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{{Infobox Writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox Writer/doc]] --> |
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|name=Elie Wiesel |
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|awards=[[Nobel Peace Prize]],<br>[[Presidential Medal of Freedom]],<br>[[Congressional Gold Medal]] |
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|image=Elie Wiesel.jpg |
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|caption=Wiesel speaking the [[World Economic Forum]] Annual Meeting in 2003 |
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|birthdate={{birth date and age|1920|09|30}} |
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|birthplace=[[Sighetul Marmatiei|Sighet]], [[Maramures County|Maramureş County]], [[Romania]] |
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|occupation=Political activist, professor, novelist |
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}} |
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'''Elie Wiesel''' (born '''Eliezer Wiesel''' on September 30, 1928) |
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<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9076939/Elie-Wiesel Elie Wiesel from Encyclopædia Britannica]</ref> is a [[Jewish]] writer, professor, political activist, [[Nobel Laureate]] and [[Holocaust]] survivor. He is the author of 57 books, the best known of which is ''[[Night (book)|Night]],'' a memoir that describes his experiences during the Holocaust and his imprisonment in several [[Nazi concentration camps|concentration camps]]. Wiesel was awarded the [[Nobel Peace Prize]] in 1986. The [[Norwegian Nobel Committee]] called him a "messenger to mankind," noting that through his struggle to come to terms with "his own personal experience of total humiliation and of the utter contempt for humanity shown in [[Hitler]]'s death camps," as well as his "practical work in the cause of peace," "Wiesel has delivered a powerful message "of peace, atonement and human dignity" to humanity.<ref>[http://nobelprize.org/peace/laureates/1986/press.html 1986 Nobel Peace Prize Press Release]</ref> Through his writings and life, Elie Wiesel undertook a role of personal witness to the Holocaust, especially prominent from the 1950s, before publicity had yet been given to Holocaust testimonies and scholarship. In this, his lyrical, poetic style can be contrasted with the analytical expression of the other famous Holocaust witness [[Primo Levi]]. Wiesel's renowned role of Holocaust testimony is often more well known than the great literary, philosophical and Jewish qualities of his other writings. His diverse mediums of fiction and non-fiction, establish him as a prominent figure in modern Jewish literature. Only a minority of his writings directly address the Holocaust, while many other works celebrate the emotional warmth and intellectual life of the Judaism in which he was raised. These works offer a uniquely accessible and poetic transmission of Biblical, Rabbinic and Hasidic traditions, and the meanings of Jewish identity today. |
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==Biography== |
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===Early life=== |
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Wiesel was born in Sighet, (now [[Sighetu Marmaţiei]]), [[Maramureş County|Maramureş]], [[Kingdom of Romania]], in the [[Carpathian Mountains]], to Shlomo and Sarah Wiesel. Sarah was the daughter of Dodye Feig, a celebrated Vishnitz [[Hasidic Judaism|Hasid]] and farmer from a nearby village. Shlomo was an [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox Jew]] of [[Hungary|Hungarian]] descent, and a shopkeeper who ran his own grocery store. He was active and trusted within the community, and had spent a few months in jail for having helped [[History of the Jews in Poland|Polish Jews]] who escaped and were hungry in the early years of his life. It was Shlomo who instilled a strong sense of [[humanism]] in his son, encouraging him to learn [[Hebrew language|Modern Hebrew]] and to read literature, whereas his mother encouraged him to study [[Torah]] and [[Kabbalah]]. Wiesel has said his father represented reason, and his mother faith (Fine 1982:4). Elie Wiesel had three sisters: Hilda and Beatrice (Bea), who were older than he, and Tzipora, who was the youngest in the family. Bea and Hilda also survived the war and eventually emigrated to North America; in Bea's case, to Montréal, Canada. Tzipora, Shlomo and Sarah did not survive the war. The New York Times has called Wiesel's book [[Night (book)|Night]] a "slim volume of terrifying power."one of the few errors he has made was when he lied about inventing the word holocaust as a way of giving the english a way to understand what it was (the hebrew word for holocaust is shoa) unfortunately many people quickly pointed out the lie and it was never brought up again. |
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===World War II=== |
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[[Image:Buchenwald Slave Laborers Liberation.jpg|thumb|220px|right|Buchenwald, 1945. Wiesel is on the second row from the bottom, seventh from the left.]] |
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The town of Sighet [[Second Vienna Award|was returned to Hungary]]. In 1944 Elie, his family and the rest of the town were placed in one of the two ghettos in Sighet. Elie and his family lived in the larger of the two, on Serpent Street. On May 16, 1944, the Hungarian authorities [[deport]]ed the Jewish community in Sighet to [[Auschwitz concentration camp|Auschwitz – Birkenau]]. While at Auschwitz, the number A-7713 was tattooed onto his left arm. Wiesel was separated from his mother and sister Tzipora, who are presumed to have died at Auschwitz. Wiesel and his father were sent to the attached work camp Buna-Werke, a subcamp of [[Auschwitz Concentration Camp|Auschwitz III Monowitz]]. He managed to remain with his father for a year as they were forced to work under appalling conditions and shuffled between three concentration camps in the closing days of the war. On January 29, 1945, just a few weeks after the two were marched to [[Buchenwald]], Wiesel's father suffered from [[dysentery]], [[starvation]], and [[exhaustion]], and was later sent to the crematorium, only months before the camp was liberated by the [[United States|American]] [[U.S. Third Army|Third Army]] on April 11.<ref>see the film "Elie Wiesel Goes Home" by Judit Elek, narrated by William Hurt ISBN #1-930545-63-0</ref> |
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===After the war=== |
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After the war, Wiesel was placed in a [[France|French]] [[orphanage]], where he learned the [[French language]] and was reunited with his older sisters, Hilda and Bea, who had also survived the war. In 1948 he studied philosophy at the [[University of Paris|Sorbonne]]. |
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He taught [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] and worked as a choirmaster before becoming a professional journalist. He wrote for Israeli and French newspapers, including ''[[Tsien in Kamf]]'' (in [[Yiddish language|Yiddish]]) ''[[L'arche]]''. However, for ten years after the war, Wiesel refused to write about or discuss his experiences during the Holocaust. Like many survivors, Wiesel could not find the words to describe his experiences. However, a meeting with [[François Mauriac]], the 1952 [[Nobel Prize in Literature|Nobel Laureate in Literature]], who eventually became Wiesel's close friend, persuaded him to write about his experiences. |
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Wiesel first wrote the 245-page memoir ''Un di velt hot geshvign'' (And the World Remained Silent), in [[Yiddish]], which was published in abridged form in [[Buenos Aires]]. <ref> Naomi Seidman, "Elie Wiesel and the Scandal of Jewish Rage," Jewish Social Studies 3:1 (Fall 1996), p. 5. </ref> Wiesel rewrote a shortened version of the manuscript in French, and it was published as the 127-page autobiography ''La Nuit'', and later translated into English as ''[[Night (novel)|Night]].'' Even with Mauriac's support, Wiesel had trouble finding a [[publisher]] for his book, and initially it sold few copies. |
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{{Quote box |width=85% |align=center |quote=<div style="line-height:1.3em;">I was the accuser, God the accused. My eyes were open and I was alone – terribly alone in a world without God and without man.</div> |source=<div style="line-height:1.3em;">Elie Wiesel, ''Night''<br /><small>(1958, translated by Stella Rodway)</small></div>}} |
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In 1960, Arthur Wang of Hill & Wang agreed to pay a $100 pro-forma advance, and published it in the U.S. in September that year as ''Night''. It sold just 1,046 copies over the next 18 months, but attracted interest from reviewers, leading to television interviews with Wiesel and meetings with literary figures like [[Saul Bellow]]. "The English translation came out in 1960, and the first printing was 3,000 copies," Wiesel said in an interview. "And it took three years to sell them. Now, I get 100 letters a month from children about the book. And there are many, many million copies in print." The 1979 book and play ''The Trial of God'' is said to have been based on Wiesel's real life Auschwitz experience of witnessing three Jews who, close to death, conduct a [[lawsuits against God|trial against God]], finding him guilty. |
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"Night" has been translated into 30 languages. By 1997, the book was selling 300,000 copies annually in the United States alone. By March 2006, about six million copies were sold in the United States. On January 16, 2006, [[Oprah Winfrey]] chose the novel for her book club. One million extra paperback and 150,000 hardcover copies were printed carrying the "[[Oprah's Book Club]]" logo, with a new translation by Wiesel's wife, Marion, and a new preface by Wiesel. On February 13, 2006, ''Night'' was no. 1 on ''The New York Times'' bestseller list for paperback non-fiction. |
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===Life in the United States=== |
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[[Image:Eli wiesel house in sighet01.jpg|thumb|right|The house where Elie Wiesel was born]] |
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In 1955, Wiesel moved to [[New York City]], having become a U.S. citizen: due to injuries suffered in a traffic accident, he was forced to stay in New York past his visa's expiration and was offered citizenship to resolve his status. In the U.S., Wiesel wrote over forty books, both fiction and non-fiction, and won many literary prizes. Wiesel's writing is considered among the most important in [[The Holocaust in art and literature|Holocaust literature]]. Some historians credit Wiesel with giving the term 'Holocaust' its present meaning, but he does not feel that the word adequately describes the event and wishes it were used less frequently to describe significant occurrences as everyday tragedies (Wiesel:1999, 18). |
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He was awarded the [[Nobel Peace Prize]] in 1986 for speaking out against [[violence]], [[repression]], and [[racism]]. He has received many other prizes and honors for his work, including the [[Congressional Gold Medal]] in 1985, and was elected to the [[American Academy of Arts and Letters]] in 1996. |
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Wiesel also played a role in the initial success of [[The Painted Bird]] by [[Jerzy Kosinski]] by endorsing it prior to revelations that the book was a [[hoax]]. |
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He is also the recipient of The International Center in New York's Award of Excellence. Wiesel has published two volumes of his [[memoirs]]. The first, ''All Rivers Run to the Sea'', was published in 1994 and covered his life up to the year 1969 while the second, titled ''And the Sea is Never Full'' and published in 1999, covered 1969 to 1999. |
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Wiesel and his wife, Marion, started the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity. He served as chairman for the [[Presidential Commission on the Holocaust]] (later renamed [[U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council]]) from 1978 to 1986, spearheading the building of the [[United States Holocaust Memorial Museum]] in [[Washington, DC]]. |
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[[Image:Eli Wiesel US Congress.jpg|thumb|right|Wiesel addressing the [[United States Congress]].]] |
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Wiesel is particularly fond of teaching and holds the position of [[Andrew Mellon]] Professor of the [[Humanities]] at [[Boston University]]. From 1972 to 1976, Wiesel was a Distinguished Professor at the [[City University of New York]] and member of the [[American Federation of Teachers]]. In 1982 he served as the first [[Henry Luce]] Visiting Scholar in Humanities and Social Thought at [[Yale University]]. He also co-instructs 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]]. |
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Wiesel has become a popular speaker on the subject of the Holocaust. As a [[political activist]], he has advocated for many causes, including [[Israel]], the plight of [[Soviet Jews|Soviet]] and [[Beta Israel|Ethiopian Jews]], the victims of ''[[apartheid]]'' in [[South Africa]], [[Argentina]]'s ''[[Desaparecidos]]'', [[Bosnians|Bosnian]] victims of [[genocide]] in the former [[Yugoslavia]], [[Nicaragua]]'s [[Miskito|Miskito Indians]], and the [[Kurds]]. He recently voiced support for intervention in [[Darfur]], Sudan.<ref name="American Jewish World Service">[http://www.ajws.org/index.cfm?section_id=8&sub_section_id=14&page_id=285 Elie Wiesel: On the Atrocities in Sudan]</ref> He also led a commission organized by the [[Romania]]n government to research and write a report, released in 2004, on the true history of the Holocaust in Romania and the involvement of the Romanian wartime regime in atrocities against Jews and other groups, including the [[Roma people|Roma]]. The Romanian government accepted the findings in the report and committed to implementing the commission's recommendations for educating the public on the history of the Holocaust in Romania. The commission, formally called the International Commission for the Study of the Holocaust in Romania, came to be called the [[Wiesel Commission]] in honor of his leadership. |
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Wiesel is the honorary chair of the [[Habonim Dror]] Camp Miriam Campership and Building Fund, and a member of the International Council of the New York-based [[Human Rights Foundation]]. |
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On March 27, 2001, Wiesel appeared at the [[University of Florida]] for Jewish Awareness Month and was presented with an honorary doctor of humane letters degree from the University of Florida by Dr. Charles Young.<ref>[http://www.alligator.org/edit/issues/01-spring/010323/b13wiesel23.htm Independent Florida Alligator article [[March 23]], 2001]</ref> |
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In 2002, he inaugurated the Elie Wiesel Memorial House in Sighet in his childhood home.<ref name="RoEmbUs">''[http://www.roembus.org/English/news/press_releases/2002/July_23_2002.htm Elie Wiesel Returns to his Home in Sighet, Romania]'', Embassy of Romania in the United States, 23 July 2002.</ref> |
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===Recent years=== |
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In 1998 Wiesel gave the convocation speech at [[Appalachian State University]]. The money paid for his appearance covered costs of travel and the rest went to his various charitable institutions. |
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In early 2006, Wiesel traveled to [[Auschwitz concentration camp|Auschwitz]] with [[Oprah Winfrey]], a visit which was broadcast as part of ''[[The Oprah Winfrey Show]]'' on May 24, 2006.<ref>[http://www.oprah.com/about/press/releases/200605/press_releases_20060519.jhtml Press Release ~ Oprah.com]</ref> Wiesel said that this would most likely be his last trip there. |
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In September 2006, he appeared before the [[UN Security Council]] with actor [[George Clooney]] to call attention to the humanitarian crisis in [[Darfur]]. |
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On November 30, 2006 Wiesel received an honorary [[British honours system#Knighthood|knighthood]] in London in recognition of his work toward raising Holocaust education in the United Kingdom.<ref>[http://www.totallyjewish.com/news/national/?content_id=4994 "Wiesel Receives Honorary Knighthood" ~ TotallyJewish.com]</ref> |
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On April 25, 2007, Wiesel was awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters degree from the [[University of Vermont]]. |
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During the early 2007 selection process for the [[Kadima]] candidate for [[President of Israel|President]] of [[Israel]], [[Prime Minister of Israel|Prime Minister]] [[Ehud Olmert]] reportedly offered Wiesel the nomination (and, as the ruling-party candidate and an apolitical figure, likely the Presidency), but Wiesel "was not very interested."<ref>[http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1159193468801&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull Olmert backs Peres as next president] Jerusalem Post, 18 October 2006</ref> [[Shimon Peres]] was chosen as the Kadima candidate (and later President) instead. |
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In 2007, Elie Wiesel was awarded the [[Dayton Literary Peace Prize]]'s Lifetime Achievement Award.<ref>[http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2007/10/14/ddn101507peace.html Dayton awards 2007 peace prizes]</ref> On April 9, 2008, Wiesel was presented with an Honorary Degree, Doctor of Letters at the City College of New York. |
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In 2007 the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity issued a letter condemning [[Armenian genocide denial]] that was signed by 53 Nobel laureates including Wiesel. Wiesel has repeatedly called [[Turkey]]'s 90-year-old campaign to cover up the [[Armenian genocide]] a double killing, since it strives to kill the memory of the original atrocities.<ref>[http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=935 State of Denial: Turkey Spends Millions to Cover Up Armenian Genocide, By David Holthouse // Intelligence Report, Summer 2008]</ref> |
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On [[September 29]], 2008, the [[Rochester College]] President [[Rubel Shelly]], on its 50th anniversary, bestowed Wiesel with a plaque conferring on him as an honorary visiting professor of humanities.<ref>[http://www.christianchronicle.org/article2158505~Holocaust_survivor_honored christianchronicle.org/, Holocaust survivor honored]</ref> |
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On [[November 17]], 2008, he received an honorary doctorate from the [[Weizmann Institute]] in [[Rehovot]], [[Israel]].<ref>[http://hartman.org.il/SHInews_View_Eng.asp?Article_Id=205 Elie Wiesel will receive an honorary doctorate from the Weizmann Institute]</ref> |
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===2007 Attack on Wiesel=== |
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On February 1, 2007, Wiesel was attacked in a [[San Francisco]] hotel by a twenty-two year old holocaust denier named Eric Hunt who tried to drag Wiesel into a hotel room. Wiesel was not injured and Hunt fled the scene. Later, Hunt bragged about the incident on a holocaust denial website. Approximately one month later, he was arrested and charged with multiple offenses. <ref>[http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17193352/ "Suspect named in Wiesel attack"], ''MSNBC, February 16, 2007.</ref><ref name=yahoo>{{cite web |url=http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070218/ap_on_re_us/wiesel_accosted |title=N.J. man arrested in attack on Wiesel |publisher=Yahoo! News |date=2007-02-17}} </ref> |
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Hunt was convicted on [[July 21]], 2008,<ref name=yahoo/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://uk.reuters.com/article/mediaNews/idUKN2146787020080722 |publisher=[[Reuters]] |title=Man guilty in false imprisonment of Elie Wiesel}}</ref> and he was sentenced to two years but was given credit for time served and good behavior and was released on probation and ordered to undergo psychological treatment. The jury convicted Hunt of three charges but dismissed the remaining charges of attempted [[kidnapping]], [[stalking]], and an additional count of [[false imprisonment]], amid Hunt's withdrawal of his not guilty by reason of [[insanity]] plea.<ref>[http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080722/ap_on_re_us/wiesel_accosted news.yahoo.com, Man convicted of hate crime for accosting Wiesel]</ref><ref>[http://www.nbc11.com/newsarchive/16947017/detail.html nbc11.com, Court Reaches Verdict In Elie Wiesel Accosting Trial]</ref> District Attorney [[Kamala Harris]] said: "Crimes motivated by hate are among the most reprehensible of offenses....This defendant has been made to answer for an unwarranted and biased attack on a man who has dedicated his life to peace."<ref>[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/21/BA5C11SNGT.DTL&tsp=1 sfgate.com, SF jury convicts man of 1 felony in Wiesel case]</ref> At his sentencing hearing, Hunt apologized and insisted that he no longer denies the holocaust.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-08-18-wiesel-accosted_N.htm |title=Man gets two-year sentence for accosting Elie Wiesel |date=2008-08-18 |accessdate=2008-08-27 |publisher=[[USA Today]] |author=[[Associated Press]]}}</ref> |
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===Bernard Madoff Scandal Losses=== |
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In December 2008, the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity issued a press release<ref>[http://www.eliewieselfoundation.org/madofffraudstatement.aspx Statement on Elie Wiesel Foundation Website]</ref> on their website stating that nearly all of the foundation's assets (approximately $15.2 million USD) have been lost through [[Bernard Madoff]]'s investment firm.<ref>{{cite web |
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| last = Agence French Presse (AFP) |
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| title = Wiesel Foundation loses nearly everything in Madoff scheme |
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| date = December 24, 2008 |
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| url = http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=081224163605.lxui4v5w&show_article=1&catnum=1 |
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| accessdate =2008-12-24 }}</ref> |
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==Criticism== |
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===Criticism of Political Positions and Holocaust Memoralisation=== |
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In an editorial in ''[[The Nation]]'', [[Christopher Hitchens]] critiqued Wiesel's past support for the Palestinian Jewish militant group [[Irgun]] in the 1940s with his claimed neutrality on Middle East politics, his historical views on the [[causes of the 1948 Palestinian exodus]], and Wiesel's reaction to the [[Sabra and Shatila massacre]] of Palestinians.<ref name=weasel>[http://www.thenation.com/doc/20010219/hitchens Wiesel Words]. ''The Nation''. February 19, 2001</ref> In his book, ''[[The Fateful Triangle]]'',<ref name=chomps>Noam Chomsky, "Fateful Triangle: The United States, Israel and the Palestinians", Pluto Press, London, 1999, p. 16, 111, 130, 386-7</ref> [[Noam Chomsky]] cites a statement of Wiesel's as an example of "amazing" support in the American Jewish community for "harsh and ultimately self-destructive [Israeli] government policies." |
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<BLOCKQUOTE>I support Israel—period. I identify with Israel—period. I never attack, never criticize Israel when I am not in Israel.<ref>Chomsky cites "Interview, ''[http://jewishpostopinion.com Jewish Post & Opinion,]'' Nov. 19, 1982."</ref></BLOCKQUOTE> Former DePaul University professor [[Norman Finkelstein]] has accused Wiesel of personally profiting from the Holocaust while downplaying the significance of other genocides in history for his own enrichment. |
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It can be countered that these criticisms of Wiesel differ in their political and philosophical views, from the background to Wiesel's. Rather than suggesting cynical, or self-promoting agendas on Wiesel's part, Elie Wiesel views the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with a view opposite to Hitchens or Chomsky, and the nature and comparitive meaning of the Holocaust differently from Finkelstein. Seeing Wiesel's statements on these subjects in the context of his political, philosophical and spiritual views, rather suggests a sincere view, that others may agree or disagree with. |
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===Dispute with Simon Wiesenthal=== |
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Wiesel had a public dispute with the late Nazi hunter [[Simon Wiesenthal]] over Wiesenthal's efforts to bring parallel attention to the plight of the non-Jewish victims of the Holocaust. <ref>Levy, 124-5, 339-54 and 435-7, gives instances of run-ins with Nahum Goldman of the World Jewish Congress, Austrian prime minister Bruno Kriesky, and, lastly, with Elie Wiesel. Of these, only Wiesel was antagonized specifically by Wiesenthal's view of recognizing non-Jewish victims of the Holocaust alongside the Jewish victims.</ref> In Wiesel's view, the Nazi attack on the Jews stands apart from the massive genocidal campaigns against Gypsies, political dissidents and others, in its total nature and metaphysical necessity in Nazi ideology. This philosophical basis of the Nazis, reflects a mirror image to a Jewish self understanding, and in Jewish thought can be seen as a war against the spiritual message to humanity of Judaism and the Monotheism of the Biblical "God of Israel". In this view the Nazi attrocities against other groups should also be equally memorarilsed, documented and commemorated, but separately from the Jewish commemorations. |
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==The Literary, Theological and Jewish Contributions of Elie Wiesel== |
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The list of books by Elie Wiesel comprises a diverse range and creativity of fiction and non-fiction. Most famous is his memoir of Holocaust testimony "Night". Its emotional vividness and devotional language place it within the background of Rabbinic and liturgical Jewish worship (In his first volume of memoires "All Rivers Run to the Sea" he explains that the description in Night of the "death of his God" in response to the demise of a Jewish boy, was only metaphorical, and has been misinterpreted by others too literally. He explains that he has never rejected his adherence to Jewish belief). The lyrical, artistic style of Wiesel's testimony contrasts with the other famous Holocaust testimonies of [[Primo Levi]] that reflect his scientific training in Chemistry, through their observant factual documentation and classification. |
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Other writings of Elie Wiesel celebrate and transmit the life and thought of traditional Judaism, often infused with his own philosophical concerns. Among these are [[Biblical]], [[Talmudic]] and [[Hasidic]] portraits, such as "Wise Men and their Tales" and "Souls on Fire". These offer a unique and poetic personal transmission of the classic works and life of historic Judaism for today. His writing style is emotionally lyrical and artistic, often infused with his personal dialogue and existential argument with God, from within Jewish love and faithfulness to the "God of Israel". Elie Wiesel describes himself as having the soul of a Hasid, the Jewish mystical revival movement that began in 18th Century Eastern Europe, and he grew up in the Hungarian-Romanian Hasidic tradition of Vishnitz. His portraits of Hasidic Masters offer personal transmissions of traditional stories, that can be seen to follow on from the [[Neo-Hasidic]] depictions of [[Martin Buber]], who first brought Hasidism to the attention of the Western World. |
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Wiesel's fictional works range from novels to stageplays, and his place in wider modern Jewish and Jewish-American literature, can be contrasted with the nostalgic writings of secular Yiddish writers, from Eastern Europe, and with American born Jewish writers of the 20th century. Like the Yiddish novelist [[Isaac Bashevis Singer]], or the Jewish theologian [[Abraham Joshua Heschel]], Wiesel is an Eastern European immigrant to America, concerned with the great traditions of Jewish life and thought of the Old World. This contrasts with American novelists like [[Saul Bellow]] and [[Philip Roth]], who are concerned with the Jewish position in the New World. |
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The philosophical implications and theological questions raised by Wiesel's dialogue with God, spring from a tradition within Judaism of devoted argument with God, exemplified from [[Moses]] to Rabbi [[Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev]]. This also has historic implications for the host religion of Christianity. Works like "The Trial of God" and "Conversations with Elie Wiesel" bring out this vivid theological legacy of Wiesel, while books like "A Jew Today" articulate meanings of Jewish identity, drawn from Jewish thought and artistic immagination. Wiesel's lyrically expressed thought has vivid relevance in Jewish and non-Jewish thought on [[Theodicy]] (the theological response to suffering). |
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Perhaps the best overall introduction to Wiesel's life and thought are the two volumes of recent memoirs, named after the verse from the Hebrew Bible "All Rivers Run to the Sea..", "..And the Sea is Never Full". These chronologically cover his life to date. |
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===Books=== |
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<small>ISBNs may be of reissues or reprints. Most are paperback.</small> |
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*''[[Un di velt hot geshvign]]'' (Tsentral-Farband fun Poylishe Yidn in Argentine, 1956) ISBN 0-374-52140-9; includes the following 3 books: |
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**''[[Night (novel)|Night]]'' (Hill and Wang 1958; 2006) ISBN 0-553-27253-5 |
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**''[[Dawn (novel)|Dawn]]'' (Hill and Wang 1961; 2006) ISBN 0-553-22536-7 |
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**''[[Day (novel)|Day]]'', previously titled "The Accident" (Hill and Wang 1962; 2006) ISBN 0-553-58170-8 |
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*''The Town Beyond the Wall'' (Atheneum 1964) |
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*''[[The Gates of the Forest]]'' (Holt, Rinehart and Winston 1966) |
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*''The Jews of Silence'' (Holt, Rinehart and Winston 1966) ISBN 0-935613-01-3 |
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*''Legends of our Time'' (Holt, Rinehart and Winston 1968) |
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*''A Beggar in Jerusalem'' (Random House 1970) |
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*''One Generation After'' (Random House 1970) |
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*''Souls on Fire'' (Portraits and legends of many of the most famous Hasidic Masters) (Random House 1972) ISBN 0-671-44171-X |
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*''Night Trilogy'' (Hill and Wang 1972) |
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*''[[The Oath]]'' (Random House 1973) ISBN 0-935613-11-0 |
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*''Ani Maamin'' (Random House 1973) |
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*''Zalmen, or the Madness of God'' (Random House 1974) |
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*''Messengers of God'' (Random House 1976) ISBN 0-671-54134-X |
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*''A Jew Today'' (Random House 1978) ISBN 0-935613-15-3 |
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*''Four [[Hasidic]] Masters'' (University of Notre Dame Press 1978) |
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*''Images from the Bible'' (The Overlook Press 1980) |
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*''The Trial of God'' (Random House 1979) |
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*''The Testament'' (Summit 1981) |
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*''Five Biblical Portraits'' (University of Notre Dame Press 1981) |
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*''Somewhere a Master'' (Further Hasidic portraits) (Summit 1982) |
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*''The [[Golem]]'' (illustrated by [[Mark Podwal]]) (Summit 1983) ISBN 0-671-49624-7 |
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*''The Fifth Son'' (Summit 1985) |
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*''Against Silence'' (Holocaust Library 1985) |
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*''Twilight'' (Summit 1988) |
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*''The Six Days of Destruction'' (co-author [[Albert Friedlander]], illustrated by [[Mark Podwal]]) (Paulist Press 1988) |
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*''A Journey of Faith'' (Donald I. Fine 1990) |
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*''From the Kingdom of Memory'' (Summit 1990) |
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*''Evil and Exile'' (University of Notre Dame Press 1990) |
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*''Sages and Dreamers'' (Summit 1991) |
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*''[[The Forgotten (novel)|The Forgotten]]'' (Summit 1992) ISBN 0-8052-1019-9 |
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*''A Passover [[Haggadah]]'' (illustrated by [[Mark Podwal]]) (Simon and Schuster 1993) ISBN 0-671-73541-1 |
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*''All Rivers Run to the Sea: Memoirs, Vol. I, 1928-1969'' (Knopf 1995) ISBN 0-8052-1028-8 |
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*''Memoir in Two Voices'', with [[François Mitterrand]] (Arcade 1996) |
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*''And the Sea is Never Full: Memoirs Vol. II, 1969'' (Knopf 1999) ISBN 0-8052-1029-6 |
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*''King Solomon and his Magic Ring'' (illustrated by [[Mark Podwal]]) (Greenwillow 1999) |
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*''Conversations with Elie Wiesel'' (Schocken 2001) |
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*''The Judges'' (Knopf 2002) |
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*''Wise Men and Their Tales'' (Portraits of Biblical, Talmudic and Hasidic figures) (Schocken 2003) ISBN 0-8052-4173-6 |
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*''The Time of the Uprooted'' (Knopf 2005) |
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Additionally, as Elie Wiesel has offered a unique and poetic articulation of traditional Jewish thought and identity today, other books sometimes carry introductions or reviews from him: |
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*''A Vanished World'' (classic photographs of Eastern European Jewish life from the 1930s) [[Roman Vishniac]], forward by Elie Wiesel (Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux 1986) ISBN-10 0374520232, ISBN-13 978-0374520236 |
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==See also== |
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*''[[The Boys of Buchenwald]]'' – A documentary about the orphanage in which he stayed after the Holocaust |
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*''[[God on Trial]]'' – A 2008 joint [[BBC]] / [[WGBH Boston]] dramatisation of his book ''The Trial of God'', about a group of Auschwitz prisoners who place God on trial for breaching his contract with the Jewish people. |
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==Notes== |
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{{reflist}} |
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==References== |
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*Berenbaum, Michael: ''The Vision of the Void. Theological Reflections on the Works of Elie Wiesel'', Middletown, Connecticut, Wesleyan University Press, 1979 ISBN 0-8195-6189-4 PA |
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*Fonseca, Isabel: ''Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and Their Journey'', London, Vintage, 1996 |
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*[http://www.pbs.org/eliewiesel/ Elie Wiesel: First Person Singular] PBS special on Elie Wiesel |
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*[http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/wiesel.htm Text and audio of Elie Wiesel's famous speech on "The Perils of Indifference"] |
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*{{WiredForBooks|eliewiesel|1988 Audio Interview with Elie Wiesel by Don Swaim of CBS Radio, RealAudio}} |
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*[http://www.thenation.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20010219&s=hitchens Christopher Hitchens criticizes Elie Wiesel in the Nation Magazine] |
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*[http://www.jewsweek.com/bin/en.jsp?enPage=BlankPage&enDisplay=view&enDispWhat=object&enDispWho=Article^l223&enZone=Articles&enVersion=0& "8 Questions for Elie Wiesel", JEWSWEEK article briefly discussing Wiesel's view regarding the moral necessity of the Iraq War.] |
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*Fine, Ellen S. ''Legacy of Night: The Literary Universe of Elie Wiesel''. State University of New York Press, 1982. ISBN 0-87395-590-0 (paperback) |
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*Wiesel, Elie. ''All Rivers Run to the Sea: Memoirs.'' New York: Knopf, 1995. |
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*Wiesel, Elie. ''And the Sea is Never Full: Memoirs 1969-''. New York: Schocken, 1999. |
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*[http://video.on.nytimes.com/ifr_main.jsp?nsid=b-3659c9d0:10c95d81fe8:46cc&st=1153577610140&mp=FLV&cpf=false&fr=072206_101340_w3659c9d0x10c95d81fe8x46cd&rdm=755152.2347104911 New York Times - The Conversation with Elie Wiesel] |
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*[http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_PrintFriendly&c=Article&cid=1153950610691&call_pageid=968332188492 "Elie Wiesel on his Beliefs" ~ Toronto Star] |
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==External links== |
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{{Wikiquote}} |
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{{commonscat}} |
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*[http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/focus/antisemitism/voices/transcript/index.php?content=20070524 ''Voices on Antisemitism'' Interview with Elie Wiesel] from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum |
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*[http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/ewieselperilsofindifference.html Text and Audio of Wiesel's "Perils of Indifference" Speech] |
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*[http://www.depauw.edu/news/index.asp?id=17914 Ubben Lecture at DePauw University] |
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*[http://media.uoregon.edu/medsvs/ethics_holocaust/ Video of Ethics After the Holocaust speech] |
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*[http://www.jinsider.com/channel/39/top-jews/series/63/elie-wiesel.html Elie Wiesel Video Gallery] |
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*[http://www.examiner.com/a-556256~Author_attacked_in_S_F__hotel.html Author attacked in S.F. hotel] |
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{{Nobel Peace Prize Laureates 1976-2000}} |
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{{Hungarian Nobel Laureates}} |
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<!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]] --> |
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{{Persondata |
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|NAME= Wiesel, Elie |
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|ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Wiesel, Eliezer |
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|SHORT DESCRIPTION= American-Jewish political activist, professor, and novelist |
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|DATE OF BIRTH= {{Birth date and age|1928|9|9|mf=y}} |
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|PLACE OF BIRTH= [[Sighetu Marmaţiei|Sighet]], [[Maramures County]], [[Romania]] |
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|DATE OF DEATH= |
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|PLACE OF DEATH= |
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}} |
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wiesel, Elie}} |
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[[ar:إيلي ويسل]] |
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[[bg:Ели Визел]] |
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[[ca:Elie Wiesel]] |
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[[fa:الی ویزل]] |
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[[id:Elie Wiesel]] |
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[[he:אלי ויזל]] |
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[[la:Elia Wiesel]] |
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[[ja:エリ・ヴィーゼル]] |
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[[no:Elie Wiesel]] |
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[[ru:Визель, Эли]] |
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[[vi:Elie Wiesel]] |
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[[yi:אלי וויזעל]] |
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[[zh:埃利·维瑟尔]] |
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