Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech:

December 10, 1986

Matt Queen

ELIE WIESEL

SOAPSTONE

SPEAKER• Elie Wiesel

• Romanian born in 1928, now a Jewish American

• Novelist and political activist

• Survivor of the Holocaust and Nazi Concentration camps

• Spent 8 months shuffling between concentration camps until liberated by the US Third Army on April 11th, 1945

OCCASION• Elie Wiesel received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. This speech was his acceptance

speech for the award, which he received for being one of the “most important spiritual leaders and guides in an age whence violence, repression, and racism continue to characterize the world.”

AUDIENCE• Elie Wiesel gave the speech in front of a large variety of world leaders, the Nobel Prize

Committee, and the world that was listening.

PURPOSE• Elie Wiesel gave this speech to condemn bystanders when there is “one dissident in

prison,” and when “one child is hungry.” He says that when this is known to be happening, no freedom is true.

SUBJECT• The subject of Elie Wiesel’s Nobel Prize speech is oppression and injustice. Specifically,

the subject is how people around the world respond to oppression and how they should respond to oppression.

TONE• Elie Wiesel’s word usage denotes almost a morbid tone as he condemns the allowance of

suffering. This tone is further reflected in his closing statement when he thanks the audience for “declaring on this singular occasion that our survival has meaning for mankind.”

ETHOS, PATHOS, LOGOS:• Ethos: “A young Jewish boy discovered the kingdom of night”

• Pathos: “The ghetto. The deportation. The sealed cattle car. The fiery alter upon which our people and the future of mankind were meant to be sacrificed.”

“What have you done with my future?”

“Thank you…for declaring on this singular occasion that our survival has meaning for mankind.”

• Logos: “…while their freedom depends on ours, the quality of our freedom depends on theirs.”

• Paragraph 5: “Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”

CITATIONS• http://ctp-stelmo.blogspot.com/2011/11/journal-entry-gratitude-is-what-defines.html

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elie_Wiesel

• http://observer.com/2012/08/blameless-and-upright-but-not-that-good-elie-wiesel-is-a-better-spokesman-than-writer/#axzz2sxOTt5fR

• http://www.eliewieseltattoo.com/tag/the-new-republic/

• http://www.glogster.com/autumnchristmas14/poem/g-6mh56ftgbd89ht9p7f61na0

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_mass_transport_to_Auschwitz_concentration_camp

• http://www.chgs.umn.edu/museum/memorials/auschBirkMem/