Premium Essay

Elie Wiesel's Acceptance Speech

Submitted By
Words 863
Pages 4
In 1986, Elie Wiesel was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his human rights activism and campaigns against worldwide genocide and violence. In his acceptance speech, Wiesel said “When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men or women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views that place must – at that moment – become the center of the universe”. Wiesel found himself a target of the Nazi “Final Solution” while still only a teenager. Confined first to ghettos, Wiesel along with his whole family were then deported to the death camps at Auschwitz in 1944. The tough labor, the gruesome beatings along with the terrible conditions of Auschwitz …show more content…
where the government tries to make, everybody feel safe and secure despite race, religion and social class. My perspective of the government is trying to strive for the common good of the state. When you live in a world where everyone tries to make peace with each other it becomes human nature to do your moral duty to treat everyone the way you want to be treated. When I review Wiesel’s quote, I feel grateful and fortunate to live in a place where I don’t have to worry about when my next meal is or whether my life is in danger because of my faith. Not only that, Wiesel’s perspective is now inserted into mine because I’ve fully understood the universe he grew up in and now I’m aware of the hardships that I don’t have to go through. Growing up, I had “first-world” problems like getting a bad report card, getting in trouble with siblings or being tardy for class. But those are minuscule compared to what Wiesel encountered at 17. Working at the concentration camp in Auschwitz with his father as they endured starvation, dehumanization and enervation. After the war, studied philosophy at the Sorbonne and became a professional journalist, writing for newspapers in both France and Israel. In 1955, Wiesel set down his memories in Yiddish, in a 900-page work entitled “La Nuit” (Night). Wiesel became an unofficial spokesman for the survivors of the Holocaust. Elie Wiesel was awarded Congressional Gold Medal, Nobel Prize for Peace and Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award of the United States.

As I live my life, I’m aware that you can achieve anything in this universe if you have a burning desire to become successful. Wiesel showed me that despite the obstacles life has put I my path to greatness, if your truly determined then nothing can stop

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Rhetorical Analysis Of Elie Wiesel's Acceptance Speech

...Pound English II PreAP/Block 7 14 May 2018 Rhetorical Analysis;“Elie Wiesel’s Acceptance Speech for the Nobel Peace Prize” Author and human rights activist Elie Wiesel, in his acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize, discusses the nature of human injustice and its impact on his life and humanity as a whole. He adopts a forthright and heartfelt tone throughout his speech in order to gain support from his audience. Wiesel's purpose is to convince the audience to unite against injustice and human rights violations. In the beginning of the speech, Wiesel’s intention is to remind the audience of the scale and inhumanity of the Jewish genocide and to establish his own personal experiences with it. When presented with the Nobel Peace Prize, Wiesel asks a hypophora “do I have the right to accept this great honor on their behalf? I do not”. He includes this in order to establish a sense of humility with his audience so the case he presents is much more convincing to them. This...

Words: 698 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Elie Wiesel Night Acceptance Speech

...Can literature help us remember the past? Night, Perils of Indifference, and Acceptance Speech all have things in common. They can connect to different themes and they connect to one another. Literature has a big part in this world and it helps us remember past events, just like the Holocaust. In Elie Wiesel’s Acceptance Speech he says, “Who would allow such crime to be committed? How could the world remain silent?” This kinda ties back to theme 3 - breaking the silence on cruel acts is a way to break the cycle of repetition. He’s asking why would the world remain silent? He wanted people to break the silence when the crime was being committed. In this speech it also says “one person of integrity, can make a difference, a difference of life and death.” And this kinda connects to the prompt because it’s saying that you,...

Words: 640 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

What Is Elie Wiesel Acceptance Speech

...On December 10, 1986 in the Oslo City Hall Elie Wiesel presented his famous Acceptance Speech for the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize. Throughout the Holocaust survivor’s speech Elie explains his call to action, a call that is to help humanity. This essay will discuss what Elie Wiesel’s speech tries to explain to individuals and how the only way to empower the world is through peace. The violation of human rights disempowers the world as a whole, and the violations can be stopped and prevented. Although the world has no obligation to prevent the humiliation and indignity of others, Elie Wiesel expresses that humans should consider and respect each other. The author states, “... I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering...

Words: 401 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Night Elie Wiesel Night Analysis

...In reference to his experience during the Holocaust and why he wrote night, author Elie Wiesel says without the experience he would have not become "… A witness who believes he has a moral obligation to try to prevent the enemy from enjoying one last victory by allowing his crimes to be erased from human memory" (Wiesel ). The Holocaust is a memorable event that occurred in Germany and Eastern Europe in 1933 threw 1945. This tragedy was runned by Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party, killing a massive amount of Jews, homosexuals, Catholics, poles, and gypsies. Hitler strongly believed that the Jews were responsible for economic struggles also known as the great depression. Many people also believed they were to blame for the loss of war. In the...

Words: 1030 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Loss Of Faith In Elie Wiesel's Night

...In Wiesel's "Peace Prize Speech" he talks about survivors of the holocaust saying: "This honor (Nobel Peace Prize) belongs to all the survivors" (Wiesel 118). For Wiesel, to give away such a reward verbally the "survivors" must of survived a disaster. The reason for the quote is to remember and not let the memory die.This is one of the differences in the 2 works, remembering. The other work is the poem "Never shall I forget" this poem talks about the horrific sight of the death camp Auschwitz. As the author Wiesel, was approaching up to the camp by train he describes the sight saying: "Never shall I forget the small faces whose bodies turned to smoke/ Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God" (Wiesel 3-6). In essence, Wiesel watched as babies were burned, therefore it caused Wiesel to not believe in a God. As he keeps watching his faith turns to nothing at all. In conclusion the "Nobel Peace Prize" speech and Wiesel's "Never shall I forget" poem have different messages. The message of the speech is to remember, to not let the same happen again. The message of "Never shall I forget" poem is witnessing any type of crime against humanity could cause you to question your...

Words: 1029 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Elie Wiesel's Faith In God

...Elie Wiesel struggles with his faith in God throughout his experiences in the concentration camp. Before all of his experiences with the concentration Elie had complete belief in god, he studied Kabballah and had a teacher. Although, when he arrives at the concentration camps and sees people get beat, put in the crematorium, separated from their families, and plentiful other he begins to question Gods purposes. He comes back to partaking belief in God after the concentration camps had ended and he could take a reflection of all of the atrocious events that he went through. Elies Wiesel’s faith in God fluctuates in the memoir Night. Initially, he has complete faith while studying Kabbalah, but as he sees horrendous events taking place Auschwitz he struggles to maintain belief in God and finally regains faith after a time of reflection. Previous to the concentration camps, when Jews belonged in their own community, Elie enjoyed to study Kabbalah. Elie had no doubts in God, studying the Jewish texts of Kabbalah interested him. “He wanted to drive the idea of studying Kabbalah from my mind. In vain, I succeeded on...

Words: 682 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Elie Wiesel's Camp Harmony Analysis

...There are many writings that persuade people to impact society. Two writing that stand out to me are “Elie Wiesel’s Acceptance Speech” and “Camp Harmony”. Both of these writings do a good job at trying to persuade people. One of these writings is during the time they are being held in a camp and of these is after. These people were both being held at a camp because of World War II. Wiesel’s writing tried to persuade people to help make our society better. Wiesel’s writing makes you want to go and help our society. He explains that so many people are suffering that we don't even know about. He was a teenager who was sent to a camp to die but fought through it and lived. He explains that there are people being hated because of their race...

Words: 267 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Remembering

...Thompson History Ms. Kadlecek 7 April 2014 Remembering The word holocaust means “sacrifice by fire” and comes from the Greek words “holos” meaning whole and “kaustos” meaning burnt. The Holocaust of the 20th century was the mass murder of approximately six million Jews by the Nazi command during World War II. In Elie Wiesel’s memoir, Night, he states, “…in their early days of their accession to power, the Nazis in Germany set out to build a society in which there simply would be no room for Jews. Toward the end of their reign, their goal changed: they decided to leave behind a world in ruins in which Jews would seem never to have existed” (viii). The shock and horror does not lessen regardless of how many times a book or article is read or a movie watched about the Holocaust. Learning about the horrible, dark period from 1935 – 1945 is important in several ways. On one hand, it has been said we must learn about the past in order not to relive it. However, we are also told not to dwell in the past. When studying the Holocaust, both adages have truth. Chilling questions occur when learning about the Holocaust. They are questions that Elie Wiesel repeated in his acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. Wiesel says he remembers asking his father, “Who would allow such crimes to be committed? How could the world remain silent?” (118). Millions of Jews were killed by overwork, starvation, torture, and cold blooded murder just because they were a different race and religion....

Words: 737 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Believing In Yourself Rhetorical Analysis

...Believing In Yourself Effectively Addresses Conflict Have you ever faced a conflict and didn’t know what you were supposed to do? Who is the person that will inspire millions of people to do the same? People all respond to conflict differently. Some face the conflict head-on and some people leave the conflict the way it is. Leaders like Anne Frank from Anne Frank: A Diary of a Young Girl, Sophie Scholl from Hitler Youth, Elie Wiesel form “Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech,” Bruno from The Boy in the Striped Pajamas: A Fable, Winston Churchill from “Blood, Toil, Tears, and Sweat,” and a few other people all responded to conflict by facing it head on and not letting opponents interfere in their ways. Winston Churchill once said, “Courage is what...

Words: 1309 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Elie Wiesel Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech Essay

...where every morning you wake up, you take a shower, you make your breakfast, and you turn on the news. In this world every morning on the news you hear of thousands of people being killed due to something they can’t control. These people are being targeted for the color of their skin, their religion and whom they love. Imagine that no one speaks up, the mass murder of thousands of innocent people is just the social norm. In a world like that, is there any humanity left? In a world like that, shouldn't we speak up and do something? Elie Wiesel a Nobel Peace Prize winner and the author of “Night” provokes this thought within his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech. In his speech Wiesel makes his point of view on situations such...

Words: 699 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Charles Lindbergh's Speech To The America First Committee Meeting

...Should people and nations of the world feel responsible to help people who are suffering or endangered in other nations, even if it means going to war?In passage 2 “Charles Lindbergh’s speech to the America First Committee Meeting” it says “We must turn our eyes and our faith back to our own country before it is too late.”This is true because if we don’t focus on our nation something bad will happen.And people will die or pay from their nation going to war. First,reason why people and nations should not feel responsible to help people who are suffering or endangered in other nations, even if it means going to war is something bad might happen if we don’t focus on our own nation .It says in passage 2 “Charles Lindbergh’s speech to the America First Committee Meeting” it says ”We have weakened ourselves for many months, and still worse, we have divided our own people by this dabbling in Europe's wars.”This is saying that if our nation is helping another nation in war we would be weaker or the people will be part of something that's...

Words: 626 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Fahrenheit 451 Rhetorical Analysis

...In his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, he discussed the importance of being a voice to those who do not have a voice and to be empathetic to others in need, as there are so many still in need. UNICEF estimates that there are 153 million orphans worldwide. The International Labor Organization estimates that there are 5.5 million children in child slavery, many of whom are in western countries like the United States. I remember the first time I learned that children and teenagers were being sold into slavery, in my own town nonetheless; I felt powerless. Perhaps right now as a teenager there is nothing I can do directly, but I can raise awareness. I look forward to the day that I can physically help people in...

Words: 590 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Night Essay

...At first I was not fond of Night I usually like a book that has some kind of mystery or romance involved. With Night I already had an idea of how the book will end and I would not understand any way to pull a romantic notion from it. This book would definitely not be a first choice of mine. Even though I did enjoy reading it and believe that the events should never be forgotten, it is important for our societies to remember the victims along with the dwindling number of survivors. I was very impressed with the wording used; the word choice was very strong. It is amazing that his wife was able to translate and use words with so much power and strength. I had the same feelings and questions after reading Night as I have had after reading Ann Frank’s diary or watching Schindler’s list. How could this happen? What would drive any one to these thoughts or actions and believe it is right, good, or even acceptable. I wonder how Adolf Hitler would have felt if Jews had decided to eradicate Austrian/ Germans? What would he have done, would he have died or survived? I googled Adolf Hitler and there are several websites saying his father was ½ Jewish. There is even a video on UTube about Hitler being part Jewish. With a name like Adolf, some of his facial characteristics, and hair as dark as his why, would he want to annihilate a mass of people who are similar to him? I am not sure if Hitler truly was part Jewish, but if he was, did he know? How would he react if he was alive, the allegations...

Words: 2026 - Pages: 9

Free Essay

Living History

...___________________________ LIVING HISTORY Hillary Rodham Clinton Simon & Schuster New York • London • Toronto • Sydney • Singapore To my parents, my husband, my daughter and all the good souls around the world whose inspiration, prayers, support and love blessed my heart and sustained me in the years of living history. AUTHOR’S NOTE In 1959, I wrote my autobiography for an assignment in sixth grade. In twenty-nine pages, most half-filled with earnest scrawl, I described my parents, brothers, pets, house, hobbies, school, sports and plans for the future. Forty-two years later, I began writing another memoir, this one about the eight years I spent in the White House living history with Bill Clinton. I quickly realized that I couldn’t explain my life as First Lady without going back to the beginning―how I became the woman I was that first day I walked into the White House on January 20, 1993, to take on a new role and experiences that would test and transform me in unexpected ways. By the time I crossed the threshold of the White House, I had been shaped by my family upbringing, education, religious faith and all that I had learned before―as the daughter of a staunch conservative father and a more liberal mother, a student activist, an advocate for children, a lawyer, Bill’s wife and Chelsea’s mom. For each chapter, there were more ideas I wanted to discuss than space allowed; more people to include than could be named; more places visited than could be described...

Words: 217937 - Pages: 872