Name: ______Homework

February 28, 2006 History -

Preparation for Socratic Seminar #2 - Part I

Elie Wiesel’s Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech (1986)

Background: Elie Wiesel was born in the European country of Romania, and he was a teenager when the Nazis came to power. He and his family were sent to Auschwitz where he narrowly escaped the gas chambers. After World War II, Wiesel attended college in France and became a journalist. He later wrote many powerful books about the Holocaust. He has spent his life writing and speaking about his experience and fighting the genocides that continue to take place.

In 1986 Elie Wiesel received the Nobel Peace Prize. This is the highest honor in the world for those who work to bring about peace. (Nelson Mandela also received a Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.) One of our seminar texts will be his acceptance speech.

Directions: The first part of the text is broken up into sections. On the lines, put Elie Wiesel’s writing into YOUR OWN WORDS. You should have one sentence for every one of Wiesel’s sentences.

… No one may speak for the dead, no one may interpret their mutilated dreams and visions. And yet, I sense their presence. I always do--and at this moment more than ever. The presence of my parents, that of my little sister. The presence of my teachers, my friends, my companions …

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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.

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I remember he asked his father, “Can this be true? This is the twentieth century, not the Middle Ages. Who would allow such crimes to be committed? How could the world remain silent?”

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Create an illustration in the box to the right that is inspired by the words or sentence that you chose:

Above and Beyond: Why do you think Wiesel talks about himself in the third person? (In other words, why does he talk about “a young Jewish boy” instead of “me”?)