Elie Wiesel's Acceptance Speech Analysis

The tragic events that occurred during world war two and the holocaust were not only horrific but also morally wrong. The Jewish culture was targeted for mass genocide, by the hand of a mad-man bent on world domination, and the only way to prevent another incident like this from happening again, is to thoroughly educate the public. The actions and events that Hitler and his followers proposed not only helped the world realize the extent of his destruction but also how horrible it would be if the events were to happen again. The aftermath of the war and holocaust left half of Europe in ruins, and more than six million Jews, Homosexuals, Gypsies, and Africans dead, not including

Elie Wiesel uses rhetoric to convey his message in his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech. In the speech, he uses rhetoric by telling from his own perspective or from his own point of view. In paragraph three, the authors explains his opinion from his point of view that he doesn’t think he has the right to accept the Nobel Peace Prize: “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.” He questions himself and he thinks that he doesn’t deserve the honor to be given the Nobel Peace Prize. In paragraph eleven, the author explains that there’s always something that can be done: “There is much to be done, there is much that can be done. One person...of integrity can make a

Throughout the latter 1930s and early 1940s, many individuals experienced persecution. As Goldhagen mentioned in his novel, “Social death is a formal status...It is at once a culturally shared concept of the socially dead people and a set of practices towards them” (Goldhagen, 168). In Germany specifically, individuals part of a specific race were deemed to no longer be a human being in the eyes of the “superior race”. The social death of individuals such as Jewish people was obtained through the use of blame for problems faced and then the dehumanization of these individuals. Once the status of social death is reached, it is much easier for people to treat others in a degrading and violent manner. Those facing persecution, such as the Jewish, during World War II, faced immense atrocities. For individuals who were not killed themselves, the vast majority saw their friends and family killed, were stripped away from their homes and identity, were faced with torture, meager living conditions, and immense amounts of labor. On the opposite side, many individuals who took part in performing these atrocities against humanity were cognizant on some level to what they were doing, but were also obstructed

For example, when Wiesel is thanking the audience for the Nobel Peace Prize he states 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.” Wiesel says he can relate to what the Jewish had to go through during the Holocaust which implies that he has gone through a similar experience himself. Because of this, he feels biased towards the Jews, or the sufferers, and feels that the tormentors should not be allowed to make people suffer and have it go ignored by the world. Also, he states, later on in his speech, that “silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented” (Wiesel). During the Holocaust, people were aware that the Jews were tortured but did not speak up because they were afraid of the consequences. Wiesel is communicating to the audience that if someone is aware of the oppression going on in the world but does not say anything, then they are helping the tormentors by making them feel it is alright to oppress someone. In conclusion, Elie Wiesel is biased towards the victims of a traumatic event because he can relate to what they have been

In “Elie Wiesel's Acceptance Speech for the Nobel Peace Prize”, Elie uses rhetoric to convey his message through the uses of pathos and ethos, as well as vividly expressing his personal views towards silence and the remaining of such during a time of crisis where it can be helped. An example of pathos would be when the author describes the young boy, asking “What have you done with my future?, What have you done with your life?” This conveys the feelings of loss and hopelessness, describing the effect of silence on the younger population. This is to get the audience to feel, even slightly, like he does; for them to share the opinion, even if only for a short while. An example of ethos would be: “...no one is capable of gratitude as one who

Conflict: Many Jews died from the terrible tragedies of the Holocaust. They were sent to these concentration camps to wither be killed upon arrival, or work to death.

The Holocaust was the systematic killing and extermination of millions of Jews and other Europeans by the German Nazi state between 1939 and 1945. Innocent Europeans were forced from their homes into concentration camps, executed violently, and used for medical experiments. The Nazis believed their acts against this innocent society were justified when hate was the motivating factor. The Holocaust illustrates the consequences of prejudice, racism, and stereotyping on a society. It forces societies to examine the responsibility and role of citizenship, in addition to approaching the powerful ramifications of indifference and inaction. (Holden Congressional Record). Despite the adverse treatment of the Jews, there are lessons that can be learned from the Holocaust: The Nazi’s rise to power could have been prevented, the act of genocide was influenced by hate, and the remembrance of the Holocaust is of the utmost importance for humanity.

Elie Wiesel’s purpose of this text was to discuss the parallels of the experiences he survived through during the Holocaust and the events in Kosovo that were going through ethnic cleansing. Wiesel has intended this speech to an audience of President Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton. Throughout this speech, Wiesel also expressed his gratitude towards President Clinton for the “...justified intervention in Kosovo...a lasting warning that never again will the deportation, the terrorization of children and their parents, be allowed anywhere in the world.” The author feels that this message is important because “We are on the threshold of a new century, a new millennium” and the injustice lessons of the past must be remembered. This shows that Wiesel cares for the

On the 12th of April, in the year 1999, Elie Wiesel gave a speech at the White House. Several members of congress, President Clinton, and the First Lady, Hillary Clinton, were present to listen to him. His speech became a powerful testament to the pitfalls and dangers of being indifferent to the sufferings of others. However, Wiesel’s speech was also a very skillful exercise in using rhetoric for persuasion. By using certain wording and striking the right balance of facts and emotions, he was moving the audience in the direction of understanding his point of view. He was moving the audience to not feel sympathy, but actual empathy to the events he was speaking about. To feel the as closely as he felt for these events in history. He acted as judge, jury, disappointed parent and as vengeful deity. In this paper, I will examine key elements of his speech to show that by instilling deep feelings of shame, fear, and even pride at the right moments can inspire people to open their minds to the dangers of ignoring the pleads of help from their fellow man.

Throughout the course of humanity, we have experienced terrible transgressions in our society. Although they took place sixty-one years apart, similar horrific events from the Holocaust (1933-1945) and the Rwandan Genocide (1994) occurred. In Night, the Holocaust was the systematic, bureaucratic, state sponsored persecution and murder of approximately 6 million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. The Nazis believed they were “racially superior” so they killed the Jews because they were deemed “inferior” and needed to be eliminated.

In the book Ordinary Men, Christopher Browning tackles the question of why German citizens engaged in nefarious behavior that led to the deaths of millions of Jewish and other minorities throughout Europe. The question of what drove Germans to commit acts of genocide has been investigated by numerous historians, but unfortunately, no overarching answer for the crimes has yet been decided upon. However, certain theories are more popular than others. Daniel Goldhagen in his book, Hitler’s Willing Executioners, has expounded that the nature of the German culture before the Second World War was deeply embedded in anti-Semitic fervor, which in turn, acted as the catalyst for the events that would unfold into the Holocaust. It is at this

1.If you were stripped of your freedom and individuality to be held in a camp waiting to die would you feel indifferent. Elie Wiesel, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and Boston University Professor, presented a speech as part of the Millennium Lecture Series at the White House on April 12, 1999 2.(Wiesel 221). President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary Clinton hosted the formal event. Numerous government officials from a wide order of public, private and foreign office attended the event 2.(Wiesel 221). Although Elie Wiesel designed his speech to persuade, it actually felt somewhat outside from its original intended purpose, as being more different.

Elie Wiesel was a memorable survivor of the unforgettable survivor of the unforgettable Holocaust. His accomplishments and his wise words were inspiring. He went through so much and he moves on from it and worries about us first.

In Elie Wiesel’s Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, “Keep the Memory Alive”,  he speaks about you should speak up for others when they have no voice themselves. Elie Wiesel feels he isn’t worthy to accept the honor on behalf of all the perished people. Wiesel spoke about the hardships he had to undergo of being a Jew. People don’t stand up for others in fear that they will be next. If you don’t stand up for others, then no one will be there to stand for you.

In the passage called Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech, Elie Wiesel, a survivor of the Auschwitz and Buchenwald Nazi concentration camps, tells his stories through books he has written about his experiences. He was awarded the nobel prize for being a “messenger to mankind.” During his acceptance speech, Wiesel discussed reasons why people should not ignore or forget about conflict like they normally do. He says, “... if we forget, we are guilty, we are accomplices,” meaning, if we do not attempt to help solve the issue, we become part of it. There are so many ways one individual can make a difference, “a difference of life or death,” and most don’t even try.