A Biographical OverviewElie Wiesel, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986, was born in the provincial town of Sighet, Romania on September 30, 1928. A Jewish community had existed there since 1640, when it sought refuge from an outbreak of pogroms and persecution in Ukraine.
Wiesel at age 15His maternal grandfather, Reb Dodye Feig, was a devout Hasidic Jew, whose influence on Wiesel was deep, and inspired him to pursue Talmudic studies in the town's Yeshiva. However his father Shlomo, who ran a grocery store, although also religious, was regarded as an emancipated Jew, open to events of the world. He insisted that his son study modern Hebrew as well, so that he could read the works of contemporary writers. And at home in Sighet, which was close to the Hungarian border, Wiesel's family spoke mostly Yiddish, but also German, Hungarian and Romanian. Today, Wiesel thinks in Yiddish, writes in French, and, with his wife Marion and his son Elisha, lives his life in English.
Life for Wiesel and his extended family changed tragically in 1943 and 1944, when Nazi Germany decided that the Jews living in the Axis nations of Eastern Europe Romania, Hungary, and Bulgaria should share the fate of the rest of European Jewry and be transported to the death camps of Poland. Grandfather Dodye went first, when he and his three sons and their children where taken away in 1943. The following year, Wiesel's entire family, his mother, father and his three sisters, were transported with him to Poland. Only Wiesel and his two older sisters survived.
Grandfather
Reb Dodye FeigLiberated from Auschwitz - Buchenwald by the American Third Army in 1945, he was sent to France to study as part of a group of Jewish children orphaned by the Holocaust. There he was given a choice secular studies, or religious studies. Wiesel's faith had been severely wounded by his experiences in Auschwitz and three other concentration camps. He felt God had turned his back on the Jews. But, despite his bitterness, he chose to return to religious studies:
"My only experience in the secular world," he explains, "was Auschwitz."
Sent to Paris to study at the Sorbonne after several years of preparatory schools, he became a journalist for a small French newspaper, and supplemented his meager income as a translator and Hebrew teacher. Persuaded by the distinguished French Catholic writer Francois Mauriac, he finally put down on paper the experiences he had vowed to recount only after ten years of silence. The result was "Night", an internationally acclaimed memoir that has been translated into 30 languages and has sold more than seven million copies, the income from which goes to support a yeshiva in Israel established by Wiesel in memory of his father.
Wiesel's entry card to ParisWiesel has, since then, dedicated his life to ensuring that the murder of six million Jews would never be forgotten, and that other human beings would never be subjected to genocidal homicide.
Most of the 40 books he has written since novels, collections of essay, plays explore the subject that haunts him, the events that he describes as "history's worst crime." Speaking, writing, traveling incessantly, he has become a spokesman for human rights wherever they are threatened in the former Soviet Union, Rwanda, Bosnia, Kosovo and with the Nobel Peace Prize award established the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity.
Assigned to New York in 1956 as a correspondent for an Israeli newspaper, Wiesel was struck by a taxi while crossing the street and was hospitalized for months. Still a stateless person at the time, unable to travel to France to renew his identity card and unable to receive a US visa without it, he found that he was eligible to become a legal resident. Five years later, he received an American passport, the first passport he had ever had. Years later, when his then close friend Francois Mitterand became President of France, he was offered French nationality.
"Though I thanked him," he writes in his memoirs, "and not without some emotion, I declined the offer. When I had needed a passport, it was America that had given me one."
In 1978 President Carter named Wiesel to chair the President's Commission on the Holocaust, which recommended the creation of a national day of remembrance and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, both subsequently created by acts of Congress.
Wiesel on a boat
to Israel in 1949He has been Distinguished Professor of Judaic Studies at the City University of New York (1972-76), Henry Luce Visiting Scholar in Humanities and Social Thought at Yale University (1982-83), and since 1976 has occupied the Mellon Chair in the Humanities at Boston University.
Along with the Nobel Peace Prize, he has been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States Congressional Gold Medal, and the Grand Croix of the French Legion of Honor.
FAQs
What is the name of the first person discussed in Night by Elie Wiesel? ›
Moishe the Beadle is the first character Elie Wiesel mentions in his novel Night, a novel based on the author's own experiences in a concentration camp. As narrator and protagonist, Wiesel mentions Moishe the Beadle first because Moishe is the first person who takes his willingness to study his faith to the next level.
Why does Wiesel tell his story in first person? ›Final answer: Elie Wiesel uses the first-person perspective in Night to immerse the reader in his personal experiences during the Holocaust, enhancing their emotional response. Writing in the third person could offer greater objectivity but might lessen the emotional impact.
What do we learn about Elie Wiesel in the first section? ›Elie is raised with an Orthodox Jewish upbringing, and it is expected that he will follow the religion closely and study the Talmud, Jewish law. Both of Elie's parents are devout Jews and respected members of their community.
Is Elie Wiesel and Eliezer the same person? ›The Narrator of Night: Eliezer
A man named Eliezer, the book's protagonist, is the narrator of the story. Eliezer is partially based on Wiesel himself, and he takes the reader through his personal experiences during the Holocaust.
Eliezer. The narrator of Night and the stand-in for the memoir's author, Elie Wiesel. Night traces Eliezer's psychological journey, as the Holocaust robs him of his faith in God and exposes him to the deepest inhumanity of which man is capable.
How does Wiesel characterize himself in Night? ›How does Wiesel describe himself as a boy of 12? He describes himself as a deeply observant boy who studied Talmud, wept over the destruction of the temple, and cared deeply about his religion.
What effect does first person have on the story? ›This point of view allows the reader to understand the story from the main character's thoughts and feelings. This creates an intense emotional connection between the character and the reader, because they are influenced by this character's perspective.
Why is it important for Elie Wiesel to tell his story? ›Wiesel refuses to allow himself or his readers to forget the Holocaust because, as a survivor, he has assumed the role of messenger. It is his duty to witness as a "messenger of the dead among the living," [2] and to prevent the evil of the victims' destruction from being increased by being forgotten.
What was Elie Wiesel like in the beginning of the book? ›Elie was initially a very devout Orthodox Jew, but, as he descended into a literal hell on Earth in the camps, he began to lose his faith. When he was forced to watch a young boy die slowly from being hanged, he renounced God.
What lesson does Elie Wiesel want us to learn from his story? ›Elie Wiesel's name has become synonymous with a moral compass. He spoke not only against genocide, but for those who had lost their voice; he refused to let injustice reign. He urged us to continue teaching our children to stand up against indifference, for he understood that that was the only way to defeat the tyrant.
What was Elie Wiesel talking about? ›
In his many lectures, Wiesel has concerned himself with the situation of the Jews and other groups who have suffered persecution and death because of their religion, race or national origin. He has been outspoken on the plight of Soviet Jewry, on Ethiopian Jewry and on behalf of the State of Israel today2.
What is a paragraph about Elie Wiesel? ›In 1944, he and his family were deported to Auschwitz. Only he and two of his three sisters survived the Holocaust. After World War II, Wiesel became a journalist, prolific author, professor, and human rights activist. He was Distinguished Professor of Judaic Studies at the City University of New York (1972–1976).
Who were the first people Elie hated? ›In the memoir Night by Elie Wiesel, Elie first begins to harbor feelings of hatred towards the Hungarian police in his town. This hatred arises when they implement oppressive policies targeting the Jewish populace, including Elie's family.
How does Elie describe himself at the end of the novel "Why"? ›Final answer:
Elie Wiesel, in his memoir 'Night', describes himself as a 'corpse' when he looks into the mirror after being freed from the concentration camp, indicating his loss of vitality, youth, and innocence that he suffered during the Holocaust.
These were likely influenced by major changes in Professor Wiesel's personal life: his marriage in 1969 to Marion Rose (who subsequently became the primary translator of his work into English), and the birth in 1972 of his son, Shlomo Elisha.
What is a beadle in Night? ›Beadle, Moishe the: a beadle ushers and preserves order during services. Everyone in Sighet refers to Eliezer's instructor in the Kabbalah as "Moishe the Beadle" rather than by his last name to denote his function at religious services. benediction: a blessing, which often concludes religious services.
What was the first selection in the book Night? ›The first selection was men and women, and they had survived because men were painted in a light that they were strong and could do the best work. ELie and his father also lie about their ages, because if you were too young or too old then you would be killed.
Who was IDEK in The book Night? ›In Night, Idek is one of the Kapos and in charge of the narrator of the book, Eliezer. Idek is a prisoner in charge of a Kommando, or work squad, within the concentration camp. Eliezer falls victim to Idek's fits of uncontrollable rage several times, and so does Eliezer's father.