Writer Elie Wiesel Was Conscience of Our Era

CORNELL UNIVERSITY MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICEJuly 5, 2016

Writer Elie Wiesel was conscience of our era

Newswise — Dan Schwarz, a professor of English at Cornell University, and a long-time friend of Elie Wiesel, comments on the writer’s legacy.

Bio: https://courses.cit.cornell.edu/drs6/

Schwarz says: “It is not too much to say that Elie Wiesel is the father of modern Jewish studies. At a time when discussion of the Holocaust was often avoided if not suppressed, and when ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ was turned into a growing up story, Wiesel’s ‘Night’ spoke eloquently and succinctly about what happened in the concentration camps, especially Auschwitz. Wiesel’s Nobel Peace Prize in 1986 was a way for the Western intellectual and political community to pay homage to those millions who died in the camps as well as to those who survived.

“I was fortunate to know Elie - which he let people who knew him call him - reasonably well. He was not only a charismatic lecturer but he was a teacher who excelled in the give-and-take discussion that followed his lectures. He had infinite patience and a gracious manner. Truly a conscience of our era, he was also a warm, compassionate, intellectually curious, and modest human being.”

Rebecca Vallioffice: 607-255-7701cell: 607-793-1025[email protected]

Cornell University has television, ISDN and dedicated Skype/Google+ Hangout studios available for media interviews.

- 30 -