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How the world transformed Elie Wiesel — and how he transformed the world

JL;DR SUMMARY Exploring Elie Wiesel's life, the documentary "Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire" delves into his transformation from a Holocaust survivor to a global moral icon. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

HolocaustHuman RightsDocumentaryElie WieselMemoryNobel Peace PrizeSurvivorRemembranceAnimationMoral Activism

Places mentioned

Sighetu Marmației, Maramureş, Romania
"As Wiesel recounts, his childhood in Sighet, Romania, was almost Utopian: Jewish children singing optimistic songs about a future in Palestine and lovely Shabbat dinners awash in candle light and ritual."
New York City, New York, United States
"Simi Horwitz is a feature writer and film reviewer based in New York City."
Buchenwald, Thuringia, Germany
"His mothers final words to him were to stay with his father no matter what, and he complied until his father succumbed from exhaustion and disease following their death march to Buchenwald."
Bergen-Belsen, Lower Saxony, Germany
"Though Reagan insisted that there was no parity between Nazi soldiers and concentration camp victims, he said that his trip to Germany, which also included a commemorative trip to Bergen-Belsen, was a necessary gesture at reconciliation."
Paris, France
"Luckier still, one of his survivor sisters, who was living in Paris, accidentally came across a photo of her kid brother playing chess at the orphanage which led to their emotional reunion."
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
"Wiesel taught at Boston University for four decades and he was a professor who transformed lives."

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Cairo Item ID 60827
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Retrieved 2025-09-06 05:30:51 UTC
Curated 2025-09-06 08:30:50 UTC