Elisha Wiesel, son of Eli Wiesel (z”l), to appear at the inaugural Wiesel Symposium, taking place at the Vinoy Resort & Golf Club in St. Petersburg during Nov. 15-16.
The Florida Holocaust Museum is proud to announce the inaugural Wiesel Symposium, a two-day gathering and learning journey focused on the theme, “We Are Living Lessons,” hosted in partnership with The Elie Wiesel Foundation and Eckerd College.
“We are Living Lessons,” is the theme of The Florida Holocaust Museum’s inaugural Wiesel Symposium, a two-day gathering and learning journey hosted in partnership with The Elie Wiesel Foundation and Eckerd College. The event will take place on Nov. 15 and 16 at the Vinoy Resort & Golf Club, located at 501 5th Ave NE, St. Petersburg, with excursions to Eckerd College, The Florida Holocaust Museum and Marina Bay. The symposium cost is $595.
For more information about the symposium, visit thefhm.org/events/wieselsymposium.
More than 200 attendees are expected from across the United States and Canada, including community leaders, humanitarians, scholars and those with a deep desire to engage with and apply the lessons and insights of Professor Wiesel and his wife, Marion.
“History remembers Professor Wiesel the orator, the author, the conscience of a generation. We want people to meet the man underneath all of that: the husband, father, teacher and friend,” said Michael Igel, chair of The Florida Holocaust Museum’s Wiesel Archive & Legacy Council. “Once you meet him, his and Ms. Wiesel’s life’s work stops feeling like history to be taught and starts feeling like a responsibility to be lived. That’s what the Wiesel Symposium is built to reveal.”
Through sessions, panels and other learning opportunities, the symposium will delve into the legacy of the Wiesels through the voices of those who were close to them, including the Wiesels’son, Elisha, and Carolyn Johnston, an Eckerd College professor who co-taught a class with Professor Wiesel for years.
Day one will include an opening reception at the Vinoy and discussions regarding Professor Wiesel as a teacher and father at Eckerd College. Day two will feature sessions surrounding Wiesel’s business ethics and lessons for daily life at the hotel and will conclude with a closing reception and tour at The Florida Holocaust Museum, 55 5th St S., St. Petersburg.
“When The Wiesel Foundation selected The Florida Holocaust Museum as the home of Professor Wiesel’s personal collection, both parties embraced The Museum’s intention to make it far more than an exhibit,” said president and CEO of The Florida Holocaust Museum, Eric Stillman. “Professor Wiesel’s ideas deserve to be discussed and acted upon, and The Museum is proud to provide a forum for those looking to implement his ideas in service of a better world.”
The Florida Holocaust Museum leadership embraces the symposium’s theme, “We Are Living Lessons,” as an expression of our shared responsibility to learn from the past and an individual opportunity to put those lessons into practice in daily life and relationships. The Museum holds that Professor Wiesel’s teachings have served as an ethical compass for world leaders and students alike for decades — and that they must continue to guide us.
One of the largest Holocaust Museums in the country, one of three nationally accredited Holocaust museums and the home of Elie Wiesel’s personal collection, The Florida Holocaust Museum honors the memory of millions of men, women and children who suffered or died in the Holocaust. The FHM is dedicated to teaching members of all races and cultures the inherent worth and dignity of human life in order to prevent future genocides. For additional information, please visit thefhm.org.