Elie Wiesel's Acceptance Speech Analysis

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.

In this speech, Elie Wiesel discusses indifference and how staying neutral can have serious consequences. Wisel uses his experience in the Holocaust to support his argument, going on to say how he felt forgotten and how the only hope he had was that nobody else knew what was happening so they couldn't help. (p.14) He uses alliteration and repetition to make his point clear, showing his surprise and disappointment when he learns that the U.S. government did know what was happening in the concentration camps. Wiesel uses his ethos to appeal to the White House and the people around the country, using his time in the concentration camps as a way to have some leverage in the issue.

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.

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.

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.

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 “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

Have you ever thought of the times when no one wants to help others? Like during the Holocaust or Slavery? And have you ever wondered why people don't want to help you, even if they're your closest friends, during tough situations? According to Elie Wiesel's speech, you should think about that while you are reading this. Elie Wiesel’s speech was convincing in his speech about people not sticking up for themselves and others by using an anecdote about his past life and now and discussion of people having to go through things because of others and how others are not helping peers/other people.

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.

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

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.

In Elie Wiesel’s Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech, Weisel asserts the grief and despair to whom families died in the Holocaust. Wiesel first empathizes on the past events through a strong Paths, he then describes the pain of the Holocaust by use of Ethos and to conclude he makes it crystal clear of the fear from the camps by the use of Anaphora. Wiesel’s purpose was to show his honor and sympathy towards getting this award. He seems to have a mixed race and age audience in mind because this terrible event put a cloak of darkness around the Jews and Wiesel is taking it off with the use of his diction and tone.

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