We are deeply saddened by the passing on February 2, 2025, of Marion Wiesel, the wife of Moment co-founder and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel. Born in Vienna, Austria, on January 27, 1931, she had just turned 94.
“Marion Wiesel was a true force of nature, determined to change the world for the better,” says Moment Editor-in-Chief Nadine Epstein, who edited the book Elie Wiesel: An Extraordinary Life & Legacy. “Her loss is of course personal for her beloved family and friends, but it is also an end to a chapter of history. Her amazing life story is important for next generations and needs to be shared widely.”
Born Mary Renate Erster, she and her family fled Vienna and went to Belgium when the Nazis took over. They later escaped Gurs, a French internment camp, for Switzerland, arriving in the United States in 1949.
Elie and Marion married in 1969, and she quickly became both his literary and political advisor. She was his primary translator, translating 14 of her husband’s books from French to English, including the acclaimed 2006 translation of Night.
In addition to her translation work, she was an editor, humanitarian and activist who marched for civil rights in the South. After Elie received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986, the couple founded The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity to fight indifference, intolerance and injustice in the world. They also created the Beit Tzipora Centers (named for Elie Wiesel’s younger sister Tzipora who died in Auschwitz) to assist and educate Ethiopian refugees in Israel. Marion produced a number of television programs and wrote and narrated the 1999 documentary Children of the Night. She held several honorary degrees, and in 2001 she received the U.S. Medal of Citizenship from President Bill Clinton.
Marion Wiesel is survived by her son Elisha Wiesel; her daughter from her first marriage, Jennifer Rose; her daughter-in-law Lynn Bartner-Wiesel and two grandchildren.
May her memory be a blessing.
Top image credit: David Shankbone (CC BY 3.0).