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April 13, 1994
THE ELIE WIESEL FOUNDATION HUMANITARIAN AWARD DINNER
DATE:
April 14, 1994
LOCATION: New York Public Library
TIME:
7:00 pm
FROM:
Nicole Rabner
I. PURPOSE
To accept the Elie Wiesel Foundation Humanitarian Award and
make remarks on the condition of children around the world,
underscoring the importance of taking bold action to protect
their futures.
II. BACKGROUND
The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity
With the prize money from his 1986 Nobel Peace Prize and a
gift from philanthropist Milton Petrie, Wiesel established the
Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity in January of 1987. The
foundation emerged from Wiesel's resolve to speak out against
indifference to human suffering. In his Nobel Peace Prize
acceptance speech, Wiesel remarked:
" 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 always encourages the tormentor, never the
tormented.' " (12/86)
The mission of the foundation, Wiesel has explained, is "to
combat intolerance, fanaticism and hate in all their multiple
disguises" (1991). To that end, the foundation organizes
national and international forums for the dicussion of urgent
ethical issues. In 1988, the foundation embarked on a project to
explore the subject of hate through a series of conferences
around the world. The most recent conference, in 1992, explored
"The Anatomy of Hate: Saving Our Children," and was organized
jointly with Governor Cuomo.
Recently, the foundation sponsored a fact finding mission to
Sarajevo, resulting in the liquidation of a notorious prison
camp.
The foundation plans to develop a television series for
grade school children aimed at enhancing their ethical
development.
The Elie Wiesel Foundation Humanitarian Award
The Elie Wiesel Foundation Humanitarian Award is given in
recognition of individuals whose accomplishments are consistent
with the goals of the foundation. Past recipients include
Danielle Mitterand, for her work with children in Third World
countries; President George Bush, for opposing tyranny during the
Gulf War; and His Majesty King Juan Carlos of Spain, for bringing
democracy to his country through peaceful means.
The award is in the form of a Tzedaka Box, a collection
device found in Eastern European synagoges until World War II, to
gather funds to be distributed anonymously to the needy.
The award you will receive is inscribed: "The Elie Wiesel
Foundation Humanitarian Award to Hillary Rodham Clinton Who Has
Truly Been a Voice of Hope for America's Children."
Dinner
The foundation sponsors dinners every two years to honor the
award recipients and raise money for the foundation. Holding the
dinner at New York Public Library, Mrs. Wiesel advises, is
unprecedented, as the library as a matter of longstanding policy
does not allow fundraising events, outside of its own, to be held
there. However, because of the foundation's relationship with
the library and particularly because of your presence, the
library has made an exception.
You will be seated between Elie Wiesel and Edgar Bronfman,
who is the chairman of the dinner. Bob Burkett, in his
fundraising efforts for health care, is trying to enlist Bronfman
as a contributer.
Elie Wiesel
Wiesel continues to be a public opinion leader, speaking out
against injustice and indifference to human suffering through
lectures and his writing. He rountinely draws upon his
experience as a Holocaust survivor. Last year, at the dedication
of the United States Holocaust Memorial, Wiesel pleaded with
President Clinton to do more on behalf of the suffering in
Bosnia. "Mr. President,' he said, "we must do something about the
bloodshed." (St. Louis Dispatch, 4/28/93).
Mrs. Marion Wiesel
Marion Wiesel is also a Holocaust survivor. She married
Wiesel in 1969, and today serves as vice president of the Elie
Wiesel Foundation for Humanity, and translated Wiesel's book The
Fifth Son (1986) into English.
III. SEQUENCE OF EVENTS
Charlie Rose, Master of Ceremonies, will make opening remarks.
There will then be three speakers: Dr. Paul LeClerc, Edgar
Bronfman, Prime Minister Tansu Ciller of Turkey, and Barbra
Streisand. Then, Dr. Emanuel Rackman (Rabbi) will give the
invocation. Bernard Kalb will then present 1994 Prize in Ethics
to the student winner of the foundation's annual essay contest.
Following the presentation, Elie Wiesel will make remarks and
present you with the Elie Wiesel Foundation Humanitarian Award.
You will then make remarks. Following your remarks, Carly Simon
will sing a song in your honor.
IV. PARTICIPANTS
-HRC
-Elie Wiesel
-Marion Wiesel
-Charlie Rose, Master of Ceremonies
-Dr. Paul LeClerc, President, New York Library
-Prime Minister Tansu Ciller of Turkey
(who will have met with the President earlier in the day)
-Barbra Streisand
-Dr. Emanuel Rackman (Rabbi)
-Bernard Kalb
-Carly Simon
-Head table of 24 people -- see attached list
-audience of 525 people (?) -- see attached list of luminaries
V. PRESS
Press pool.
NOTE: Many well-known print and broadcast journalists will attend
the dinner as guests. Please see list of guest luminaries.
VI. REMARKS
To be provided by Lissa Muscatine.
Elie Wiesel
Elie[zer] Wiesel was fifteen when, in 1944, he was sent to
the concentration camp of Auschwitz, where his mother and sister
perished, and later to Buchenwald, where he watched his father
die of dystentry and starvation. Wiesel has told of looking at
himself in a mirror for the first time following the liberation:
"From the depths of the mirror, a corpse looked back at me. The
look in his eyes, as they stared into mine, has never left me."
When Wiesel left Buchenwald, he had vowed not to speak of
his experiences for at least ten years; "How does one describe
the indescribable? How can one be sure that the words
will
not betray, distort the message they bear?" However, in 1954,
Wiesel was persuaded by Catholic writer Francios Mauriac to tell
his story. Soon after, La Nuit (Night) was published, which has
since been translated into many different languages and has
become the most noted and perhaps the most influential personal
account of the Holocaust. Once released from his self-imposed
vow, Wiesel became a prolific writer, and has written over thirty
books -- novels, short stories, plays, essays, as well as many
editorials.
Wiesel has long been an advocate for the oppressed. Among
those he has supported are Soviet Jews, Miskito Indians,
Cambodian refugees, the victims of apartheid in South Africa and
of famine in Africa. Wiesel has also made many public pleas for
intervention. In 1985, when President Reagan presented him with
the Congressional Medal of Achievement, Wiesel implored the
President to cancel his planned visit to a military cemetary in
Germany because members of the SS, Hitler's elite military corps,
were buried there. "This place, Mr. President," he pleaded, "is
not your place. Your place is with the victims of the SS."
President Reagan went ahead with his plans. Wiesel has also
pleaded with President Clinton to do more for those suffering in
Bosnia.
The following quotes exemplify some of the major facets of
Wiesel's philosophy:
We must counter hate:
"Hate wears many masks. It comes disguied as racial or
religious superiority. It can wear the mask of patriotism --
or revolution. It is the cancer at the root of human
relationships -- among individuals and entire nations
[Hate] reamins an uncharted sickness in the human soul.
"
(Oslo, 1990)
We have a moral duty to remember our experiences, especially
painful ones, and share them:
"If we have learned one thing from our past, it is that to
live through dramatic events is not enough; one has to share
them and transform them into acts of conscience."
We have an individual and collective moral duty to intervene
where human suffering occurs:
"When injustice occurs -- and war is the greatest
injustice of all -- indifference is not only a sin but also
a punishment. Thus, intervention becomes a moral
imperative. Everywhere? Yes, everywhere. That is the duty of
nations and individuals." (USA Today, 4/20/93)
Fanaticism in all forms is dangerous and must be countered:
"Fananticism has many faces: racism, religious bigortry,
ethnic hatred. What those faces have in common is an urge
to replace works with violence, facts with propoganda,
reason with blind impulses, hope with terror." (5/24/92)
Personal religious faith:
"I believe in God -- in spite of God! I believe in Mankind
-- in spite of Mankind! I believe in the future -- in spite
of the past!"
Wiesel's major works include: The Night Trilogy: Night,
Dawn, The Accident, The Fifth Son,
ELIE WIESEL'S INTRODUCTION
ELIE WIESEL FOUNDATION FOR HUMANITY AWARD DINNER
Health Care. Head Start. Preservation of the family.
Whenever we encounter an urgent children's issue, we discover
that it is your issue. As one of the first staff lawyers of the
Children's Defense Fund; then as its Board Member and Chair; and
now as the First Lady of this great land, you have made it your
mission to nurture the next generation and to uphold its dignity.
With unwaivering commitment, you have, for more than two
decades, worked on behalf of our nation's children, especially
the poor, the unloved, the forsaken. You have sought to protect
their precious rights through ceaseless and inspired child
advocacy. You have truly been a voice for America's chidlren.
We know, Mrs. Clinton, that you hear not only the cry of the
hungry child in Mississippi but also the despair of the orphan in
Sarajevo. We know that the distress of any child affects you
profoundly; that you believe we must do more to give hope to all
of our children, that we must help them realize their dreams.
That is why those of us who have seen children suffer -- who
have seen millions of children senselessly slaughtered -- are
especially grateful to know that you, our First Lady, care
desperately about their future.
From: UNICEF State of the World's Children 1994
In the last decade, an estimated 1.5 million children under
age 5 have been killed in armed conflict; a further 4
million have been disabled, armed, blinded or brain damaged.
At least 5 million have become refugees, and 12 million more
have been uprooted from their communities
35,000 children under age 5 die in the developing world each
day. About 60% of these deaths are caused by three
diseases: pneumonia, diarrhoea, and measles, all of which
can be treated
An estimated 190 children under age 5 are chronically
malnourished (estimated 1-2% of world's children)
More than 2 million kids in the world's poorest
neighborhoods die from diarrhoeal dehydration, and it
remains a primary cause of malnutrition
1 million children have been infected with HIV
421
Hospitality
thers—
single individual, is what that age or person really wish-
HORSES
0 , to do. A man's hope measures his civilization. The
the words-
anainability of the hope measures, or may measure, the
1
A horse is dangerous at both ends and uncomfort-
ivilization of his nation and time.
able in the middle.
poet. The Complete Poems.
EZRA POUND (1885-1972), U.S. poet, critic. Guide to Kulchur,
IAN FLEMING (1908-64), British author. Quoted in: Sunday
pl. 3, scl. 6, ch. 22 (1938).
Times (London, 9 Oct. 1966).
ame thing as optimism.
thing will turn out well
14 Hope, the patent medicine
2 They say Princes learn no art truly, but the art of
For disease, disaster, sin.
horsemanship. The reason is, the brave beast is no flat-
nakes sense, regardless
WALLACE RICE (1859-1939), U.S. poet, editor. Hope.
terer. He will throw a prince as soon as his groom.
BEN JONSON (1573-1637), English dramatist, poet. Timber, or
playwright, president. Disturbs
1).
15 Hope is like a harebell trembling from its birth
Discoveries Made upon Men and Matter, "Illiteratus Princeps,"
...
para.95 (1641). The aphorism is attributed to Carneades by Mon-
CHRISTINA ROSSETTI (1830-94), English poet, lyricist. Hope Is
taigne in his Essays, bk. 3, ch. 7, "Of the Incommodity of Great-
liar who never loses his
Like a Harebell [harebell = bluebell].
ness" (1588): "Princes' children learnt nothing aright but to man-
age and ride horses; forsomuch as in all other exercises every
10 Hope is the most sensitive párt of a poor wretch's
man yieldeth and giveth them the victory; but a horse, who is
). U.S. lawyer, orator. Speech
neither a flatterer nor a courtier, will as soon throw the child of a
in Truth-Seeker, 28 Feb.
will: whoever raises it only to torment him is behaving
king as the son of a base porter."
inc the executioners in Hell who, they say, incessantly
Thew old wounds and concentrate their attention on that
3 The horse, the horse! The symbol of surging poten-
mind are not froo
area of it that is already lacerated.
cy and power of movement, of action, in man.
to hope.
MARQUIS DE SADE (1740-1814), French author. Letter, 20 Feb.
D. H. LAWRENCE (1885-1930), British author. Apocalypse, ch.
glish author, lexicographer,
1781, to his wife from Vincennes prison (published in Selected
10 (1931).
1750; repr. in Works of
Letters, no. 7, ed. by Margaret Crosland, 1965).
1. Bate and Albrecht B.
17 The miserable have no other medicine
4 It takes a good deal of physical courage to ride a
But only hope.
horse. This, however, I have. I get it at about forty cents
happiness, and, perhaps
a flask, and take it as required.
orld affords: but, like all
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (1564-1616), English dramatist, poet.
Claudio, in Measure for Measure, act 3, SC. 1.
STEPHEN LEACOCK (1869-1944), Canadian humorist, econo-
joyed, the excesses
mist. Literary Lapses, "Reflections on Riding" (1910).
expectations improp-
18 Cold hopes swarm like worms within our living
ointment.
clay.
5 My beautiful, my beautiful! That standest meekly
by,
nglish author, lexicographer,
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY (1792-1822), English poet. Adonais,
oswell, Life of Samuel John-
st. 39.
With thy proudly-arched and glossy neck, and
dark and fiery eye!
19 Just as despair can come to one only from other
CAROLINE SHERIDAN NORTON (1808-77), English writer,
that the feeling you
human beings, hope, too, can be given to one only by
poet. The Arab's Farewell to His Steed.
ther human beings.
playwright. Felicia, in Finish-
ELIE WIESEL (b. 1928), Rumanian-born U.S. writer. Nobel lec-
6 I've often said there's nothing better for the inside
ture, Oslo, 11 Dec. 1986.
of a man than the outside of a horse.
that you are not what
RONALD REAGAN (b. 1911), U.S. Republican politician, presi-
dent. Remark, 13 Aug. 1987, North Platte, Nebr. The New York
of you is dead, if not all
HORROR
Times had previously quoted this remark as early as 2 Oct. 1981.
in illusions. It's a sort of
I I think of horror films as art, as films of confronta-
7 Go anywhere in England where there are natural,
author. The Cosmological
tion. Films that make you confront aspects of your own
wholesome, contented, and really nice English people;
life that are difficult to face. Just because you're making
and what do you always find? That the stables are the
be, stripped of thy
a horror film doesn't mean you can't make an artful film.
real centre of the household.
to look behind the dark
DAVID CRONENBERG (b. 1943), Canadian filmmaker. Cronen-
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW (1856-1950), Anglo-Irish play-
wright, critic. Lady Utterword, in Heartbreak House, act 3.
beams that are to gild the
berg On Cronenberg, ch. 4 (ed. by Chris Rodley, 1992).
2 I don't believe in evil, I believe only in horror. In
See also Pascal on ADMIRATION: Salinger on CARS.
Canadian
author.
Life
in
the
nature there is no evil, only an abundance of horror: the
plagues and the blights and the ants and the maggots.
ISAK DINESEN [KAREN BLIXEN) (1885-1962), Danish author.
HOSPITALITY
Quoted in: Prokosch, Voices: A Memoir, "Phantoms" (1983).
Good-by, Old Year, You
3 Where there is no imagination there is no horror.
1 Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby
in The Primrose Path
SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE (1859-1930), English author.
some have entertained angels unawares.
Sherlock Holmes, in A Study in Scarlet, ch. 5 (1887).
BIBLE: NEW TESTAMENT. Hebrews 13:2.
man and you make him
4 One might say that the true subject of the horror
2 We'll teach you to drink deep ere you depart.
(1839-1908), English
genre is the struggle for recognition of all that our civi-
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (1564-1616), English dramatist, poet.
881; published in Wisdom,
lization represses and oppresses.
Hamlet, in Hamlet, act 1, SC. 2.
ROBIN WOOD (b. 1931), British film critic, author. American
Nightmare: Essays on the Horror Film, Introduction (ed. by Brit-
3 Nowadays the host does not admit you to his
either of an age or of
ton, Lippe, Williams, & Wood, 1979).
hearth, but has got the mason to build one for yourself
Children
140
life to follow will not seem to throw it further back-it is
54 How sharter has i serpent's tooc it is
already so far.
To have a trankless thild.
ALICE MEYNELL (1847-1922), English poet, essayist. Essays,
WILLIAM 156415761. Emp tramatist, poet.
"The Illusion of Historic Time" (1914).
Lear, in King
44 For truly it is to be noted, that children's plays are
55 What's more enchanting than the voices of young
not sports, and should be deemed as their most serious
people, when you can tear what the: say?
actions.
LOGAN 365-1946. U.S. essayist, aphorist.
MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE (1533-92), French essayist. Essays, bk.
Afterthough!: line Dear 19311.
1, ch. 22, "Of Custom," (1580; Ir. by John Florio).
56 There are iev places outside his own play where a
45 If help and salvation are to come, they can only
child can contribue X = world in which he finds him-
come from the children, for the children are the makers
self. His world: comminated by adults who tell him what
of men.
to do and when i: do t-benevolent tyrants who dis-
MARIA MONTESSORI (1870-1952), Italian educator. The
pense gifts to ther "good" subjects and punishment to
Absorbent Mind, ch. 1 (1949).
their "bad" ones. who are amused at the "cleverness" of
46 One can love a child, perhaps, more deeply than
children and anmyed by their "stupidities."
one can love another adult, but it is rash to assume that
VIOLA SPOLIN t. 1911. U.S. theatrical director and producer.
the child feels any love in return.
Improvisation is he --eater, ch. 13 (1963).
GEORGE ORWELL (1903-50), British author. "Such, Such were
the Joys" (1947; repr. in The Collected Essays, Journalism and
57 I have been assured by a very knowing American of
Letters of George Orwell (ed. Sonia Orwell & lan Angus, 1968).
my acquaintance in Loodon, that a young healthy child,
Orwell added: "Looking back on my own childhood, after the
well nursed, is at & year old, a most delicious, nourishing,
infant years were over, I do not believe that I ever felt love for
and wholesome ford. whether stewed, roasted, baked, or
any mature person, except my mother.
Love, the sponta-
neous, unqualified emotion of love was something I could only
boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a
feel for people who were young."
fricassee, or a razout.
47 Men are generally more careful of the breed of their
JONATHAN SWFT 1667-1745), Anglo-Irish satirist. A Modest
Proposal for Preventing the Children of Ireland from Being a Bur-
horses and dogs than of their children.
den to their Parents or the Country (1729: repr. in The Prose
WILLIAM PENN (1644-1718), English religious leader, founder of
Works of Jonatran SALT ed. by Herbert Davies, vol. 12, 1955).
Pennsylvania. Some Fruits of Solitude, pt. 1, no. 85 (1693).
This ironic partoniel subverted current Whig notions of people
being "the wear of the nation" in the context of the poverty and
hunger in Ireland See Swift on FAMINE, for his comment on the
48 Children's liberation is the next item on our civil
situation there.
rights shopping list.
LETTY COTTIN POGREBIN (b. 1939), U.S. journalist, author.
58 No man can tell but he that loves his children, how
"Down with Sexist Upbringing" (published in The First Ms. Read-
many delicious accents make a man's heart dance in the
er, ed. by Francine Klagsbrun, 1972).
pretty conversation of those dear pledges; their childish-
49 If you have a great passion it seems that the logical
ness, their stammering, their little angers, their inno-
thing is to see the fruit of it, and the fruit are children.
cence, their imperfections, their necessities, are so many
ROMAN POLANSKI (b. 1933), Polish film, director. Independent
little emanations of joy and comfort to him that delights
on Sunday (London, 12 May 1991).
in their persons and society.
JEREMY TAYLOR (1613-67), English churchman, devotional
50 Better a snotty child than his nose wiped off.
writer. Twenty-Seven Sermons, Sermon 18 (1651).
ENGLISH PROVERB. Collected in George Herbert's Outlandish
Proverbs (1640).
59 Look for me in the nurseries of Heaven.
FRANCIS THOMPSON (1859-1907), English poet. To My God-
51 Children suck the mother when they are young and
child.
the father when they are old.
ENGLISH PROVERB. Collected in: 1. Ray, English Proverbs
60 If men do not keep on speaking terms with children,
(1670).
they cease to be men, and become merely machines for
eating and for earning money.
52 Go directly-see what she's doing. and tell her she
mustn't.
JOHN UPDIKE (h. 1932), U.S. author, critic. Assorted Prose, "A
Foreword for Younger Readers" (1965).
Punch, vol. 63 (London, 1872).
61 Americans, indeed, often seem to be so over-
53 My children cause me the most exquisite suffering
whelmed by their children that they'll do anything for
of which I have any experience. It is the suffering of
them except stay married to the co-producer.
ambivalence: the murderous alternation between bitter
KATHARINE WHITEHORN (b. 1926), British journalist. Observa-
resentment and raw-edged nerves, and blissful gratifica-
tions, "Suffer How Many of the Little Children?" (1970).
tion and tenderness. Sometimes I seem to myself, in my
feelings toward these tiny guiltless beings, a monster of
62 Once you bring life into the world, you must protect
selfishness and intolerance.
it. We must protect it by changing the world.
ADRIENNE RICH (b. 1929), U.S. poet. Of Woman Born, ch. 1
ELIE WIESEL (b. 1928), Rumanian-born U.S. writer. Interview in
(1976).
Writers at Work (Eighth Series, ed. by George Plimpton, 1988).
Keats, John
492
17 Justice should not only be done, but should mani-
thing else but a Bedlam vision produced by raw pork and
festly and undoubtedly be seen to be done.
opium.
LORD HEWART (1870-1943), British judge. Ruling on the
LORD BYRON (1788-1824), English poet. Letter, 9 Nov. 1820,
quashing of a conviction on technical grounds, 9 Nov. 1923, in
to the publisher John Murray (published in Byron's Letters and
Rex v. Sussex Justices. Quoted in: King's Bench Reports, 1924,
Journals, vol. 7, ed. by Leslie A. Marchand, 1973-81). Byron had
vol. 1.
previously called Keats's work "the Onanism of Poetry," but later
retracted his attack, limiting his criticism to the younger Poet's
18 Justice is a whore that won't let herself be stiffed,
style.
and collects the wages of shame even from the poor.
2
For awhile after you quit Keats all other poetry
KARL KRAUS (1874-1936) Austrian satirist. "The Good Conduct
Medal" (1909; repr. in In These Great Times: A Karl Kraus Read-
seems to be only whistling or humming.
er, ed. by Harry Zohn, 1976).
F. SCOTT FITZGERALD (1896-1940), U.S. author. Letter, 3 Aug.
1940, to his daughter Frances Scott Fitzgerald (published in The
19 The love of justice is, in most men, nothing more
Letters of F. Scott Fitzgerald, ed. by Andrew Turnbull, 1963).
than the fear of suffering injustice.
Fitzgerald described Ode on a Grecian Urn as "unbearably beau-
titul with every syllable as inevitable as the notes in Beethoven's
FRANÇOIS, DUC DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD (1613-80), French
Ninth Symphony" (same source).
writer, moralist. Sentences et Maximes Morales, no. 78 (1678).
Two hundred years later this aphorism was repeated with a slight
3
The opinion I have of the generality of women-
variation by the French writer, Lautréamont, in Poésies, ch. 2
(1870): "Love of justice is for most men only the courage to suffer
who appear to me as children to whom I would rather
injustice."
give a sugar plum than my time, forms a barrier against
matrimony which I rejoice in.
20 The only justice is to follow the sincere intuition of
JOHN KEATS (1795-1821), English poet. Letter, 14-31 Oct.
the soul, angry or gentle. Anger is just, and pity is just,
1818, to his brother and sister-in-law, George and Georgiana
but judgement is never just.
Keats (published in Letters of John Keats, no. 94, ed. by Frederick
D. H. LAWRENCE (1885-1930), British author. Studies in Classic
Page, 1954). Two years later (Aug. 1820) Keats wrote, "I am cer-
American Literature, ch. 2 (1924).
tain that I have said nothing in a spirit to displease any woman I
would care to please; but still there is a tendency to class women
21 Injustice is relatively easy to bear; what stings is
in my books with roses and sweetmeats."
justice.
4
"If I should die," said I to myself, "I have left no
H. L. MENCKEN (1880-1956), U.S. journalist. Prejudices, ch. 3
immortal work behind me-nothing to make my friends
(Third Series, 1922).
proud of my memory-that I have loved the principle of
22 Justice is conscience, not a personal conscience but
beauty in all things, and if I had had time I would have
the conscience of the whole of humanity. Those who
made myself remembered."
clearly recognize the voice of their own conscience usu-
JOHN KEATS (1795-1821), English poet. Letter, Feb. 1820, to
ally recognize also the voice of justice.
Fanny Brawne (published in Letters of John Keats, no. 186, ed. by
Frederick Page, 1954), describing his thoughts during his illness.
ALEXANDER SOLZHENITSYN (b.1 918), Russian novelist. Letter,"
Oct. 1967, from Solzhenitsyn to three students (published in
Solzhenitsyn: A Documentary Record, The Struggle Intensifies,"
THE KENNEDY FAMILY
ed. by Leopold Labedz, 1970).
23 When justice has spoken, humanity must have its
1
One would never have guessed that the world had
turn.
such a capacity for genuine grief. The most we can do is
PIERRE VERGNIAUD (1753-93), French revolutionary leader.
exploit our memories of his excellence.
Speech, 17 Jan. 1793, to the National Assembly, arguing in favor
JOHN CHEEVER (1912-82), U.S. author. John Cheever: The Jour-
of executing Louis XVI. Four days later the king was guillotined,
nals, "The Sixties" (ed. by Robert Gottlieb, 1991), 1963 entry on
and in October of the same year, Vergniaud, as leader of the
the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
Girondist faction, met the same fate.
2
There's never a dearth of reasons to shoot at the
24
A rape! a rape!
President.
Yes, you have ravish'd justice;
DON DELILLO (b. 1926), U.S. author. Larry Parmenter, in Libra,
Forc'd her to do your pleasure.
pl. 1, "26 April" (1988).
JOHN WEBSTER (1580-1625), English dramatist. Vittoria, in The
3
It all began so beautifully. After a drizzle in the
White Devil, act 3, SC. 2.
morning, the sun came out bright and clear. We were
25 There is one, and only one, thing in modern society
driving into Dallas. In the lead car were President and
more hideous than crime - namely, repressive justice.
Mrs. Kennedy.
SIMONE WEIL (1909-43). French philosopher, mystic. "Human
LADY BIRD JOHNSON (b. 1912), U.S. First Lady. A White
Personality" (published in La Table Ronde, Dec. 1950; repr. in
House Diary (1970), first entry, 22 Nov. 1963.
Selected Essays, ed. by Richard Rees, 1962).
4
Ask every person if he's heard the story,
See also Mcllvanney on LAWS AND THE LAW; Bennett on The PRESS.
And tell it strong and clear if he has not,
That once there was a fleeting wisp of glory
Called Camelot
JOHN KEATS
Don't let it be forgot
That once there was a spot
1
Such writing is a sort of mental masturbation.
I
For one brief shining moment that was known
don't mean that he is indecent but viciously soliciting his
As Camelot.
own ideas into a state which is neither poetry nor any-
ALAN JAY LERNER (1918-86), U.S. composer, lyricist. Lyric from
PAGE
6
LEVEL 1 - 3 OF 3 STORIES
Copyright 1986 The New York Times Company
The New York Times
December 11, 1986, Thursday, Late City Final Edition
SECTION: Section A; Page 12, Column 4; Foreign Desk
LENGTH: 889 words
HEADLINE: WIESEL'S SPEECH AT NOBEL CEREMONY
BODY:
Following is the prepared text of the acceptance speech by Elie Wiesel,
the winner of the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize, at a ceremony in Oslo yesterday, as
made available by an aide:
It is with a profound sense of humility that I accept the honor you have
chosen to bestow upon me. I know: your choice transcends me. This both frightens
and pleases me. It frightens me because I wonder: do I have the right to
represent the multitudes who have perished? Do I have the right to accept this
great honor on their behalf? I do not. That would be presumptuous. No one may
speak for the dead, no one may interpret their mutilated dreams and visions.
It pleases me because I may say that this honor belongs to all the survivors
and their children, and through us, to the Jewish people with whose destiny I
have always identified.
I remember: it happened yesterday or eternities ago. A young Jewish boy
discovered the kingdom of night. I remember his bewilderment, I remember his
anguish. It all happened so fast. The ghetto. The deportation. The sealed cattle
car. The fiery altar upon which the history of our people and the future of
mankind were meant to be sacrificed.
'Can This Be True?'
I remember: he asked his father: "Can this be true? This is the 20th
century, not the Middle Ages. Who would allow such crimes to be committed? How
could the world remain silent?"
And now the boy is turning to me: "Tell me,'' he asks. "What have you done
with my future? What have you done with your life?"
And I tell him that I have tried. That I have tried to keep memory alive,
that I have tried to fight those who would forget. Because if we forget, we are
guilty, we are accomplices.
And then I explained to him how naive we were, that the world did know and
remain silent. And that is why 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.
'Sometimes We Must Interfere'
PAGE
7
The New York Times, December 11, 1986
Sometimes we must interfere. 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.
Of course, since I am a Jew profoundly rooted in my people's memory and
tradition, my first response is to Jewish fears, Jewish needs, Jewish crises.
For I belong to a traumatized generation, one that experienced the abandonment
and solitude of our people. It would be unnatural for me not to make Jewish
priorities my own: Israel, Soviet Jewry, Jews in Arab lands.
But there are others as important to me. Apartheid is, in my view, as
abhorrent as anti-Semitism. To me, Andrei Sakharov's isolation is as much of a
disgrace as Iosif Begun's imprisonment. As is the denial of Solidarity and its
leader Lech Walesa's right to dissent. And Nelson Mandela's interminable
imprisonment.
There is so much injustice and suffering crying out for our attention:
victims of hunger, or racism and political persecution, writers and poets,
prisoners in so many lands governed by the left and by the right. Human rights
are being violated on every continent. More people are oppressed than free.
Palestinians and Israelis
And then, too, there are the Palestinians to whose plight I am sensitive but
whose methods I deplore. Violence and terrorism are not the answer. Something
must be done about their suffering, and soon. I trust Israel, for I have faith
in the Jewish people. Let Israel be given a chance, let hatred and danger be
removed from her horizons, and there will be peace in and around the Holy Land.
Yes, I have faith. Faith in God and even in His creation. Without it no
action would be possible. And action is the only remedy to indifference: the
most insidious danger of all. Isn't this the meaning of Alfred Nobel's legacy?
Wasn't his fear of war a shield against war?
There is much to be done, there is much that can be done. One person -a Raoul
Wallenberg, an Albert Schweitzer, one person of integrity, can make a
difference, a difference of life and death. As long as one dissident is in
prison, our freedom will not be true. As long as one child is hungry, our lives
will be filled with anguish and shame.
What all these victims need above all is to know that they are not alone;
that we are not forgetting them, that when their voices are stifled we shall
lend them ours, that while their freedom depends on ours, the quality of our
freedom depends on theirs.
'Every Hour an Offering'
This is what I say to the young Jewish boy wondering what I have done with
his years. It is in his name that I speak to you and that I express to you my
deepest gratitude. No one is as capable of gratitude as one who has emerged from
the kingdom of night.
PAGE
8
The New York Times, December 11, 1986
We know that every moment is a moment of grace, every hour an offering; not
to share them would mean to betray them. Our lives no longer belong to us alone;
they belong to all those who need us desperately.
Thank you Chairman Aarvik. Thank you, members of the Nobel Committee. Thank
you, people of Norway, for declaring on this singular occasion that our survival
has meaning for mankind.
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
-in recognition of information effort
Longiessional
and to Elie Wiesel 247
1984
Medal
North lit ard lights
New York: Continuum, 1987. Chap. 1: "Physi-
him we see a man who has climbed from utter humiliation to
cian to the World: Bernard Lown." An excellent
become one of our most important spiritual leaders and guides.
portrait.
Elie(zer) Wiesel was born in Romania in the
Transylvanian town of Sighet in the Carpathian Moun-
tains near the Ukrainian border. His father, Shlomo,
was a shopkeeper and a leading member of the large
Jewish community in the town. Elie grew up deeply
rooted in Jewish traditions. He studied the Hebrew
scriptures, the Talmud, and the Hassidic teachings,
and he delighted in the Hassidic tales told by his
grandfather. From his father he also learned about
Western rationalism and humanism. He was always a
bookish youth, and when he was only about twelve he
wrote a set of commentaries on the Bible.
After the war began in 1939, Transylvania be-
came part of Hungary, and in 1944, in accordance
with orders from Germany, the Jews of Hungary were
rounded up and sent to the death camps. Elie, then
fifteen, with his parents and his three sisters was
transported in a cattle car to the concentration camp of
Auschwitz in Poland, where his mother and little
sister were killed. He and his father managed to
survive amid unspeakable conditions until the camp
was evacuated in 1945 as the Soviet Army moved
1986
westward. They were taken to the concentration camp
of Buchenwald in Germany, where Elie watched his
Elie Wiesel (1928-)
father die from dysentery and starvation.
In April 1945 the survivors in the camp were
"The opposite of love is not hade,
liberated by American soldiers. From a photograph of
the inmates lying in their rude bunks, Elie Wiesel's
it is'indifference.
United States
emaciated and worn face peers at the camera. The
starving men threw themselves upon the food they
Survivor of Nazi concentration camps and leading
were given. Three days after the liberation, Elie was in
interpreter of the Holocaust; journalist, author, uni-
the hospital from food poisoning and almost died. He
versity professor.
has told of looking at himself in a mirror for the first
time since the deportation: "From the depths of the
In presenting the prize to Elie Wiesel (pro-
mirror, a corpse looked back at me. The look in his
nounced vē-zel'), Chairman Aarvik noted that it was
eyes, as they stared into mine, has never left me."
exactly fifty years since the award to Carl von
Alone now in the world-it was only later that
Ossietzky, who had opposed the forces of militarism
he found the two sisters who survived-he was
in the German Republic and had also been sent to a
brought to Normandy in France by a relief organiza-
concentration camp by the Nazis. Ossietzky did not
tion, which later helped him settle in Paris to study
survive his mistreatment, but now, Aarvik declared,
philosophy at the Sorbonne. He lived frugally, sup-
the prize was to be presented to one who had:
porting himself with jobs as choir director, camp
counselor, Bible teacher, and translator. Finally he
In 1945, in the ashes left behind after the sacrificial flames
was hired by the foreign desk of a French newspaper,
which annihilated six million Jews sat seventeen-year-old Elie
and he traveled to many countries, including India,
Wiesel
He will receive the Nobel Peace Prize today
where he worked on his English, and Palestine, where
because he too has become a witness for truth and justice.
he reported on the establishment of the state of Israel
From the abyss of the death camps he has come as a
in 1948. He then became the foreign correspondent of
messenger to mankind-not with a message of hate and
a Tel Aviv daily, which sent him to New York City to
revenge, but with one of brotherhood and atonement.
He has become a powerful spokesman for that human
report on the United Nations.
view that knows no boundaries, which is, at all times, the
In 1956 Wiesel was hit by a taxi in Times
foundation of a lasting peace. Elie Wiesel is not only the man
Square and seriously injured. During his long convales-
who survived-he is also the spirit which has conquered. In
cence, he decided to apply for U.S. citizenship, which
248 THE LAUREATES
he received in 1963. In 1957 he became a feature
millions of television viewers, Wiesel implored the
writer for the Yiddish-language Jewish Daily Forward
president not to make a projected visit to the military
in New York, but he had already published his first
cemetery at Bitburg in the Federal Republic of Ger-
book about his experiences in the camps and was to
many. This had been planned as a gesture to
become a celebrated author. In 1969 he married
strengthen both American-German relationships and
Marion Erster Rose, also a concentration camp survi-
the political position of Chancellor Helmut Kohl, but
vor, and they have one son, Shlomo Elisha.
it had been discovered that in the cemetery were also
When Wiesel left Buchenwald, he had vowed
graves of members of the SS, Hitler's elite military
not to speak of his experiences for at least ten years:
corps. Wiesel had watched SS men at their murderous
"How does one describe the indescribable? How can
work in the camps.
one be sure that the words
will not betray,
"That place, Mr. President," he now pleaded,
distort the message they bear?" Then, in 1954, when
"is not your place. Your place is with the victims of
Wiesel went to interview the Catholic writer, François
the SS." This was a striking confrontation between a
Mauriac, for his Tel Aviv newspaper, he found himself
moral leader and a politican. The politician, unheed-
interviewed instead, and after Mauriac heard Wiesel's
ing, went ahead with his plans. Wiesel, who had
story, he persuaded him that it was wrong not to
always called for reconciliation with the German peo-
speak out. One year later Wiesel send Mauriac a
ple and emphasized that the children of killers were
manuscript. Published in France as La Nuit (Night) in
not to be held responsible for the killing, went to
1958, the book has been translated into many lan-
West Germany for frank and friendly discussions with
guages and has become the most noted and perhaps
German youth.
the most influential personal account of the Holocaust
At the Nobel presentation ceremony in the
ever written.
university Aula in Oslo Chairman Aarvik made his
Once released from his self-imposed vow, Wie-
formal address in Norwegian and then spoke directly
sel became a prolific writer, no longer fearing that his
to Wiesel in English. He reminded him of his com-
words might do less than justice to the victims of the
ment when Shlomo Elisha was born. He had ques-
Holocaust, but feeling it his duty to witness to their
tioned bringing a child into such an evil world but
suffering, to keep their memory alive and try to
then had realized he had no right to break the chain of
prevent anything like it from ever happening again. A
generations, that three thousand years must not end
stream of some thirty books has come from his pen-
with him. So, as Wiesel had said, he had put them on
novels, short stories, plays, essays. His prose is poetic
the shoulders of a little child.
and no words are wasted. His fiction has often taken
"Now," declared Aarvik, "your son, with such a
the form of the Hassidic tales of his youth.
precious burden on his shoulders, should follow you to
No one has more vividly conveyed the horrors of
the podium. As you stood with your father in the
the Holocaust or gone more deeply into its implica-
darkness, your son, with his grandfather's name,
tions. He has condemned the world's indifference-
should be at your side in this moment of joy and
Night was first entitled And the World Remained
brightness, as you receive the Peace Prize for 1986."
Silent-probed the nature of God and of evil, and
Father and son stood together as Aarvik handed
moved compassionately from concern with Jewish
Wiesel the medal and the diploma, an unprecedented
suffering to concern with all human suffering. This
happening, but perfectly fitting the occasion. Before
has taken him not only to the Soviet Union to give
giving his speech of acceptance, Wiesel, having asked
moral support to Soviet Jews and to work for their
permission of King Olav, placed his prayer cap on his
right of emigration but to African and Latin American
head and pronounced a Hebrew blessing: "Thank
countries to intercede for victims of injustice and
You, O Lord, for giving us this day."
brutality.
He accepted the award humbly and prayerfully,
Wiesel's mother tongue was Yiddish, but he
eloquently bespeaking his tragic memories and his
writes in French, and his French literary prizes stand
determination not only to oppose those who would
at the top of the long list of awards he has received. At
forget but to stand up for victims of inhumanity
the same time, he has attained a mastery of English
everywhere. The world had been silent during the
that has equipped him to become an effective teacher
Holocaust-"and that is why I swore never to be silent
in American universities and a popular lecturer.
whenever and wherever human beings endure suffer-
In recognition of his work for human rights, his
ing and humiliation." Although it would be unnatu-
contributions to literature, and his service as chairman
ral for him not to make Jewish priorities his own, he
of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council,
declared, "As long as one dissident is in prison, our
President Ronald Reagan presented him in April
freedom will not be true. As long as one child is
1985 with the Congressional Gold Medal of Achieve-
hungry, our lives will be filled with anguish and
ment in a ceremony at the White House. Before
shame."
Oscar Arias Sánchez 249
For the award he expressed his deepest
The Jeu's of Silence: A Personal Report on Soviel
gratitude-"No one is as capable of gratitude as one
Jeury. Rev. ed. New York: Schocken, 1987.
who has emerged from the kingdom of night." Look-
ing out over the hall filled with other survivors of the
Legends of Our Time. New York. Schocken,
1982.
death camps who had come to be with him, Wiesel
thanked the people of Norway "for declaring on this
The Night Trilogy: Night. Daun, The Acci-
singular occasion that our survival has meaning for
dent. New York: Hill & Wang, 1987. The book
mankind."
on the Holocaust with which he broke his
That evening the Norwegian people expressed
silence and two autobiographical novels.
their own feelings, thousands marching with their
torches past the Grand Hotel where the Wiesels were
Secondary Sources
staying. Later the hotel was the scene of the customary
banquet offered by the Norwegian Nobel Committee,
Abrahamson, Irving. Against Silence: The Vosce and
this time for the largest number of guests ever,
Vision of Elie Wiesel. 3 vols. New York:
including the twenty-five special friends Elie Wiesel
Schocken, 1984.
had invited from the United States, France, Israel,
and England, several of them survivors from the town
Brown, Robert McAfee. Elie Wiesel: Messenger to All
of Sighet.
Humanity. South Bend, Ind.: University of
Notre Dame Press, 1984.
Wiesel introduced his Nobel lecture the next
day with an old Jewish song, the erstwhile choir
Cargas, Harry J. In Conversation with Elie Wiesel.
director conducting the chorus of those who knew it
Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist Press, 1976.
and sang with him. He spoke on "Hope, Despair and
Memory": "We must remember the suffering of my
Fine, Ellen S. Legacy of Night: The Literary Universe of
people," he said, "as we must remember that of the
Elie Wiesel. Albany: State University of New
York Press, 1982.
Ethiopians, the Cambodians, the boat people, the
Palestinians, the Mesquite Indians, the Argentinian
disappeared ones
Because I remember, I despair.
Because I remember, I have the duty to reject despair."
Wiesel resolves the perplexing questions his
terrible experiences have left with him in just such
paradoxes. As he once stated his credo: "I believe in
God-in spite of God! I believe in Mankind-in spite
of Mankind! I believe in the Future-in spite of the
Past!"
With the Nobel prize money of about
$270,000, Wiesel said he planned to establish a
Foundation for Human Rights, which would organize
conferences on such subjects as "Hate" and the implica-
tions for humanity of the Hiroshima bomb. He was
able to realize another idea in January 1988 with the
help of his friend President François Mitterand of
France. Together they convened a conference in Paris
of seventy-six Nobel laureates from all helds to con-
sider the future of the human race. They decided to
create an emergency committee to exercise moral
authority in crisis situations around the world, and
they agreed to meet again in two years.
1987
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Oscar Arias Sánchez (1941-)
Primary Sources
Wiesel, Elie. The Fifth Son. Translated by Marion
Costa Rica
Wiesel. New York: Warner, 1986. The novel
that won Le Grand Prix de la Littérature de la
President of Costa Rica (1986-). architect of the
Ville de Paris.
Central America peace plan.
April 10, 1994
Hillary,
I spoke with Marion Wiesel today and she filled me in about
about the event on Thursday.
The foundation's three main concerns are human rights, the
plight of children, and peace issues. The theme of the dinner
this year is children, but you should feel free to talk about
anything you wish.
Past winners are Danielle Mitterand, President Bush, and
King Juan Carlos of Spain.
The audience will comprise luminaries from business, the
arts and letters, and public life. Most will be from New York,
with a smattering from the West Coast and abroad.
There will be a short ceremony announcing the winners of the
Wiesel Foundation ethics prize for college students.
Coincidentally, the winner (a guy from Harvard) wrote an essay
about health care. Mrs. Wiesel stressed that you don't need to
acknowledge the students in your remarks unless you want to.
I've enclosed here some biographical material about Wiesel,
a list of his most famous publications, a text of his Nobel
acceptance speech, the citation that Wiesel will read about you,
the inscription on your award (which is a Tzedaka box) and
brochures about the Foundation's various international human
rights conferences.
You'll also find enclosed a copy of Bonhoeffer's Letters
from Prison. You may want to look at the opening pages, which
(generally speaking) are his thoughts on the state of humanity.
On page 347, you'll find a poem, Who Am I?, which is quite
haunting and beautiful, and might be suitable if you feel like a
dramatic opening to the speech. (Mrs. Wiesel thought quoting
passages from Bonhoeffer would be very appropriate for an
occasion such as this).
Hope this helps.
Lissa
Individuality 450
and miscarriage are empty sounds: I therefore dismiss it
5
Individuality is the aim of political liberty. By leav
with frigid tranquillity, having little to fear or hope from
ing to the citizen as much freedom of action and of being
censure or from praise.
as comports with order and the rights of others, the insti
SAMUEL JOHNSON (1709-84). English author, lexicographer.
tutions render him truly a freeman. He is left to pursue hi
Dictionary of the English Language, Preface (1755).
means of happiness in his own manner.
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER (1789-1851), U.S. novelist. The
4
Nothing can contribute more to peace of soul than
American Democrat, "Individuality" (1838).
the lack of any opinion whatever.
G. C. LICHTENBERG (1742-99). German physicist, philosopher.
6
The trouble with the sacred Individual is that he ha
Aphorisms, "Notebook E," aph. 11 (written 1765-99; tr. by R.J.
no significance, except as he can acquire it from other.
Hollingdale, 1990).
from the social whole.
Pain has its reasons, pleasure is totally indifferent.
BERNARD DEVOTO (1897-1955), U.S. historian, critic. "The
5
Easy Chair," in Harper's (New York, May 1941).
FRANCIS PICABIA (1878-1953). French painter, poet. Who
Knows: Poems and Aphorisms (1950; 1986, p. 50).
7
The individual, man as a man, man as a brain, if yo
like, interests me more than what he makes, because I'v
6
It means nothing to me. I have no opinion about it,
noticed that most artists only repeat themselves.
and I don't care.
MARCEL DUCHAMP (1887-1968), French artist. Dialogues wit
PABLO PICASSO (1881-1973), Spanish artist. Quoted in: New
York Times (21 July 1969), reacting to the first moon-landing.
Marcel Duchamp, ch. 5 (ed. by Pierre Cabanne, 1967).
7
The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to
8
Each man must grant himself the emotions that I
hate them, but to be indifferent to them; that's the
needs and the morality that suits him.
RÉMY DE GOURMONT (1858-1915), French critic, novelist.
essence of inhumanity.
"Success and the Idea of Beauty," sct. 3 (published in Le Chem
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW (1856-1950), Anglo-Irish play-
de Velours, 1902; repr. in Selected Writings, ed. and tr. by Gler
wright, critic. Anderson, in The Devil's Disciple, act 2.
S. Burne, 1966).
8
Men are accomplices to that which leaves them
9
Why runners make lousy communists. In a wor
indifferent.
individuality. It's the one characteristic all runners, :
GEORGE STEINER (b. 1929). French-born U.S. critic, novelist.
different as they are, seem to share Stick with it. Pus
Language and Silence, "A Kind of Survivor" (1967).
yourself. Keep running. And you'll never lose that WOI
The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.
derful sense of individuality you now enjoy. Right, con
9
The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The
rade?
opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the
ADVERTISEMENT FOR RUNNING SHOES at the 1984 Olympi
Games in Los Aangeles. Quoted in: Guardian (London, 29 Dec
opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.
1984).
ELIE WIESEL (b. 1928), Rumanian-born U.S. writer. U.S. News
and World Report (New York, 27 Oct. 1986).
10 In each individual the spirit is made flesh, in eac
one the whole of creation suffers, in each one a Savior
See also APATHY.
crucified.
HERMANN HESSE (1877-1962), German novelist, poet. Narral
(Sinclair), in Demian, Prologue (1960).
INDIVIDUALITY
11 It is the individual only who is timeless. Societie
1
The greatest enemy of individual freedom is the
cultures, and civilizations-past and present-are ofte
individual himself.
incomprehensible to outsiders, but the individual
SAUL ALINSKY (1909-72), U.S. radical activist. Rules for Radi-
hungers, anxieties, dreams, and preoccupations hav
cals, Prologue (1971).
remained unchanged through the millenia.
ERIC HOFFER (1902-83), U.S. philosopher. Reflections on the
2
More and more, when faced with the world of men,
Human Condition, aph. 183 (1973).
the only reaction is one of individualism. Man alone is an
end unto himself. Everything one tries to do for the com-
12 The great challenge which faces us is to assure the
mon good ends in failure.
in our society of big-ness, we do not strangle the voice
ALBERT CAMUS (1913-60). French-Algerian philosopher,
creativity, that the rules of the game do not come to ove
author. Notebooks 1935-1942 (1962), March 1940 entry.
shadow its purpose, that the grand orchestration of SOC
ety leaves ample room for the man who marches to d
3
Losing faith in your own singularity is the start of
music of another drummer.
wisdom, I suppose; also the first announcement of death.
HUBERT H. HUMPHREY (1911-78), U.S. Democratic politicia
PETER CONRAD (b. 1948), Australian critic, author. Down
vice president. Address, 29 June 1966, United States Junior
Under: Revisiting Tasmania, pt. 6. "In the Family* (1988).
Chamber of Commerce, Detroit, Mich.
4
Each man must have his "I"; it is more necessary to
13 Resistance to the organized mass can be effect
him than bread; and if he does not find scope for it with-
only by the man who is as well organized in his indivi
in the existing institutions he will be likely to make trou-
uality as the mass itself.
ble.
CARL JUNG (1875-1961), Swiss psychiatrist. The Undiscovers
CHARLES HORTON COOLEY (1864-1929). U.S. sociologist.
Sell, ch. 4 (1957: repr. in Collected Works, vol. 10, para. 540.
Human Nature and the Social Order, ch. 6 (1902).
ed. by William McGuire, 19641.
DRAFT OF BROCHURE TO BE PRINTED
FRIENDS OFTHE
ELIE WIESEL
FOUNDATION
FOR HUMANITY
"Sometimes we must interfere. 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." - ELIE WIESEL
FROM HIS ACCEPTANCE SPEECH. THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE, OSLO. NORWAY, DECEMBER 10. 1986
ELIE WIESEL
was born in 1928, in the Romanian town of
Sighet. He was fifteen years old when he and his
family were deported to Auschwitz, where his
mother and younger sister perished. Elie and his
father were later transported to Buchenwald,
where his father died, shortly before the camp
was liberated in April, 1945.
After the war, Elie Wiesel was persuaded by
the distinguished French writer, François Mauriac,
to write about his experiences in the death camps.
The result was his internationally acclaimed
memoir, Night, which has since been translated
into more than twenty languages.
Elie Wiesel has long been an advocate for
the oppressed. Among those he has supported
are Soviet Jews, Miskito Indians, Argentina's
Desaparecidos, Cambodian refugees, the Kurds,
victims of apartheid in South Africa and of famine
in Africa. More recently, he has been involved
in peace efforts in the former Yugoslavia.
Teaching has always been central to Elie Wiesel's
work. Since 1976, he has been Andrew W. Mellon
Professor in the Humanities and University
Professor at Boston University. Previously, he
served as Distinguished Professor of Judaic Studies
at the City University of New York (1972-76), and
the first Henry Luce Visiting Scholar in the
Humanities and Social Thought at Yale (1982-83).
Elie Wiesel is the author of more than thirty
books of fiction and non-fiction, including
Souls on Fire, A Beggar in Jerusalem, The Jews of Silence,
and Sages and Dreamers. For his literary and human
rights activities, he has received numerous awards
including the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal,
the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the rank
of Grand Officer of the French Legion of Honor.
In 1986, Elie Wiesel won the Nobel Peace Prize.
FOR HUMANITY
pon receiving the
to Elie Wiesel in 1986, Norwegian Nobel
U
Nobel Peace Prize in
Committee Chairman Egil Aarvik said he
Oslo, Norway, on
was "not only the man who survived" hut
December 10, 1986,
"the spirit which has triumphed.
a man
Elie Wiesel said,
who has gone from utter humiliation to
"There is so much injustice and suffering
become one of our most important spiritual
crying out for our attention
Human
leaders and guides." Chairman Aarvik
rights are being violated on every
continued, "The Nobel Committee believes
continent.
There is so much to be
it is vital that we have such guides in
done, there is so much that can be done."
an age when terror, repression and racial
Soon after, in 1987, Elie Wiesel and his
discrimination still exist in the world."
wife, Marion, established The Elie Wiesel
One of the principal purposes of the
Foundation for Humanity.
Foundation has been to create forums
Ever since emerging from the death
for the discussion of urgent ethical issues.
camps at the age of sixteen, Elie Wiesel
Elie Wiesel sees these forums as catalysts for
has been acutely aware of his responsibilities
critical insights and more humane responses
as witness. Thus, through his writings and
to problems which confrontation and
human rights activities, he has worked
conflict have failed to solve. His intention,
to illuminate the plight of victims of cruelty
and that of the Foundation, has been
and injustice. The Foundation is a further
to facilitate among pragmatic thinkers an
expression of Elie Wiesel's resolve to speak out
exchange of ideas and views that transcends
against indifference to human suffering.
particular academic disciplines, as well as
Upon presenting the Nobel Peace Prize
political, cultural and religious perspectives.
FOUNDATION PROGRAMS
BOSTON (1989)
"Beyond Hate" was co-sponsored by the
CONFERENCES
Foundation and Boston University. This conference
CONFERENCE OF NOBEL LAUREATES,
gave scholars, writers and theologians an opportunity
to think collaboratively about ways of achieving
PARIS (1988)
greater understanding among different ethnic and
The Foundation's inaugural program, co-
religious groups. Papers were delivered on such topics
hosted by President François Mitterrand, was an
as "Nationalism and Hate" (Conor Cruise O'Brien),
unprecedented meeting of seventy-five Nobel
"Hateful Violence" (Robert Jay Lifton), and
laureates from five continents. Laureates in
"Muting Hate" (Jerome Kagan).
Peace, Chemistry, Physics, Literature, Economics,
HAIFA (1990)
Physiology and Medicine discussed the theme,
"Facing the 21st Century: Threats and Promises."
"Education Against Hate: An Imperative for Our
Diverse and often complementary perspectives
Time" was an international conference for educators
were brought to a variety of shared concerns, from
that brought together Israeli Arabs and Jews.
disarmament and human rights to the social
Co-sponsored by Haifa University, its purpose was to
implications of science and technology.
develop a conceptual framework for transcending
January 17th, the day before the conference
decades of fear and mistrust, and to confront the
hegan, was the 43rd anniversary of the evacuation of
complex issues and challenges involved in this task.
Auschwitz. Elie Wiesel, accompanied by a group of
OSLO (1990)
laureates and friends, travelled to Poland to visit the
site of the death camp. "It seemed inconceivable to
"The Anatomy of Hate: Resolving Conflict
us," said Elie Wiesel, "to look ahead to the coming
Through Dialogue and Democracy" was convened
century without first looking back at the evil symbol
by the Foundation and the Norwegian Nobel
of the century that is now approaching its end."
Committee. Former political prisoners and
THE ANATOMY OF HATE
statesmen, writers, and scholars from thirty countries
(Václav Havel, Nelson Mandela, François Mitterrand,
In 1988, the Foundation embarked on a long-
and Jimmy Carter, among them) discussed ways of
term, in-depth project: to explore the subject of
living with ethnic and national conflict, managing
hate, one of the most ubiquitous and perplexing
regional tensions through dialogue, and other topics.
problems known to mankind, in the hope of
A transcendent moment occurred at this
discovering ways to limit its impact. As Elie Wiesel
conference (which took place before the demise of
said at the Oslo conference, "Hate wears many
apartheid) when South African Deputy Minister for
masks. It comes disguised as racial or religious
Foreign Affairs Leon Wessels spoke to an audience
superiority. It can wear the mask of patriotism -
that included a recently freed Nelson Mandela of
or revolution. It is the cancer at the root of human
desiring "real justice in our land" and of wanting to
relationships - among individuals and entire
nations. But, strangely, the phenomenon of hate
itself and the evil it fosters has rarely been
THE ANAT
addressed. Although hate has been with mankind
since the beginning - since Cain struck down his
OF HA
brother Abel - it remains an uncharted sickness in
the human soul. With this in mind, in 1988, we
began a dialogue with some of the finest thinkers
THE
in the world
"
OSLO
The Foundation has held conferences on hate
in Boston, Haifa, Oslo, Moscow, and New York.
South African Deputy Minister Leon Wessels speaking at the
Other conferences, including one to be held in
Oslo Conference. On the dais (from left to right): Nadine
Venice, are planned for the future.
Gordimer, Gidske Anderson (Chairperson of the Norwegian
Nobel Committee), Elie Wiesel, and Nelson Mandela.
"cast off the apartheid albatross." Mandela himself
said, "We shall relentlessly challenge the infamous
seeds of hatred wherever these are found. This is
the spirit in which we have come to Oslo. The spirit
which has sustained us during the many lonely years
of our imprisonment. The spirit which will form the
basis of our new society."
"
"H
atred bas no mercy for those who refuse
to fight it. It kills whoever will not try
to disarm it. Parents, teach your children
Elie Wiesel and Governor Mario M. Cuomo at the
that to hate is to mutilate their own future. Teachers,
New York Conference
tell your pupils that hatred is the negation of every
triumph that culture and civilization may achieve.
attempt to minimize those ways in which hate affects
Politicians, tell your constituencies that hatred is,
the lives of our children. Numerous recommenda-
at all levels, your principal enemy, and theirs.
tions were put forward, and a single theme was
Tell all those who listen to you that hatred breeds
sounded again and again: "strong, affirmative models
hatred and can breed nothing else."
can play critical roles in developing ethical standards
in the individual and the community." Several
From the Oslo Declaration, which was signed on
August 29, 1990, by all conference participants
recommendations proposed at the conference are
now under consideration by the Foundation.
VENICE (1995)
In 1995, "The Anatomy of Hate" series will
continue with "On the Threshold of the 21st Century:
A Blueprint for Religious Tolerance." Theologians,
historians, educators, writers, students and others
will meet to devise strategies for countering religious
intolerance. Our "blueprint" will propose particular
steps that should be taken in order to a build a more
tolerant society, one that is less susceptible to hatred
Mikhail Gorbachev, at his last official meeting in his Kremlin
office, greets Elie Wiesel during The Moscow Conference.
and violence. Workshops will be held on Ethnicity and
Violence, The Politics of Fundamentalism, Media and
MOSCOW (1991)
Education, and Children and Religion. This conference
is expected to cast a strong light- internationally-or
"The Anatomy of Hate: 50 Years After Hitler's
the urgent religious and ethical issues involved.
Germany Invaded the USSR," was convened by the
Foundation and Ogonyok Magazine. This conference,
THE ELIE WIESEL PRIZE IN ETHICS
occurring just days before Soviet President
Mikhail Gorbachev's resignation, was attended by
Since 1988, this award has been given to full-time
heads of state, legislators, scholars, educators,
seniors at colleges and universities throughout the
journalists and human rights activists. Its goal was to
find new ways of dealing with those conflicts inherent
in the transition from totalitarianism to democracy.
NEW YORK (1992)
"The Anatomy of Hate: Saving Our Children,"
organized by the Foundation and Governor
Mario M. Cuomo, brought together a distinguished
group of educators, psychiatrists, lawyers,
First Place Ethics Prize Winner Jendi Retter, Elie Wiesel, Third
theologians, scientists and others, to identify and
Place Winner Carrie Miller, Billie lury. and Arnold Thaler
country, who have participated in this annual contest.
PUBLICATIONS
Its goal is to challenge students to formulate original
The results of various conferences, seminars
thoughts on critical ethical issues confronting man-
kind. Each year, a total of ten thousand dollars is distrib-
and other Foundation programs are periodically
uted among first, second, and third prize winners.
made available to a broader audience - including
Friends of the Foundation - through reports,
THE ELIE WIESEL
position papers, videotapes and documentary films.
HUMANITARIAN AWARD
FUTURE PROGRAMS
This award has been created to recognize
outstanding accomplishments which are consistent
CHILDREN'S TELEVISION
with the goals of the Foundation. Past recipients
PROGRAMMING
have included:
The Foundation is committed to developing a
Danielle Mitterrand, First Lady of France, for
television series for grade school children that will
her work with children in Third World countries;
enhance their ethical development. Educators, as
George Bush, President of the United States,
well as experts in the field of children's television,
for opposing tyranny and defending democratic
are now being consulted to explore creative options
ideals during the Gulf War;
and to determine an appropriate format.
His Majesty King Juan Carlos of Spain, for bringing
democracy to his country through peaceful means.
THE ELIE WIESEL
INTERNSHIP PROGRAM
This program will provide a unique opportunity
for future leaders throughout the world to work
and study at the Foundation during the summer
months.
COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS
The Foundation will consider requests to
collaborate on projects of mutual interest with other
King Juan Carlos accepts The Elie Wiesel Humanitarian Award.
foundations, corporations, and schools.
THE ELIE WIESEL FOUNDATION - ISRAEL
T
the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity
Foundation is also building a synagogue for the
is involved in a number of projects in
Ethiopian population of Ashkelon.
the State of Israel. The Foundation is
currently operating an after-school study center
for Ethiopian children living in the northern
mumm
THIR
on
development town of Hatzrot Yassaf, and is
HAZROT
YASAF
renovating a building in Ashkelon for a youth
STUCY AND ENROHMENT CENTER
center due to open there
OF
WESFL
WIESEL
in 1994. At both facilities,
ELIE
THE
FOUNDATION
a variety of educational,
psychological and social
services will be available
to help the children
and their families adjust
ISRAEL
to their new home. The
Children studying with their computer leacher at Hatzrol Yassaf.
"If we have learned one thing from our past, it is that
to live through dramatic events is not enough; one has to share them
and transform them into acts of conscience."
- ELIE WIESEL
FRIENDS OF
THE ELIE WIESEL FOUNDATION
FOR HUMANITY
The Friends of the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity was created in response to queries from
individuals, corporations and other groups wishing to support the Foundation's work.
By becoming a Friend, you will help to advance the Foundation's program and ensure its future
success. Among the benefits Friends will receive is the Foundation newsletter, which
will include updated material on Foundation activities and relevant issues.
The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity is a non-profit organization. All contributions are
tax-deductible. Further information may be obtained by contacting:
The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity
1177 Avenue of the Americas, 36th floor
New York, New York 10036
(212) 221-1100
THE ELIE WIESEL FOUNDATION FOR HUMANITY
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Elie Wiesel, President
Norman Braman
David Pincus
Marion Wiesel, Vice President
William J. Flynn
Raphael Recanati
Arnold Thaler, Vice President
Robert Howard
Sigmund Strochlitz
Bernard D. Fischman, Esq., Secretary
E. Billie Ivry
Stephen I. Willis
Joseph Ciechanover, Esq., Treasurer
Isidore Morgenstein
ELIE WIESEL FOUNDATION
THE
FOR HUMANITY
THE ELIE WIESEL FOUNDATION FOR HUMANITY
1177 AVENUE OF THE AMERICAS
36TH FLOOR
NEW YORK, NY 10036
212 221-1100
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTon
Lissa-
. Marion Weisel's
letter files. To HRC for my
Pan
Leslier
put in Elis
Wiesel betwer
folder
Clinton Presidential Records
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marker by the William J. Clinton Presidential Library Staff.
This marker identifies the place of a publication.
Publications have not been scanned in their entirety for the purpose
of digitization. To see the full publication please search online or
visit the Clinton Presidential Library's Research Room.
Elie Wiesel Foundation Booklet
10 pgs.
THE
ELIE WIESEL
FOUNDATION
ELIE WIESEL TOLINATION
FOR
HUMANITY
THE
FOR
HUMANITY
...to speak out
against indifference
to injustice
and human suffering.
THE ELIE WIESEL FOUNDATION FOR HUMANITY
1177 AVENUE OF THE AMERICAS, 36TH FLOOR
NEW YORK, NY 10036
(212) 221-1100
Clinton Presidential Records
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marker by the William J. Clinton Presidential Library Staff.
This marker identifies the place of a publication.
Publications have not been scanned in their entirety for the purpose
of digitization. To see the full publication please search online or
visit the Clinton Presidential Library's Research Room.
T H E
O SLO
CONCERT
TUESDAY 28 AUGUST1990
Clinton Presidential Records
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marker by the William J. Clinton Presidential Library Staff.
This marker identifies the place of a publication.
Publications have not been scanned in their entirety for the purpose
of digitization. To see the full publication please search online or
visit the Clinton Presidential Library's Research Room.
THE ELIE WIESEL
FOUNDATION
FOR HUMANITY
GALA
CONCERT
BLIE WIESEL
THE
FOR HUMANITY
NOVEMBER 16, 1992
KAUFMANN CONCERT HALL AT THE 92ND STREET r
Clinton Presidential Records
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This is not a presidential record. This is used as an administrative
marker by the William J. Clinton Presidential Library Staff.
This marker identifies the place of a publication.
Publications have not been scanned in their entirety for the purpose
of digitization. To see the full publication please search online or
visit the Clinton Presidential Library's Research Room.
The Moscow Conference: The Anatomy of Hate
In December of 1991,
fifty years after
Hitler's Germany invaded
the USSR
Clinton Presidential Records
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This is not a presidential record. This is used as an administrative
marker by the William J. Clinton Presidential Library Staff.
This marker identifies the place of a publication.
Publications have not been scanned in their entirety for the purpose
of digitization. To see the full publication please search online or
visit the Clinton Presidential Library's Research Room.
PARIS,
In mid-January, 1988
FRANCE
a working
1988
conference of
CONFERENCE
75 Nobel Laureates
OF
met in plenary
NOBEL
sessions,
LAUREATES,
seminars and
"FACING
informal
THE
discussions.
21st CENTURY:
The
THREATS
gathering
AND PROMISES"
took place
Clinton Presidential Records
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This is not a presidential record. This is used as an administrative
marker by the William J. Clinton Presidential Library Staff.
This marker identifies the place of a publication.
Publications have not been scanned in their entirety for the purpose
of digitization. To see the full publication please search online or
visit the Clinton Presidential Library's Research Room.
As I travel among the nations of the world
witnessing their conflicts, their frustrations,
their continuing struggles for justice and the
frequent destruction of their hopes for a better
life — one word is rarely mentioned: Hate.
Hate wears many masks. It comes disguised as racial or religious
superiority. It can wear the mask of patriotism — or revolution. It is
the cancer at the root of human relationships - among individuals
and entire nations. But, strangely, the phenomenon of hate itself
and the evil it fosters has rarely been addressed. Although hate has
been with humankind since the beginning - since Cain struck down his
brother Abel — it remains an uncharted sickness in the human soul.
With this in mind, in 1988, we began a dialogue with some of the
finest thinkers in the world. The purpose: to join together in the
study of the nature of hate in an effort to devise new methods
of understanding and combating this scourge.
From August 26 through August 29, 1990, a major conference
on hate took place in Oslo. Jimmy Carter, François Mitterrand,
Václav Havel, Vytautas Landsbergis, Nelson Mandela.