Elie Wiesel
Elie Wiesel
Eliezer "Elie" Wiesel KBEwas a Romanian-born American Jewish writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate and Holocaust survivor. He was the author of 57 books, written mostly in French and English, including Night, a work based on his experiences as a prisoner in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionActivist
Date of Birth30 September 1928
CountryUnited States of America
I don't like docudramas. Documentaries should not go together with fiction, or half-fiction or quarter-fiction. The two should not go together. They cannot mix.
beauty fact government haven hope israel minister people persuade prime sadness
If I were in the government, I would persuade the prime minister to see the beauty in the fact that people see Israel as a haven - from their sadness to their hope.
ask belong continue people secretary
I do not belong to this world. I continue to write everything in longhand. If I have to see something on the Internet, I ask my secretary or students. I am lucky, because I have people who do it for me.
family goes religious
One always goes back to one's childhood in the beginning, and I come from a very religious family and surrounding. Very religious.
catholics jews relations
Never have the relations between Jews and Catholics been as good.
takes time words
It's not perfect. Nothing is perfect. Sometimes it takes time for the words to become more than words.
beneath blue bodies faces forget life night saw shall silent smoke turned whose
Never shall I forget that first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, ... 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.
happens mean means meant moment silly
It's something that happens once in a lifetime, ... It would be silly on anyone's part to say it doesn't mean anything. It means something. It meant a lot of things. It was an important moment in my life.
citizens jewish soldiers state valiant
We are here to let the Jewish state and its brave, beleaguered citizens and its valiant soldiers know that they are not alone.
tasks turbulent-times jew
The primary task of a Jew in turbulent times is to be Jewish.
pain loneliness suffering
If there is one person on the planet who still is suffering from loneliness and from pain or despair, and we don't know about it, or we don't want to know about it, then something is wrong with the world.
lonely thinking different
I cannot cure everybody. I cannot help everybody. But to tell the lonely person that I am not far or different from that lonely person, that I am with him or her, that's all I think we can do and we should do.
morning writing up-early
Usually I get up early every morning and from 6:00 to 10:00 I write. The rest of the time I study and prepare my work or I do other things. But four hours a day are exclusively devoted to writing.
pain betrayal people
I don't speak about my pain. My pain is something that doesn't need to be purged. I want to prevent people from suffering. I don't speak about my suffering. Suffering is something personal and discreet. Also, I know it will never leave me. I don't want it to leave me. It would be a betrayal.