Resources for Teachers and Students on Elie Wiesel

Prepare: Elie Wiesel won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. His biography and the text of his Nobel laureate lecture can be found on the Nobel site.

Read: Elie Wiesel's Architects of Peace essay is excerpted from his collection of memoirs, And the Sea is Never Full. In this short essay, he discusses the anatomy of hate, and asks why there is so much of it in the world.

Explore: Elie Wiesel has dedicated his life to keeping the memory of the Holocaust alive. He feels that "remembering is a noble and necessary act," an important part of trying to assure that such atrocities can never happen again. One of the many agencies devoted to preserving Holocaust memories is the United States Holocaust Museum, which maintains an excellent website. The museum maintains an electronic Holocaust encyclopedia, with numerous articles about the anti-Semitism that made the Holocaust possible.

Write: In his Architects of Peace essay, Elie Wiesel states that hate represents "the inexorable defeat of mankind, its absolute defeat." Is hatred such a relentless force that we should consider it "inexorable?" Are there practical ways to moderate the destructiveness of hatred in human relationships? Is warfare inevitable as long as hatred continues to exist? Write a three-to-five page persuasive essay reflecting on these questions. If possible, relate your feelings to the dynamics that made the Holocaust possible in Nazi Germany.

Extend: The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity sponsors an annual essay competition, the Elie Wiesel Prize for Ethics, for college juniors and seniors. First prize is $5,000. Contest guidelines and entry forms can be found online.

Additional Resource: Elie Wiesel participated in the Nobel Centennial Symposium in Oslo, Norway in 2001. A 23-minute video of his presentation can be viewed over the internet, free of charge. An 35-minute interview with Professor Wiesel is also available for viewing.

Biography of Elie Wiesel