Elie and Marion Wiesel founded The Elie Wiesel Foundation in 1987, shortly after Elie won the Nobel Peace Prize.
They launched education and human rights projects aligned with their moral vision for a more humane and ethical world. Today the Foundation carries that mission forward by promoting human dignity, defending persecuted communities, and fostering ethical leadership across generations.
Elie Wiesel used his unique moral voice to gather Nobel Laureates and world leaders to international conferences centered around themes of hope, education, justice, and peace.
These conferences united Nobel Laureates, kings, presidents, and other world leaders from both sides of the table by coming together for a shared cause. Our Petra Conference in 2006 convened an important historical meeting between Palestinian and Israeli leadership together with Professor Wiesel’s friend King Abdullah of Jordan.
The topics discussed at these conferences were never easy, but through these conversations, we were able to cross divides and build a bridge between people who were previously thought to be unreachable. Those connections have gone on to open doors for action, whether at the local, national or international level.
Marion Wiesel decisively acted to prevent the racism she had witnessed as a young American woman in the 1950s from recurring in modern-day Israel as it absorbed thousands of Ethiopian-Jewish refugees in the 1980s and 1990s.
Named in memory of Elie Wiesel’s younger sister, Tzipora, who was killed in Auschwitz, the Beit Tzipora Centers have supported two generations of young Ethiopian Israelis toward success in school, the army, and beyond. Through a holistic, family-centered model, the Centers remove barriers to opportunity for Ethiopian-Israeli and other vulnerable families on Israel’s periphery — building pathways to elite military units, leading universities, and careers in technology and other high-performance fields.
Elie Wiesel with past award recipient Magogodi oa Mphela Mahkene at the 2007 Prize in Ethics Awards Ceremony.
Elie and Marion Wiesel found hope for future generations in reading the carefully explored and thoughtful essays of the many students who applied for The Elie Wiesel Prize in Ethics Essay Contest, for more than 35 years now.
Established in 1989, the Prize in Ethics has received thousands of submissions from students across the country. Each year, winners are selected through a rigorous, multi-tiered, anonymous review process. As part of their fellowship, Prize recipients extend the program’s impact by returning to their campuses to lead peer-to-peer seminars co-sponsored by the Foundation, creating a multiplier effect that engages and inspires additional young people to embrace Elie and Marion Wiesel’s moral vision for a more humane and ethical world.
Financial Reports
Our Team
LizAnn Eisen
Executive Director
Alyssa Fredes
Controller
Marissa Daniel
Program Coordinator
Gulhumar Haitiwaji
Social Media
Dr. Avraham Rosen
Senior Advisor, Archives & Legacy
Menachem Butler
Manager of Publications & Literary Estate
Board of Directors
Elisha Wiesel
Chairman of the Board
Marion Wiesel Z”l
Founder and Vice-President Emeritus
Marc Winkelman
Board Member
Bruno Cohen
Board Member
Dov Seidman
Board Member
Tami Rosen
Board Member
Lisa Opoku
Board Member
The Elie Wiesel Foundation: Ethics Prize & Mission
Our end-of-year reflection brings forward the Foundation’s continuation of Elie Wiesel’s dedication to tolerance, human dignity, education, journalism, and witness —through the voices of Executive Director LizAnn Eisen and Chairman Elisha Wiesel. A call to memory, action, and responsibility for the future we are building together.