Introduction to Night By: Elie Wiesel

About the Author Born September 30, 1928 in Sighet, Romania. Grew up in a small village where his life revolved around the following: Family Religious Study Community God

About the Author After he was freed from the concentration camp, Wiesel became sick with intestinal problems. After several days in the hospital, Wiesel wrote an outline for a book describing the Holocaust. He wasn’t ready to publicize his experience, but promised he would. Night was the result.

About the Author After Wiesel was released from the hospital, he had no family to return to. He went with 400 other orphan children to France. From , he moved from house to house found for him by Children’s Rescue Society.

About the Author In 1948, Wiesel enrolled in the Sorbonne University where he studied literature, philosophy, and psychology. He was extremely poor and very depressed. He often considered suicide.

About the Author Over time, he became involved with the Irgun, a Jewish militant organization in Palestine, and translated materials from Hebrew to Yiddish for the Irgun’s newspaper. He began working as a reporter, and in 1949, he traveled to Israel as a correspondent for the French newspaper, L’Arche. In Israel, he found a job as a Paris correspondent for the Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot. He traveled the world in the 1950’s. He also became involved in the argument whether Israel should accept reparations payments from West Germany.

Losing Faith In 1955, Wiesel moved to New York as foreign correspondent for Yediot Ahronot. It was around this time that he decided to stop attending synagogue, except on the High Holidays, as a protest against what he concluded was divine injustice.

Turning Point Wiesel’s turning point came when he interviewed the Catholic writer, Francois Mauriac. The interview was centered around Jesus, and Wiesel ended up saying the following; "…ten years ago, not very far from here, I knew Jewish children, every one of whom suffered a thousand times more, six million times more, than Christ on the cross. And we don’t speak about them." Wiesel ran out of the room, but Mauriac followed and advised Wiesel to write down his experience.

The Novel Wiesel spent a year working on the 862 page manuscript he called And the World Was Silent. He gave it to his publisher who returned it as a 258 page book called Night. The book was published first in France in 1958 and in the U.S. in The book is autobiographical and told of his experiences during the Holocaust. It also is his personal account of his loss of religious faith.

The Marriage In 1969, Elie married Marion Rose, a divorced woman from Austria. She translated all of Wiesel’s subsequent books. In 1972, they had a son who they named Shlomo Elisha Wiesel, after Wiesel’s father.

Dedication Wiesel was outspoken about the suffering of all people, not only Jews. In the 1970s, he protested against South African apartheid. In 1980, he delivered food to starving Cambodians In 1986, he received the Nobel Peace Prize as “a messenger to mankind,” and “a human being dedicated to humanity.” He explained his actions by saying the whole world knew what was happening in the concentration camps, but did nothing. “That is why I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation.”

Accomplishments From 1972 to 1978, Wiesel was a Distinguished Professor of Judaic Studies at the City University of New York. 1978, he became a Professor of Humanities at Boston University. In 1978, President Jimmy Carter asked him to head the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council, which he did for six years. In 1985, Wiesel was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal of Achievement.

Accomplishments In 1988, he established his own humanitarian foundation, the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity, to explore the problems of hatred and ethnic conflicts. In the early 1990s, he lobbied the U.S. government on behalf of victims of ethnic cleansing in Bosnia. Wiesel has received numerous awards and approximately 75 honorary doctorates.

Holocaust Museum In 1993, Wiesel spoke at the dedication of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. His words, which echo his life’s work, are carved in stone at the entrance to the museum: “For the dead and the living, we must bear witness.”

Quotes to Remember “A destruction, an annihilation that only man can provoke, only man can prevent.” “Hope is like peace. It is not a gift from God. It is a gift only we can give one another.” “I decided to devote my life to telling the story because I felt that having survived I owe something to the dead. and anyone who does not remember betrays them again.” “I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”

Journal 2 Which one of the quotes on the previous screen (I’ll show them to you again in a minute) connects with you the most? Explain the reasons for your choice and in what way you relate to what Wiesel is saying.