Elie Wiesel

Introduction

In his best-known work, Night, Elie Wiesel describes his experiences and emotions at the hands of the Nazis during the Holocaust: the roundup of his family and neighbors in the Romanian town of Sighet; deportation by cattle car to the concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau; the division of his family forever during the selection process; the mental and physical anguish he and his fellow prisoners experienced as they were stripped of their humanity; and the death march from Auschwitz-Birkenau to the concentration camp at Buchenwald, where his father died just days before American troops liberated the camp.

Well-known for his writing about the Holocaust, Elie Wiesel is also a champion of human rights and an outspoken advocate for awareness of past and potential acts of genocide. In recognition of this work, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. He served as chairman of the President's Commission on the Holocaust and was a guiding force in the establishment of the Museum, which awarded him the inaugural United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Award, the Museum's highest honor, in 2011 for the singular role he has played in establishing and advancing the cause of Holocaust remembrance.

The following bibliography is designed to guide readers to selected materials on Elie Wiesel that are available in the Library's collection. It is not meant to be exhaustive. Annotations are provided to help the user determine the item’s focus, and call numbers for the Museum Library’s holdings are given in parentheses following each citation. If you are unable to visit the Museum, you may be able find these works in a nearby public or academic library, or acquire them through interlibrary loan. Talk to your local librarian for assistance.

Note: Many of Elie Wiesel’s works were originally published in other languages; this bibliography includes only items written in or translated into English.

Primary Sources

Essays

• Abrahamson, Irving, editor. Against Silence: The Voice and Vision of Elie Wiesel. New York: Holocaust Library, 1985. (DS 135 .E83 W54 1985) [Find in a library near you]

  Three-volume collection of essays covering the first half of Wiesel’s career, until 1984. 

• After the Darkness: Reflections on the Holocaust. New York: Schocken Books, 2002. (D 804.3 .W465 2002) [Find in a library near you]

• From the Kingdom of Memory: Reminiscences. New York: Summit Books, 1990. (PQ 2683 .I32 Z464 1990) [Find in a library near you]

• A Jew Today. New York: Random House, 1978. (PQ 2683 .I32 Z51713 1978) [Find in a library near you]

• A Journey of Faith. With John Cardinal O’Connor. New York: Donald I. Fine, 1990. (PQ 2683 .I32 Z465 1990) [Find in a library near you]

• Legends of Our Time. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1968. (PQ 2683 .I32 C42 1968) [Find in a library near you]

• Messengers of God. New York: Random House, 1976. (BM 516 .W513 1976) [Find in a library near you]

• One Generation After. New York: Random House, 1970. (PQ 2683 .I32 E513 1970) [Find in a library near you]

• Sages and Dreamers: Biblical, Talmudic, and Hasidic Portraits and Legends. New York: Summit Books, 1991. (BS 571 .W548 1991)  [Find in a library near you]

• The Six Days of Destruction: Meditations Toward Hope. With Albert Friedlander. Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist Press, 1988. (PQ 2683 .I32 S5 1988) [Find in a library near you]

• Somewhere a Master: Further Hasidic Portraits and Legends. New York: Summit Books, 1982. (BM 750 .W54 1982) [Find in a library near you]

• Souls on Fire: Portraits and Legends of Hasidic Masters. New York: Random House, 1972. (BM 198 .W513 1972) [Find in a library near you]

• Wise Men and Their Tales: Portraits of Biblical, Talmudic, and Hasidic Masters. New York: Schocken Books, 2003. (BS 571 .W5485 2003) [Find in a library near you]

Memoirs

• All Rivers Run to the Sea: Memoirs. New York: Schocken Books, 1996. (PQ 2683 .I32 Z52313 1996) [Find in a library near you]

• And the Sea Is Never Full: Memoirs, 1969–. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1999. (PQ 2683 .I32 Z52313 1999) [Find in a library near you]

• Night. New York: Avon Books, 1969. (PQ 2683 .I32 Z479 1969) [Find in a library near you]

• Night. New translation. New York: Hill and Wang, 2006. (PQ 2683 .I32 Z47813 2006) [Find in a library near you]

• Open Heart. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2012. (PQ 2683.I32 Z4612 2012) [Find in a library near you]

Fiction

• A Beggar in Jerusalem: A Novel. New York: Schocken Books, 1985. (PQ 2683 .I32 M413 1985) [Find in a library near you]

• The Fifth Son. New York: Schocken Books, 1998. (PQ 2683 .I32 C613 1998) [Find in a library near you]

• The Forgotten. New York: Summit Books, 1992. (PQ 2683 .I32 O9213 1992) [Find in a library near you]

• The Gates of the Forest. New York: Schocken Books, 1982. (PQ 2683 .I32 P613 1982) [Find in a library near you]

• Hostage: A Novel. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2012. (PQ 2683 .I32 O8313 2012) [Find in a library near you]

• The Judges: A Novel. New York: Knopf, 2002. (PQ 2683 .I32 J4413 2002) [Find in a library near you]

• A Mad Desire to Dance: A Novel. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009. (PQ 2683.I32 D4713 2009) [Find in a library near you]

• Night, Dawn, The Accident: A Trilogy. New York: Hill and Wang, 2004. (PQ 2683 .I32 A2 2004) [Find in a library near you]

  Presents Wiesel’s memoir of the Holocaust, Night, alongside two works of fiction.

• The Oath. New York: Random House, 1973. (PQ 2683 .I32 S413 1973) [Find in a library near you]

• The Sonderberg Case: A Novel. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2010. (PQ 2683.I32 C3713 2010) [Find in a library near you]

• The Testament: A Novel. New York: Summit Books, 1981. (PQ 2683.I32 T413 1981) [Find in a library near you]

• The Time of the Uprooted: A Novel. New York: Knopf, 2005. (PQ 2683 .I32 T3613 2005) [Find in a library near you]

• The Town Beyond the Wall. New York: Schocken Books, 1982. (PQ 2683 .I32 V513 1982) [Find in a library near you]

• The Trial of God (as it was held on February 25, 1649, in Shamgorod): A Play in Three Acts. New York: Random House, 1979. (PQ 2683.I32 P7613 1979) [Find in a library near you]

• Twilight. New York: Warner Books, 1989. (PQ 2683 .I32 C7413 1989) [Find in a library near you]

• Zalmen, or, the Madness of God: A Play. New York: Random House, 1974. (PQ 2683.I32 Z25 1974) [Find in a library near you]

Critical Responses and Interviews

• Bloom, Harold, editor. Elie Wiesel’s Night. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 2001. (PQ 2683 .I32 N8534 2001) [Find in a library near you]

  Anthology of scholarly essays exploring Wiesel’s most famous work. Part of the Modern Critical Interpretations series.

• Brown, Robert McAfee. Elie Wiesel, Messenger to All Humanity. South Bend, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1989. (PQ 2683 .I32 Z59 1989) [Find in a library near you]

  Analysis of Wiesel’s spiritual writings by a noted Protestant theologian. Includes extensively annotated bibliography of Wiesel’s works.

• Cargas, Harry J. Harry James Cargas in Conversation with Elie Wiesel. New York: Paulist Press, 1976. (PQ 2683 .I32 Z6 1976) [Find in a library near you]

  Wiesel reflects upon his life and work through responses to a series of questions.

• Cargas, Harry J. Responses to Elie Wiesel: Critical Essays by Major Jewish and Christian Scholars. New York: Persea Books, 1978. (PQ 2683 .I32 Z85 1978) [Find in a library near you]

  Essays by scholars and literary critics responding to Wiesel’s early works, with a particular emphasis on the theological implications of his writings.

• Cargas, Harry J., editor. Telling the Tale: A Tribute to Elie Wiesel on the Occasion of His 65th Birthday. Saint Louis: Time Being Books, 1993. (PQ 36 .W54 T45 1993) [Find in a library near you]

  Collection of essays and poems by Wiesel’s friends and fellow scholars. Includes an interview with Wiesel and capsule biographies of each of the contributors.

• Franciosi, Robert, editor. Elie Wiesel: Conversations. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2002. (PQ 2683 .I32 Z48 2002) [Find in a library near you]

  Compiles twenty-two previously published interviews with Wiesel, covering a range of subjects. Includes a chronology of Wiesel’s life and work.

• Greenberg, Irving, and Alvin H. Rosenfeld, editors. Confronting the Holocaust: The Impact of Elie Wiesel. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1978. (PQ 2683 .I32 Z65 1978) [Find in a library near you]

  Anthology of essays that explore Wiesel’s place in the canon of Jewish and Holocaust literature. Contains a bibliography of Wiesel’s works.

• Horowitz, Rosemary, editor. Elie Wiesel and the Art of Storytelling. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 2006. (PQ 2683 I32 Z658 2006) [Find in a library near you]

  Collection of essays by various scholars and literary critics analyzing Elie Wiesel’s place in Jewish storytelling traditions and the myriad of influences on his novels, memoirs, and essays.

• Katz, Steven T., and Alan Rosen. Elie Wiesel: Jewish, Literary, and Moral Perspectives. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2013. (PQ 2683 .I32 Z6635 2013) [Find in a library near you]

  Includes diverse scholarly analysis on various aspects of Wiesel's work in the fields of religious studies, literary contributions, and teaching. Contains endnotes. 

• Kolbert, Jack. The Worlds of Elie Wiesel: An Overview of His Career and His Major Themes. Selinsgrove, Penn.: Susquehanna University Press. (PQ 2683 .I32 Z695 2001) [Find in a library near you]

  Overview and analysis of Wiesel’s major works, with an emphasis on the general themes that have dominated his writings. Includes a select bibliography of primary and secondary sources.

• Rittner, Carol Ann, editor. Elie Wiesel: Between Memory and Hope. New York: New York University Press, 1990. (PQ 2683 .I32 Z66 1990) [Find in a library near you]

  Collection of essays that explore the literary and theological themes that run throughout Wiesel’s writings.

• Rosen, Alan. “Elie Wiesel.” In Holocaust Literature: An Encyclopedia of Writers and their Work, pp. 1315-1325. S. Lillian Kremer, editor. New York: Routledge, 2003. (Reference PN 56.H55 H66 2003) [Find in a library near you]

  Provides an overview of Wiesel’s life and work, and critical responses to his writings. Includes an extensive bibliography.

• Saint-Cheron, Michaël de. Evil and Exile. 2nd ed. South Bend, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2000. (PQ 2683 .I32 Z46313 2000) [Find in a library near you]

  Explores various themes—such as the presence of evil, Judeo-Christian relations, and the responsibility of bystanders in a time of genocide—through a series of interviews between Wiesel and Saint-Cheron, a French journalist and archivist. Includes two interviews not published in the previous edition.

• Schuster, Ekkehard, and Reinhold Boschert-Kimmig. Hope Against Hope: Johann Baptist Metz and Elie Wiesel Speak Out on the Holocaust. New York: Paulist Press, 1999. (BV 4638 .S3413 1999) [Find in a library near you]

  Dual biography of Wiesel and Metz, a German Christian theologian, both of whom experienced World War II and the Holocaust as life-shattering events. Presents extensive interviews with both men.

• Vinciguerra, Thomas J, editor. Conversations with Elie Wiesel. New York: Schocken Books, 2001. (PQ 2683 .I32 Z4618 2001) [Find in a library near you]

  Distills a series of television interviews between Wiesel and Richard D. Heffner into eleven chapters, each exploring a particular aspect of Wiesel’s work.

Resources for Teachers

• Burger, Ariel. Witness: Lessons from Elie Wiesel's Classroom. New York: Houghton, Mifflin, Harcourt, 2018. [Find in a library near you]

  Recounts episodes from Wiesel's nearly 40 years of teaching at Boston University, highlighting interactions with students.

• Hernandez, Alexander Al. “Telling the Tale: Sharing Elie Wiesel’s “Night” with Middle School Readers.” The English Journal. Vol. 91, no. 2 (2001): pp. 54-60. (Subject file) [Find in a library near you]

• Hogue, David R. Night: Curriculum Unit. Rocky River, Ohio: Center for Learning, 1993. (D 804.33 .H64 1993) [Find in a library near you]

  Includes twelve lesson plans and 28 handouts designed for grades 7-12.

• Mahle, Benj. “Junior High/Middle School: The Power of Ambiguity: Elie Wiesel’s ‘Night’.” The English Journal. Vol. 74, no. 6 (1985): pp. 83-84. (Subject file) [Find in a library near you]

• Rosen, Alan C., ed. Approaches to Teaching Wiesel's Night. New York: Modern Language Association of America, 2007. (D 804.33 .A65 2007) [Find in a library near you]

  Contains seventeen essays on various discipline-specific aspects of teaching Night in three settings: historical and cultural contexts, literary contexts, and courses and classroom strategies. Includes an index, list of works cited, and suggestions of other resources. Part of the Modern Language Association’s Approaches to Teaching World Literature series.

• Totten, Samuel. “Entering the ‘Night’ of the Holocaust: Studying Elie Wiesel’s Night.” In Teaching Holocaust Literature, edited by Samuel Totten. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2001: pp. 215-242. (PN 56 .H55 T43 2001) [Find in a library near you]

  Presents an approach to teaching Night at the high school level that involves a pre-assessment followed by reader response and historical/interpretive analyses.

• Weissman, Gary. “Questioning Key Texts: A Pedagogical Approach to Teaching Elie Wiesel’s Night.” In Teaching the Representation of the Holocaust, edited by Marianne Hirsch and Irene Kacandes. New York: Modern Language Association of America, 2004: pp. 324-336. (PN 56.H55 T44 2004) [Find in a library near you]

Resources for Students

• Bayer, Linda N. Elie Wiesel: Spokesman for Remembrance. New York: Rosen Pub. Group, 2000. (PQ 2683 .I32 Z56 2000) [Find in a library near you]

  Biography and guide to Wiesel’s works. Intended for students grades 7-9.

• Houghton, Sarah. Elie Wiesel: A Holocaust Survivor Cries Out for Peace. Bloomington, Minn.: Red Brick Learning, 2004. (DS 135 .R73 W544 2004) [Find in a library near you]

  Biography emphasizing Wiesel’s ongoing advocacy for human rights. Intended for teen readers.

• Koestler-Grack, Rachel. Elie Wiesel: Witness for Humanity. Milwaukee: Gareth Stevens Publishing, 2009. (DS 135 .R73 W5445 2008) [Find in a library near you]

  Presents the life and activities of Elie Wiesel. Text includes frequent period photographs and text boxes with historical information. Includes an index, timeline, conversation with Sara Bloomfield, glossary, and a bibliography. Intended for middle-school and high-school audiences.

• Moore, Lisa. Elie Wiesel: Surviving the Holocaust, Speaking Out Against Genocide. Berkeley Heights, N.J.: Enslow Publishers, 2005. (DS135 .R73 W545 2005) [Find in a library near you]

  Describes Wiesel’s continuing work to raise awareness of past and potential acts of genocide around the world. Part of the Holocaust Heroes and Nazi Criminals series. Intended for teen readers.

• Schuman, Michael A. Elie Wiesel: Voice from the Holocaust. Hillside, N.J.: Enslow Publishers, 1994. (PQ 2683 .I32 Z87 1994) [Find in a library near you]

  Intended for teen readers.

• Stern, Ellen Norman. Elie Wiesel: A Voice for Humanity. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1996. (PQ 2683 .I32 Z879) [Find in a library near you]

  Presents an overview of Wiesel’s life and work, including his continuing work on human rights. Intended for teen readers.

• Sternlicht, Sanford V. Student Companion to Elie Wiesel. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2003. (PQ 2683 .I32 Z885 2003) [Find in a library near you]

  Provides background information and critical analysis to help students understand Wiesel’s life and work, including essays on each of his major books.

• Wagner, Heather Lehr. Elie Wiesel, Messenger for Peace. New York: Chelsea House, 2007. (PQ 2683 .I32 Z926 2007) [Find in a library near you]

  Chronicles Wiesel’s life from his childhood in Sighet, and later during the Holocaust, to his postwar writings and political activism. Includes photographs, a chronology, an appendix of his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, endnotes, a bibliography, and an index. Part of the Modern Peacemakers series, this book is written for young readers.

Film and Video

• Becker, Harold. Sighet, Sighet [videorecording]. Clarksburg, N.J.: Alden Films, 1990. (Video Collection) [Find in a library near you]

  Elie Wiesel reflects on the events of the Holocaust in Sighet, Romania, the town where he was born.

• Elie Wiesel: Witness to the Holocaust [videorecording]. New York: International Merchandising Corporation, 1990. (Video Collection) [Find in a library near you]

  Interview with the author. Includes footage of his acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize.

• Elie Wiesel Goes Home [videorecording]. Beverly Hills, Calif.: Choices, 2002. (Video Collection) [Find in a library near you]

  The author returns to the village of his birth and to Auschwitz and Birkenau, where he was a prisoner during World War II.

Web Resources

• Elie Wiesel: First Person Singular (external link)

  Companion site to the PBS special. Includes information on Wiesel’s life and work, descriptions of life in Sighet before the war, a teacher’s guide, and a fully-annotated bibliography.

• Elie Wiesel Archive at 92Y (external link)

  Includes 120 recorded lectures at the 92nd Street Y in New York City from 1967 to 2014.

• The Elie Wiesel Archive at the Boston University Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center (external link)

  Includes 86 recorded lectures at Boston University between 1990 and 2012.

• Elie Wiesel: First Person Singular (external link)

  Companion site to the PBS special. Includes information on Wiesel’s life and work, descriptions of life in Sighet before the war, a teacher’s guide, and a fully-annotated bibliography.

• Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity (external link)

  Founded using Wiesel’s monetary award from the Nobel Prize. Sponsors interdisciplinary conferences on the subjects of hatred and oppression as well as an annual essay contest for college and university students.

• Holocaust Encyclopedia: Elie Wiesel

  Brief introduction to Wiesel’s life and work, with links to other online resources.

• Nobel.org: 1986 Peace Prize: Elie Wiesel (external link)

  Presents a brief biography of Elie Wiesel as well as the text of his Nobel Lecture, videos of a 35-minute interview and symposia speech by the laureate, and links to other online resources.

Holocaust Encyclopedia

Explore our comprehensive entries on the events, people, and places of the Holocaust.

Learn More

Additional Resources

Subject Files

Ask at the reference desk to see the subject files labeled “Wiesel, Elie, 1928-” for newspaper and periodical articles.

Subject Headings

To search library catalogs or other electronic search tools for materials on the life and works of Elie Wiesel, use the following Library of Congress subject headings to retrieve the most relevant citations:

• Wiesel, Elie, 1928-
• Wiesel, Elie, 1928- Criticism and interpretation

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