Elie Wiesel and his wife founded the Elie Wiesel Foundation in 1986, the same year he received the Nobel Peace Prize, [1] [2] using the award money from the prize to fund the organization. [3] Wiesel has experienced inequality first hand through the Holocaust and has been working in several different areas involving the Holocaust. The Foundation's mission statement, created in remembrance of the Holocaust, is "to combat indifference, intolerance and injustice through international dialogue and youth-focused programs that promote acceptance, understanding and equality." [1] Wiesel has dedicated the foundation to bringing together people from all over the world to share ideas on political, cultural, religious, and academic boundaries. The foundation organizes contests, awards, and conferences for youths in both the United States and other countries experiencing cultural conflicts. [1]
The foundation had approximately $15 million in investments managed by Bernard Madoff Investment Securities, which was lost when Madoff's company defrauded its investors of $50 billion in 2008. [4] [5] [6] However, Wiesel would not let this setback prevent the foundation from holding to its mission. Wiesel has shared his experiences in the Holocaust in his memoir, Night , and his name can be seen in the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. [1]
The foundation opened up two "Beit Tzipora Centers" in Israel for Ethiopian Jews fleeing violence in Africa. The centers are named after Elie Wiesel's younger sister, who was killed at the Auschwitz concentration camp during WWII. The centers were founded in the mid-1990s following the rescue of thousands of Ethiopian Jews from Africa, where they were facing persecution and violence. [1] The refugees were transported by plane from Ethiopia to Israel beginning on May 25, 1991. The evacuation consisted of 18,000 Jews and took place over thirty-six hours. Israeli and American governments had been negotiating for over a year with the Ethiopian government to allow the Jews to leave Ethiopia. The previous policy was that no more than 1,300 Jews could leave every thirty days and was put in place by dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam. However, Mengistu Haile Mariam fled the country earlier in May after receiving pressure from armed rebels. Tesfaye Gebre-Kidan became the new leader and accepted a letter from President George Bush requesting that he allow the exodus of Jews from the country to Israel or the United States would not help him negotiate a truce with the advancing rebels. [7] The idea for these centers came to the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity from seeing the growing need for safe and educational centers for the Ethiopian-Jewish refugees in Israel. Two Beit Tzipora Centers were founded in Israel, in Asheklon and Kiryat Malachi. The centers' missions are to educate the community of Ethiopian-Jews in Israel and give the Ethiopian-Israeli young people the chance to be knowledgeable enough to participate fully in society. Together the two locations of the Beit Tzipora Centers provide more than 1,000 children with after-school programs. [1]
Formally inaugurated on July 25, 2007, the former Ashkelon center was made-over with new classrooms, technology and an auditorium. The Ashkelon center serves students in 1st through 6th grade, runs a summer program for the students, and also provides an adult education program for the surrounding community. Implemented in 2004, Ethiopian students who attend the Ashkelon center and choose to enroll at a higher institute of education are offered the opportunity to volunteer at the Beit Tzipora Ashkelon Center during the school year in exchange for a scholarship from the Elie Wiesel Foundation For Humanity that significantly helps with financing his or her college education. The Beitz Tzipora Center for Study and Enrichment at Kiryat Malachi has continued to grow over the past fifteen years. A new and expanded library was opened in 2002 to support the growing number of students. A new matriculation exam program became available to students through grade twelve in 2004. The Beitz Tzipora Center at Kiryat Malachi also provides programs for students 1st through 12th grade, offers a summer program for the students, and provides an adult education program for the surrounding community. [1]
Israeli school and government officials have seen and commented on the positive, dramatic impact the Beit Tzipora study and enrichment programs have had on the Ethiopian-Jewish children. [1]
In the fall of 2007 the foundation recognized a need in Israel for a similar center to the Beit Tzipora centers for refugees fleeing the genocide in Darfur. It instituted an after-school program at the Bialik-Rogozin School in Tel-Aviv for the Darfurian refugees, which provides them with English and Hebrew training, computer technology education, tutoring, arts and crafts, and most importantly counseling. Parents of the children are also given access to the language and counseling services. The center strives to not only provide the counseling and education the refugees desperately need but also to help the children of the genocide feel more comfortable with their new lives in Israel. [1]
The foundation established the award in 1989, as an essay contest for juniors and seniors in 4-year accredited colleges in the United States. The contest "challenges college students in the U.S. to submit essays on the urgent and complex ethical issues that confront us in the modern earth." [8] Each year a suggested topic is provided, but not a requirement. The judges are mainly interested in seeing a modern, ethical dilemma clearly articulated and a real personal voice in the essay, so it is evident how the dilemma affected the student. The essay should also be 3,000–4,000 words, well written, concise, and in English. The first-place winner receives $5,000, the second-place winner $2,500, the third-place winner $1,500, and two honorable mentions receive $500 each. [1]
The Humanitarian Award was created by to recognize people that fight injustice, intolerance and share the beliefs and goals of the foundation in their work. The award has been given out every year since the 1989 when France's then first lady Danielle Mitterrand won the award. Some past recipients have been:
Danielle Mitterrand, former First Lady of France, in 1989 for her work with children in Third World countries.
President George H. W. Bush in 1991 for his role in bringing peace and democracy to the Middle East during and after the Gulf War.
King Juan Carlos I of Spain, 1991, for peacefully bringing democracy to his country.
Laura Bush, 2002, for her career in bettering children's education.
Oprah Winfrey, 2007, for her global humanitarian efforts, and education of children.
Nicolas Sarkozy, former French President, won the award in 2008 for renewing ties with WW2 allies and his commitment to peace for Israel and the Middle East.
The awards are modeled after Jewish tzedakah, or collection boxes. These boxes are used to collect donations for the poor anonymously. The Humanitarian Award boxes are modeled to look like those found in eastern European synagogues pre-World War II. [1]
The inaugural Arts for Humanity Award was given to Academy Award winning actor Tom Hanks in October 2012. The award is given to not only recognize artists for their talent, but more importantly for their humanitarian works. A ceremony held at the New York Library's Celeste Bartos Forum recognized Mr. Hank's vast amount of charity work. Most notably he has worked with the Pearl Harbor Memorial Fund, ONE Campaign, Hole in the Wall Gang—set up by fellow actor and friend Paul Newman— and the Got Your 6 Campaign, among many, many others worldwide. [1] [9]
Eliezer "Elie" Wiesel was a Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He authored 57 books, written mostly in French and English, including Night, a work based on his experiences as a Jewish prisoner in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps.
Kiryat Malachi is a city in the Southern District of Israel, 17 kilometres (11 mi) from the city of Ashkelon. In 2022 it had a population of 25,705. Its jurisdiction is 4,632 dunams (~4.6 km2).
Night is a 1960 memoir by Elie Wiesel based on his Holocaust experiences with his father in the Nazi German concentration camps at Auschwitz and Buchenwald in 1944–1945, toward the end of the Second World War in Europe. In just over 100 pages of sparse and fragmented narrative, Wiesel writes about his loss of faith and increasing disgust with humanity, recounting his experiences from the Nazi-established ghettos in his hometown of Sighet, Romania, to his migration through multiple concentration camps. The typical parent–child relationship is inverted as his father dwindled in the camps to a helpless state while Wiesel himself became his teenaged caregiver. His father died in January 1945, taken to the crematory after deteriorating from dysentery and a beating while Wiesel lay silently on the bunk above him for fear of being beaten too. The memoir ends shortly after the United States Army liberated Buchenwald in April 1945.
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) is the United States' official memorial to the Holocaust. Adjacent to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the USHMM provides for the documentation, study, and interpretation of Holocaust history. It is dedicated to helping leaders and citizens of the world confront hatred, prevent genocide, promote human dignity, and strengthen democracy.
Hadassah, The Women's Zionist Organization of America is an American Jewish volunteer women's organization. Founded in 1912 by Henrietta Szold, it is one of the largest international Jewish organizations, with nearly 300,000 members in the United States. Hadassah fundraises for community programs and health initiatives in Israel, including the Hadassah Medical Organization, two leading research hospitals in Jerusalem. In the US, the organization advocates on behalf of women's rights, religious autonomy and US–Israel diplomacy. In Israel, Hadassah supports health education and research, women's initiatives, schools and programs for underprivileged youth.
The Florida Holocaust Museum is a Holocaust museum located at 55 Fifth Street South in St. Petersburg, Florida. Founded in 1992, it moved to its current location in 1998. Formerly known as the Holocaust Center, the museum officially changed to its current name in 1999. It is one of the largest Holocaust museums in the United States. It was founded by Walter and Edith Lobenberg both of whom were German Jews who escaped persecution in Nazi Germany by immigrating to the United States. Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel served as Honorary Chairman and cut the ribbon at the 1998 opening ceremony. The Florida Holocaust Museum is one of three Holocaust Museums that are accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. The museum works with the local community and survivors of the Holocaust to spread awareness and to educate the public on the history of the Holocaust.
A mechina kdam-tzvait is an autonomous unit of specialized educational institutions valuing non-formal education and pre-military training in Israel. They are funded and supported by the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Defense, as well as by the Israel Defense Forces. As of 2017, there were 46 mechinot, whose mission is to prepare for conscientious service in the army and to educate leaders of local communities that have the ability to affect society and state. Educational program blocks mostly include Judaism and Jewish identity, Zionism, development of leadership skills, volunteering, and elements of military training. Most mechina programs last one academic year.
Mark Howard Podwal was an American artist, author, filmmaker and physician. He may have been best known initially for his drawings on The New York Times Op-Ed page. In addition, he is the author and illustrator of numerous books. Most of these works—Podwal's own as well as those he has illustrated for others—typically focus on Jewish legend, history and tradition. His art is represented in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Israel Museum, the National Gallery of Prague, the Jewish Museums in Berlin, Vienna, Stockholm, Prague, New York, among many other venues.
The Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center is a museum located in Skokie, Illinois, near Chicago. According to the Center's mission statement, its founding principle is to "Remember the Past; Transform the Future." Its mission is to preserve the legacy of the Holocaust by honoring victims' memories and to educate in the service of combating hatred, prejudice, and indifference. The Museum fulfills its mission through its collections-based exhibitions and through education programs and other initiatives that promote human rights and the elimination of genocide.
Holocaust studies, or sometimes Holocaust research, is a scholarly discipline that encompasses the historical research and study of the Holocaust. Institutions dedicated to Holocaust research investigate the multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary aspects of Holocaust methodology, demography, sociology, and psychology. It also covers the study of Nazi Germany, World War II, Jewish history, antisemitism, religion, Christian-Jewish relations, Holocaust theology, ethics, social responsibility, and genocide on a global scale. Exploring trauma, memories, and testimonies of the experiences of Holocaust survivors, human rights, international relations, Jewish life, Judaism, and Jewish identity in the post-Holocaust world are also covered in this type of research.
Imagining Madoff is a 2010 play by playwright Deb Margolin that tells the story of an imagined encounter between Bernard Madoff, the admitted operator of what has been described as the largest Ponzi scheme in history, and his victims. Margolin had originally planned to use Nobel Laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel as a character representing a victim, but was obliged by legal threats to substitute a fictional character, whom she named Solomon Galkin.
Ethiopian Jews in Israel are immigrants and descendants of the immigrants from the Beta Israel communities in Ethiopia who now reside in Israel. To a lesser, but notable, extent, the Ethiopian Jewish community in Israel is also composed of Falash Mura, a community of Beta Israel which had converted to Christianity over the course of the past two centuries, but were permitted to immigrate to Israel upon returning to Israelite religion—this time largely to Rabbinic Judaism.
Eva Fogelman is an American psychologist, writer, filmmaker and a pioneer in the treatment of psychological effects of the Holocaust on survivors and their descendants. She is the author of the Pulitzer Prize nominated book Conscience and Courage: Rescuers of Jews During the Holocaust and co-editor of Children During the Nazi Reign: Psychological Perspectives on the Interview Process. She is the writer and co-producer of the award-winning documentary Breaking the Silence: the Generation After the Holocaust and co-author of Children in the Holocaust and Its Aftermath: Historical and Psychological Studies of the Kestenberg Archive (2019).
Mátti Kovler is a Russian-born Israeli-American composer and creator of new music theatre. Called by Steve Smith of The New York Times “a potentially estimable operatic composer in the making,” his music has been compared to Leonard Bernstein's.
Harry James Cargas was an American scholar and author best known for his writing and research on the Holocaust, Jewish–Catholic relations, and American literature. He was a professor at Webster University for nearly three decades, and his circle of friends and collaborators included the American novelist Kurt Vonnegut, Nobel Laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel and sportscaster and humanitarian Bob Costas.
Boys Town Jerusalem is an Orthodox Jewish educational institution in Jerusalem. Founded in 1949, it houses over 850 boys aged 12 to 20 on its 18 acres (7.3 ha) Bayit Vegan campus, and provides on-site religious, secular, and technological education on the junior high through college levels.
Judith Hemmendinger was a German-born Israeli researcher and author who specialised in child survivors of the Holocaust. During World War II, she was a social worker and refugee counselor for the Œuvre de secours aux enfants (OSE), a French Jewish children's aid organization based in Geneva, and from 1945 to 1947, she directed a home for child survivors of Buchenwald in France. She authored books and papers on the Holocaust experiences and later lives of child survivors. She was awarded the French Legion of Honor in 2003.
Eli Rubenstein is a Holocaust educator, writer, storyteller, filmmaker, and activist. He is currently the religious leader of Congregation Habonim Toronto, a Toronto synagogue founded by Holocaust survivors, served as the Director of Education for March of the Living International since 1988, and currently serves as National Director of March of the Living Canada from 1988 to 2024. Rubenstein was the President of the Israel Guide Dog Centre for the Blind, and was appointed to the Order of Canada in December 2022.
Darca Schools is a non-profit organization operating a network of 47 schools and learning centers located in Israel's geographic and socio-economic periphery.
Hillel Levine is an American social scientist, rabbi, and author. He was Professor of Religion at Boston University, where he served as the first director of the Center for Judaic Studies. In addition to books on Jewish history, he authored studies on social theory, comparative historical sociology, and the social epistemology of Judaism. He also served as Deputy Director for Museum Planning of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, in which capacity he contributed to the preliminary planning of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.