded the Dayton Literary Peace Prize's Lifetime Achievement Award
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Wiesel was attacked in a San Francisco hotel by 22-year-old Holocaust denier Eric Hunt in February 2007, but was not injured.
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Wiesel received a knighthood in London in recognition of his work toward raising Holocaust education in the United Kingdom
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Awarded Light of Truth Award (2005).
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Gave a speech at the opening ceremony of the new building of Yad Vashem, the Israeli Holocaust History Museum:
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“the worlds most durable ideology”
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
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Awarded doctor honoris causa from the Paris-Sorbonne University (2001).
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Awarded Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour (2001).
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Awarded honorary doctor of the Florida Atlantic University (1997).
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Awarded honorary doctor of the University of Picardie Jules Verne (1995).
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Awarded honorary degree from Spelman College (1995).
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“Building a Moral Society", Chamberlin Lecture at Lewis & Clark College (1995)”
And covered his life up to the year 1969
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“Jedes Wesen steht im Mittelpunkt der Schöpfung, jedes Wesen rechtfertigt die Schöpfung." - Geschichten gegen die Melancholie - Die Weisheit der chassidischen Meister. Freiburg, 1994. Übersetzer: Hanns Bücker. ISBN 3-451-04296-7”
Awarded honorary doctorate of the Bordeaux Montaigne University (1993).
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Won Presidential Medal of Freedom presented by George H. W. Bush (1992).
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“Have You Learned The Most Important Lesson Of All?", published in Parade Magazine (May 24, 1992)”
Awarded Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour (1990).
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And again in 2005, during the 60th anniversary of the end of WWII
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“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?”
Awarded honorary doctor of the University of Miami (1988).
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Attended the program in 1990, and returned in 2005, when he addressed more than 18,000 participants during the 60th anniversary year of the end of the Second World War
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Awarded Freedom Award (1987).
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Awarded honorary doctor of the University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne (1987).
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Awarded the Nobel Prize in Peace — for being a messenger to mankind: his message is one of peace, atonement and dignity.
Awarded Nobel Peace Prize (1986).
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“US News & World Report (October 27, 1986)”
“Nobel Lecture, 11 Aralık 1986”
For speaking out against violence, repression, and racism
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“Man in the News; Witness to Evil: Eliezer Weisel", by Joseph Berger, The New York Times (15 October 1986)”
Awarded Four Freedoms Award – Freedom of Worship in New York City (1985).
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“Comments regarding US President Ronald Reagan's proposed visit to a Bitburg cemetery with then German President Helmut Kohl, on receiving the Congressional Gold Medal from Reagan (January 4, 1985).”
The Presidential Medal of Freedom, and The International Center in New York's Award of Excellence
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“(Englisch: "There were those who claimed that Job did exist but that his sufferings are sheer literary invention. Then there where those who declared that while Job never existed, he undeniably did suffer." -Messengers of God - Biblical Portraits and Legends. Summit Books 1985. p. p. 215)”
Awarded Lucien Barrière Literary Award (1984).
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“(Englisch: "Every person is the center of creation — every person is called upon to justify creation." - Somewhere a Master - Further Hasidic Portraits and Legends. Simon & Schuster 1984. p. 190)”
Signed a letter protesting German arms sales to Saudi Arabia
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Awarded Grand Prix littéraire de la Ville de Paris (1983).
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“Souls on Fire : Portraits and Legends of Hasidic Masters (1982)”
Served as the first Henry Luce Visiting Scholar in Humanities and Social Thought at Yale University
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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
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Awarded Prix du Livre Inter (1980).
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“Die einen sagen, Hiob hat sehr wohl gelebt, nur sein Leiden ist eine rein literarische Erfindung. Dem halten andere entgegen: Hiob hat niemals gelebt, aber er hat sehr wohl gelitten." - Adam oder das Geheimnis des Anfangs. Übersetzer: Hanns Bücker. Freiburg im Breisgau, 1980. S. 211. ISBN 3-451-18952-6”
“John S. Friedman ile 1978 tarihli röportajından”
“In a 1978 interview with John S. Friedman, published in The Paris Review 26 (Spring 1984); and in Elie Wiesel : Conversations (2002) edited by Robert Franciosi, p. 85”
“In a 1978 interview with John S. Friedman, published in The Paris Review 26 (Spring 1984); and in Elie Wiesel : Conversations (2002) edited by Robert Franciosi, p. 86”
“In a 1978 interview with John S. Friedman, published in The Paris Review 26 (Spring 1984); and in Elie Wiesel : Conversations (2002) edited by Robert Franciosi, p. 87”
Co-founded the magazine Moment with writer Leonard Fein
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Awarded Bordin Prize (1972).
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“Discours à Kansas City en 1970.”
Married Austrian Marion Erster Rose, who also translated many of his books
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Married Marion Erster Rose, who originally was from Austria and also translated many of his books from French to English
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Awarded Prix Médicis for A Beggar in Jerusalem (1968).
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“A statement of 1968, as quoted in "How And Why I Write: An Interview with Elie Wiesel" by Heidi Anne Walker, in Journal of Education, Vol. 162 (1980), p. 57”
“The Gates of the Forest (1964)”
Wiesel moved to New York as foreign correspondent for the Israel daily, Yediot Ahronot
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Traveled to Israel as a correspondent for the French newspaper L'arche
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Translated articles from Hebrew into Yiddish for Irgun periodicals, but never became a member of the organization
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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
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When they were just prepared to be evacuated from Buchenwald
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Born 1928-09-30.
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