Marion Rose Wiesel (born Mary Renate Erster; January 27, 1931 – February 2, 2025) was an Austrian-American Holocaust survivor, humanitarian, and translator. She was married to author and fellow Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, 14 of whose books she translated into English. The most important of them was her translation of his book Night, based on his Holocaust experiences in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps. In 2001, she was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal by U.S. president Bill Clinton, and in 2007 she was named a Commandeur de la Legion d'Honneur by French president Jacques Chirac.
Marion Wiesel | |
|---|---|
 Wiesel in 2012 | |
| Born | Mary Renate Erster January 27, 1931 Vienna, Austria |
| Died | February 2, 2025 (aged 94) Greenwich, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Nationality | Austrian-American |
| Other names | Marion Erster Rose |
| Alma mater | University of Miami |
| Occupation(s) | Translator, philanthropist |
| Organization | Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity (co-founder) |
| Known for | Translator of Night, by Elie Wiesel |
| Spouse(s) | F. Peter Rose (m. 1959; div. 1967)Elie Wiesel (m. 1969; died 2016) |
| Children | 2, including Elisha Wiesel |
| Awards |
|
Early life
Europe
Wiesel was born Mary Renate Erster in Vienna, Austria, on January 27, 1931. Her mother, Jetta (Hubel) Erster, chose the name Mary out of a love of Americana. Her father Emil owned a furniture store. She initially grew up in Vienna, but at age seven, her family was forced to flee upon the 1938 Nazi annexation of Austria.
After her family first escaped to Belgium, she decided to no longer use Mary as her first name, choosing to instead be called Marion. While in Belgium, she was active in the Irgun youth movement. She and her family then fled to France, but after France was occupied by the Nazis in 1940, she and her family were interned in the Gurs internment camp, a French concentration camp. The family then escaped the internment camp and managed to flee to Marseille, France, where neighbors helped them avoid detection. In 1942, they were able to smuggle themselves into Basel, Switzerland, where her mother had a relative with Swiss citizenship, and they lived there until 1949. A passionate Zionist, she later said: "We didn't have [a state of Israel] in the 1940s when my family needed somewhere to go, and a strong state of Israel is the best guarantee in the world than there will never again be an Auschwitz to consume six million Jews."
United States
The Erster family emigrated to the United States in 1949, with the help of HIAS, then known as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. Marion attended the University of Miami but primarily lived in New York City, where she worked at a bra factory and as a saleswoman at Russeks department store on Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. She became a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in the 1950s, marched for civil rights in the American South, and spoke out against racial segregation in the South and discrimination in the U.S.
In the late 1950s, she married F. Peter Rose, a real estate businessman who was her first husband. The two of them had a daughter, Jennifer. The marriage later fell apart.
Later life
In the late-1960s, when she was known as Marion Erster Rose, she met Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, and fellow Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel at a dinner party in Manhattan, in New York City. At the time, she was the mother of a young daughter and in the process of getting a divorce. She was fluent in five languages. Elie Wiesel wrote in his memoirs: "I wasn't sure what I found most striking about her. The delicacy of her features, the brilliance of her words, or the breadth of her knowledge of art, music and the theater." On their first date, they discussed French literature.
They married on April 2, 1969, in the Old City of Jerusalem in Israel. Author Joseph Berger wrote in the biography Elie Wiesel: Confronting the Silence (2023): "In the alignment of stars that helped make Wiesel the international icon he became, his marriage to Marion was among the most significant." They lived on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and spoke French at home.
On June 6, 1972, she gave birth to their son, Shlomo Elisha Wiesel (who goes by his middle name Elisha), naming him Shlomo after his paternal grandfather who was murdered in Buchenwald during the Holocaust, and Elisha meaning "God is salvation." Elie Wiesel wrote that their son's birth "will mark my existence forever. The little fellow in the arms of his mother will illuminate our life."
Marion Wiesel died at her home in Greenwich, Connecticut, U.S., on February 2, 2025, six days after her 94th birthday.
Career
Professionally, she translated 14 of her husband's books from French to English. The most important of them was her 2006 translation of his book Night, based on his Holocaust experiences in the concentration camps at Auschwitz and Buchenwald in 1944–45, which sold three million copies after her translation. In addition, she advised and coached her husband on his public appearances, including frequent TV interviews.
She also edited To Give Them Light (1993), a collection of Russian-American photographer Roman Vishniac's images of Eastern European Jewry before World War II. In addition, she wrote, narrated, and produced "Children of the Night" (1999), a documentary about the 1.3 million children who were murdered in the Holocaust. She also produced television programs, which included "The World of Elie Wiesel", "The Oslo Concert: A Tribute to Peace", and "A Passover Haggadah". She was a founding Chairman of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, which was established in 1993.
Philanthropy
In 1986, the Wiesels used the money from Elie's Nobel Peace Prize that year to establish the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity, which combats discrimination and injustice, promotes international dialogue, and teaches children to not be indifferent to the suffering of others. The Foundation became her full-time job, and she served as its Vice President.
As its Executive Director and Chairperson, she headed the Beit Tzipora Centers (named for Elie Wiesel's younger sister Tzipora, who was murdered at seven years of age in Auschwitz) in Israel, as part of the Foundation's work. They provide schooling and support to over 1,000 Israeli Jewish children of Ethiopian origin every year who have faced challenges integrating into Israeli society.
Honors
In 1990, Wiesel received an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from Boston University. In 1995, she received an honorary doctorate degree from Bar Ilan University.
In 1987, France made her Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres. In 1991, French president François Mitterand named her Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur. In 2000, French president Jaques Chirac promoted her to Officier de la Legion d'Honneur, and in 2007 to Commandeur de la Legion d'Honneur.
In 2001, President Bill Clinton presented her with the Presidential Citizens Medal. The medal is awarded by a President of the United States in recognition of U.S. citizens who have performed exemplary deeds of service for the nation. As he handed her the medal, President Clinton said that he was awarding it to her for her "mission of hope against hate, of life against death, of good over evil", and noted that out of her experience of starvation, disease, and death, she "summoned the courage to commit her life to teaching others, especially children, about the human cost of hatred, intolerance, and racism."
In 2013, she and Elie Wiesel received the Theodor Herzl Award of the World Jewish Congress for their lifetime achievement. The award was presented to them by former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who said that the Wiesels "played a pivotal part in bringing the Shoah into public consciousness, and had "worked to overcome indifference toward the suffering of oppressed and marginalized populations around the world: Soviet Jews, Miskito Indians, refugees from Cambodia, prisoners from the former Yugoslavia, victims of the genocide in Darfur."
References
- Starr, Michael (February 4, 2025). "Marion Wiesel, Holocaust survivor, humanitarian, translator, wife of Elie Wiesel, dies at 94"". The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on February 5, 2025.
- Roth, John K. (1988). "On Teaching the Holocaust with Elie Wiesel". Shofar. 6 (4): 27–43. ISSN 0882-8539. JSTOR 42941464.
- Chemla, Sarah (January 31, 2021). "Netanyahu, Clinton, Clooney celebrated Elie Wiesel's wife 90th birthday". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved February 4, 2025.
- Traub, Alex (February 3, 2025). "Marion Wiesel, Translator, Strategist and Wife of Elie Wiesel, Dies at 94". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on February 3, 2025. Retrieved February 4, 2025.
- Polner, Murray (1991). Jewish Profiles: Great Jewish Personalities and Institutions of the Twentieth Century. J. Aronson. p. 362. ISBN 978-0-87668-793-2.
- Berger, Joseph (2023). Elie Wiesel: Confronting the Silence. Jewish Lives.
- "In Memorium: Marion Wiesel, 1931-2025". Moment. February 4, 2025. Retrieved February 6, 2025.
- "Charity Benefit Honors Marion Wiesel On Her 90th Birthday," Archived September 28, 2022, at the Wayback Machine The Tennessee Tribune, February 5, 2021.
- "Virtual 90th-birthday event honors Marion Wiesel's support of Ethiopian Jewry," Archived June 16, 2023, at the Wayback Machine JNS, January 21, 2021.
- Melissa Weiss (September 2, 2020). "Elisha Wiesel turns to the next chapter in his career". Jewish Insider.
- "Marion Wiesel - Social Justice Warrior," WIZO, February 10, 2021.
- Shmuley Boteach (November 2, 2017). "New York A-List Honors Elie Wiesel, Oprah Winfrey at First-Ever Legacy Awards Gala," Archived November 6, 2024, at the Wayback Machine Observer.
- Heather Lehr Wagner (2013). Elie Wiesel, Messenger for Peace.
- Jean Silverman and Linda N. Bayer (2015). Elie Wiesel
- / "De Blasio Administration and New York City Council Permanently Co-Name the Southwest Corner of 84th Street and Central Park West 'Elie Wiesel Way," Archived June 22, 2024, at the Wayback Machine Office of the Mayor of New York City, June 13, 2017.
- Shawn Macomber (April 4, 2018). "People of the Mosh: Elie Wiesel’s Son Elisha On Metal Misfits, Hardcore Matinees & Forging Identity in the Punk Underground," Decibel.
- Lior Zaltzman (February 4, 2025). "The Incredible Legacy of Marion Wiesel, Elie Wiesel's Wife and Translator," Kveller.
- Melissa Weiss (September 2, 2020). "Elisha Wiesel's next chapter," Archived September 25, 2024, at the Wayback Machine Jewish Insider.
- Seth Mandel (February 3, 2025). "Remembering Marion Wiesel," Commentary.
- Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Volume 37, Issues 1-19, 2001.
- "Marion Weisel, translator, activist and wife of Elie Wiesel dies at 94," The Jewish Chronicle, February 3, 2025.
- Gary Rosenblatt (January 17, 2003). "The Other Wiesel," Archived September 19, 2024, at the Wayback Machine NY Jewish Week.
- Christina Morales (April 30, 2021). "Bust of Elie Wiesel Is Added to Washington National Cathedral," The New York Times.
- "Boston University Commencement 2010," Boston University, p. 13, 2010.
- "Past Honorary Degrees," Boston University, Office of the President.
- "Honorary Doctorate Recipients," Archived March 27, 2023, at the Wayback Machine Bar Ilan University.
- "Marion Wiesel's Living Legacy," Archived January 7, 2025, at the Wayback Machine Holocaust Documentation and Education Center, January 26, 2021.
- "President Clinton Awards the Presidential Citizens Medals," Archived August 28, 2017, at the Wayback Machine Clinton White House National Archives, January 8, 2001.
- Leon, Masha (December 2, 2013). "Hillary Clinton Presents Theodor Herzl Award to Elie and Marion Wiesel". The Jewish Daily Forward. Archived from the original on July 21, 2024. Retrieved February 4, 2025.
- "World Jewish Congress honors Elie and Marion Wiesel," World Jewish Congress, November 19, 2013.
External links
- Marion Wiesel at IMDb
Marion Rose Wiesel born Mary Renate Erster January 27 1931 February 2 2025 was an Austrian American Holocaust survivor humanitarian and translator 1 2 She was married to author and fellow Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize laureate 14 of whose books she translated into English 3 The most important of them was her translation of his book Night based on his Holocaust experiences in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps In 2001 she was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal by U S president Bill Clinton and in 2007 she was named a Commandeur de la Legion d Honneur by French president Jacques Chirac Marion WieselWiesel in 2012BornMary Renate Erster 1931 01 27 January 27 1931 Vienna AustriaDiedFebruary 2 2025 2025 02 02 aged 94 Greenwich Connecticut U S NationalityAustrian AmericanOther namesMarion Erster RoseAlma materUniversity of MiamiOccupation s Translator philanthropistOrganizationElie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity co founder Known forTranslator of Night by Elie WieselSpouse s F Peter Rose m 1959 div 1967 wbr Elie Wiesel m 1969 died 2016 wbr Children2 including Elisha WieselAwardsCommandeur des Arts et des Lettres 1987 French Legion of Honour Knight Officer Commander 1991 2000 2007 Presidential Citizens Medal 2001 Theodor Herzl Award of the World Jewish Congress 2013 Contents 1 Early life 1 1 Europe 1 2 United States 2 Later life 3 Career 4 Philanthropy 5 Honors 6 References 7 External linksEarly lifeeditEuropeedit Wiesel was born Mary Renate Erster in Vienna Austria on January 27 1931 4 Her mother Jetta Hubel Erster chose the name Mary out of a love of Americana 4 Her father Emil owned a furniture store 4 She initially grew up in Vienna but at age seven her family was forced to flee upon the 1938 Nazi annexation of Austria 5 After her family first escaped to Belgium she decided to no longer use Mary as her first name choosing to instead be called Marion 4 While in Belgium she was active in the Irgun youth movement 6 She and her family then fled to France but after France was occupied by the Nazis in 1940 she and her family were interned in the Gurs internment camp a French concentration camp 1 4 The family then escaped the internment camp and managed to flee to Marseille France where neighbors helped them avoid detection 4 7 In 1942 they were able to smuggle themselves into Basel Switzerland where her mother had a relative with Swiss citizenship and they lived there until 1949 5 6 8 A passionate Zionist she later said We didn t have a state of Israel in the 1940s when my family needed somewhere to go and a strong state of Israel is the best guarantee in the world than there will never again be an Auschwitz to consume six million Jews 8 9 United Statesedit The Erster family emigrated to the United States in 1949 with the help of HIAS then known as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society 4 10 Marion attended the University of Miami but primarily lived in New York City where she worked at a bra factory and as a saleswoman at Russeks department store on Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan 4 11 She became a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People NAACP in the 1950s marched for civil rights in the American South and spoke out against racial segregation in the South and discrimination in the U S 1 8 12 In the late 1950s she married F Peter Rose a real estate businessman who was her first husband 4 6 The two of them had a daughter Jennifer 4 The marriage later fell apart 4 Later lifeeditIn the late 1960s when she was known as Marion Erster Rose she met Romanian born American writer professor political activist and fellow Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel at a dinner party in Manhattan in New York City 4 6 13 At the time she was the mother of a young daughter and in the process of getting a divorce 14 13 She was fluent in five languages 13 Elie Wiesel wrote in his memoirs I wasn t sure what I found most striking about her The delicacy of her features the brilliance of her words or the breadth of her knowledge of art music and the theater 6 On their first date they discussed French literature 4 They married on April 2 1969 in the Old City of Jerusalem in Israel 14 Author Joseph Berger wrote in the biography Elie Wiesel Confronting the Silence 2023 In the alignment of stars that helped make Wiesel the international icon he became his marriage to Marion was among the most significant 4 They lived on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and spoke French at home 15 16 On June 6 1972 she gave birth to their son Shlomo Elisha Wiesel who goes by his middle name Elisha naming him Shlomo after his paternal grandfather who was murdered in Buchenwald during the Holocaust and Elisha meaning God is salvation 13 17 18 Elie Wiesel wrote that their son s birth will mark my existence forever The little fellow in the arms of his mother will illuminate our life 6 Marion Wiesel died at her home in Greenwich Connecticut U S on February 2 2025 six days after her 94th birthday 4 Careeredit nbsp Marion and Elie Wiesel center meeting U S vice president Dick Cheney and Second Lady Lynne Cheney at the Galicia Jewish Museum in 2005 Professionally she translated 14 of her husband s books from French to English 4 13 The most important of them was her 2006 translation of his book Night based on his Holocaust experiences in the concentration camps at Auschwitz and Buchenwald in 1944 45 which sold three million copies after her translation 4 In addition she advised and coached her husband on his public appearances including frequent TV interviews 4 She also edited To Give Them Light 1993 a collection of Russian American photographer Roman Vishniac s images of Eastern European Jewry before World War II 4 19 In addition she wrote narrated and produced Children of the Night 1999 a documentary about the 1 3 million children who were murdered in the Holocaust 1 20 21 She also produced television programs which included The World of Elie Wiesel The Oslo Concert A Tribute to Peace and A Passover Haggadah 1 21 She was a founding Chairman of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum which was established in 1993 17 PhilanthropyeditIn 1986 the Wiesels used the money from Elie s Nobel Peace Prize that year to establish the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity which combats discrimination and injustice promotes international dialogue and teaches children to not be indifferent to the suffering of others 1 4 20 The Foundation became her full time job and she served as its Vice President 22 23 As its Executive Director and Chairperson she headed the Beit Tzipora Centers named for Elie Wiesel s younger sister Tzipora who was murdered at seven years of age in Auschwitz in Israel as part of the Foundation s work 8 They provide schooling and support to over 1 000 Israeli Jewish children of Ethiopian origin every year who have faced challenges integrating into Israeli society 1 4 7 HonorseditIn 1990 Wiesel received an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from Boston University 24 25 In 1995 she received an honorary doctorate degree from Bar Ilan University 26 In 1987 France made her Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres 27 In 1991 French president Francois Mitterand named her Chevalier de la Legion d Honneur 27 In 2000 French president Jaques Chirac promoted her to Officier de la Legion d Honneur and in 2007 to Commandeur de la Legion d Honneur 27 In 2001 President Bill Clinton presented her with the Presidential Citizens Medal 20 The medal is awarded by a President of the United States in recognition of U S citizens who have performed exemplary deeds of service for the nation 28 As he handed her the medal President Clinton said that he was awarding it to her for her mission of hope against hate of life against death of good over evil and noted that out of her experience of starvation disease and death she summoned the courage to commit her life to teaching others especially children about the human cost of hatred intolerance and racism 1 In 2013 she and Elie Wiesel received the Theodor Herzl Award of the World Jewish Congress for their lifetime achievement 1 29 The award was presented to them by former U S Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton who said that the Wiesels played a pivotal part in bringing the Shoah into public consciousness and had worked to overcome indifference toward the suffering of oppressed and marginalized populations around the world Soviet Jews Miskito Indians refugees from Cambodia prisoners from the former Yugoslavia victims of the genocide in Darfur 30 Referencesedit a b c d e f g h i Starr Michael February 4 2025 Marion Wiesel Holocaust survivor humanitarian translator wife of Elie Wiesel dies at 94 The Jerusalem Post Archived from the original on February 5 2025 Roth John K 1988 On Teaching the Holocaust with Elie Wiesel Shofar 6 4 27 43 ISSN 0882 8539 JSTOR 42941464 Chemla Sarah January 31 2021 Netanyahu Clinton Clooney celebrated Elie Wiesel s wife 90th birthday The Jerusalem Post Retrieved February 4 2025 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Traub Alex February 3 2025 Marion Wiesel Translator Strategist and Wife of Elie Wiesel Dies at 94 The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on February 3 2025 Retrieved February 4 2025 a b Polner Murray 1991 Jewish Profiles Great Jewish Personalities and Institutions of the Twentieth Century J Aronson p 362 ISBN 978 0 87668 793 2 a b c d e f Berger Joseph 2023 Elie Wiesel Confronting the Silence Jewish Lives a b In Memorium Marion Wiesel 1931 2025 Moment February 4 2025 Retrieved February 6 2025 a b c d Charity Benefit Honors Marion Wiesel On Her 90th Birthday Archived September 28 2022 at the Wayback Machine The Tennessee Tribune February 5 2021 Virtual 90th birthday event honors Marion Wiesel s support of Ethiopian Jewry Archived June 16 2023 at the Wayback Machine JNS January 21 2021 Melissa Weiss September 2 2020 Elisha Wiesel turns to the next chapter in his career Jewish Insider Marion Wiesel Social Justice Warrior WIZO February 10 2021 Shmuley Boteach November 2 2017 New York A List Honors Elie Wiesel Oprah Winfrey at First Ever Legacy Awards Gala Archived November 6 2024 at the Wayback Machine Observer a b c d e Heather Lehr Wagner 2013 Elie Wiesel Messenger for Peace a b Jean Silverman and Linda N Bayer 2015 Elie Wiesel De Blasio Administration and New York City Council Permanently Co Name the Southwest Corner of 84th Street and Central Park West Elie Wiesel Way Archived June 22 2024 at the Wayback Machine Office of the Mayor of New York City June 13 2017 Shawn Macomber April 4 2018 People of the Mosh Elie Wiesel s Son Elisha On Metal Misfits Hardcore Matinees amp Forging Identity in the Punk Underground Decibel a b Lior Zaltzman February 4 2025 The Incredible Legacy of Marion Wiesel Elie Wiesel s Wife and Translator Kveller Melissa Weiss September 2 2020 Elisha Wiesel s next chapter Archived September 25 2024 at the Wayback Machine Jewish Insider Seth Mandel February 3 2025 Remembering Marion Wiesel Commentary a b c Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37 Issues 1 19 2001 a b Marion Weisel translator activist and wife of Elie Wiesel dies at 94 The Jewish Chronicle February 3 2025 Gary Rosenblatt January 17 2003 The Other Wiesel Archived September 19 2024 at the Wayback Machine NY Jewish Week Christina Morales April 30 2021 Bust of Elie Wiesel Is Added to Washington National Cathedral The New York Times Boston University Commencement 2010 Boston University p 13 2010 Past Honorary Degrees Boston University Office of the President Honorary Doctorate Recipients Archived March 27 2023 at the Wayback Machine Bar Ilan University a b c Marion Wiesel s Living Legacy Archived January 7 2025 at the Wayback Machine Holocaust Documentation and Education Center January 26 2021 President Clinton Awards the Presidential Citizens Medals Archived August 28 2017 at the Wayback Machine Clinton White House National Archives January 8 2001 Leon Masha December 2 2013 Hillary Clinton Presents Theodor Herzl Award to Elie and Marion Wiesel The Jewish Daily Forward Archived from the original on July 21 2024 Retrieved February 4 2025 World Jewish Congress honors Elie and Marion Wiesel World Jewish Congress November 19 2013 External linkseditMarion Wiesel at IMDb Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Marion Wiesel amp oldid 1274598711
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