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Marion Wiesel
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Marion Wiesel
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 from French 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.
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 grew up in Vienna. At age seven, her family was forced to flee upon the 1938 Nazi annexation of Austria.
Her family first escaped to Belgium, where she began using the name 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."
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.
Wiesel translated 14 of her husband's books from French into English. Her 2006 translation of his book Night, based on his Holocaust experiences in the concentration camps at Auschwitz and Buchenwald in 1944–45, sold three million copies after her translation. She also advised and coached her husband on his public appearances, including his frequent TV interviews.
She 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.
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.
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Marion Wiesel
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 from French 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.
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 grew up in Vienna. At age seven, her family was forced to flee upon the 1938 Nazi annexation of Austria.
Her family first escaped to Belgium, where she began using the name 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."
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.
Wiesel translated 14 of her husband's books from French into English. Her 2006 translation of his book Night, based on his Holocaust experiences in the concentration camps at Auschwitz and Buchenwald in 1944–45, sold three million copies after her translation. She also advised and coached her husband on his public appearances, including his frequent TV interviews.
She 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.
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.
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