Professor Elie Wiesel
awarded the University of Warsaw Honorary Doctorate

Prisoner of Hitler’s death camps, Laureate of Nobel Peace Prize, a writer and journalist, the man whose contribution to reconciliation between the nations was greater than that of many peace organizations, has been granted the Honorary Doctor’s degree of our University. The awarding ceremony took place on June 25^th in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.

The resolution on granting Professor Elie Wiesel the honoris causa doctor’s degree was passed by the UW Senate on January 18^th, 2012. The list of the doctorate reviewers is impressive: Bishop Tadeusz Pieronek from the Pontifical University of John Paul II, Professor Richard Pipes from Harvard University and Professor Wojciech Wrzesiński from the University of Wrocław.

The ceremony, which was held in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, was attended, among others, by Sara Bloomfield – the Director of the Museum, Robert Kupiecki – the ambassador of Poland in USA, Professor Włodzimierz Lengauer – the UW Vice-Rector for Research and International Relations, Professor Barbara Zybert – the Dean of the UW Faculty of History and Professor Henryk Samsonowicz – the supervisor of the Doctorate.

Elie Wiesel has been awarded more than 100 Honorary Doctor’s degrees of the most renowned universities in the world. After the University of Gdańsk, the University of Warsaw is the second Polish academic institution to award Professor Wiesel the highest academic degree in Poland. – In recognition of the role which Professor Elie Wiesel’s efforts played in the process of reconciliation between nations and for the cause of peace, he was awarded Nobel Peace Prize. Its significance is superior to any recommendation to all the universities of the world to grant him the highest academic degree not only in order to honour him, but also to demonstrate the values representing the priorities of a granting university – as stated by Bishop Tadeusz Pieronek in the review of Professor Wiesel’s achievements.

Elie Wiesel was born in 1928 in a Hungarian (at present Romanian) town of Sigeth in a Hasid Jewish family. In 1944 he and his family were deported to Auschwitz concentration camp where all his relatives were killed. The experience of the camp, of cruelty and injustice that Elie Wiesel was exposed to, affected all his life forever. Almost all his books and most decisions that he has ever made as a social activist were determined by the trauma experienced in his childhood.

After the war Elie Wiesel moved to France. After graduation from Sorbonne as a young journalist he worked for French and Israeli magazines. His works reflected his personal experience of the war time. At the same time Wiesel was sensitive to any threats in post war reality, making any attempt to warn the world against the danger they posed. In 1956 he went to USA, where he resumed his work as an Israeli correspondent at UN. Two years later he received the US citizenship and remained in USA. In the 1950s he first used the term of “Holocaust” to define the extermination of Jews. The term is commonly known and widely used now. He also initiated establishing United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, where the ceremony of awarding him the honorary degree was held.

Since 1978 Elie Wiesel has been a professor of Judaism study at the University of Boston. He regularly gives numerous lectures on Holocaust and the threats it poses to humankind. However, he does not focus exclusively on this issue. He is an advocate of human rights all around the world. – He advocated for human rights and freedom of small Indian communities, he supported the illegal at the time “Solidarity” movement in Poland, he defended the citizens of Tibet from Chinese political aggression and totalitarian policies – as mentioned by Professor Wojciech Wrzesiński in the scientist’s achievements review. In 1986 Elie Wiesel was awarded Nobel Peace Prize for his activity.

“The Messenger of Preserving the Memory of the Holocaust” (as he was occasionally referred to in public life), Professor Wiesel is one of the greatest moral authorities of contemporary world. – He regards his service in favour of his convictions as absolutely indispensible. It frequently requires telling harsh truth. His own experience and his mission to preserve the memory of the Holocaust make him neglect diplomacy and caution in expressing his opinion. And he is incredibly sincere in doing so – as Professor Bronisław Geremek once wrote.

Prof. Richard Pipes recommendation