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Holocaust survivor thanks RE's ninth grade days before his death
Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate who died in July at the age of 87, sent a thank-you note to students in Ransom Everglades' ninth grade just days before his death, expressing his appreciation for the collection of tributes they had sent at the end of the last school year after reading his book, Night.
Jenny Carson '03, the World Civilizations teacher who compiled and sent off the 67-page book of tributes, couldn't believe her eyes when she picked up the letter in her school mail box upon returning from a summer vacation. She had heard of Wiesel's death during her trip – and wondered whether he had ever received the mailing.
"I looked in my mail box, and there happened to be a letter from him," she recalled. "It gave me chills."
In the letter, Wiesel wrote, "I am moved to learn of the effect that my memoir, Night, had on you. As a writer, nothing is more important. From your words, it's obvious that you are very sensitive to the darkness of which I wrote."
More than 60 ninth graders from Carson's and Jeremiah Rosenfels' classes contributed poems, drawings and letters.
Wiesel, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986, wrote nearly five dozen books and helped found the National Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., and New York Human Rights Foundation.
Wiesel personally signed the note.
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"I looked in my mail box, and there happened to be a letter from him," she recalled. "It gave me chills."
In the letter, Wiesel wrote, "I am moved to learn of the effect that my memoir, Night, had on you. As a writer, nothing is more important. From your words, it's obvious that you are very sensitive to the darkness of which I wrote."
More than 60 ninth graders from Carson's and Jeremiah Rosenfels' classes contributed poems, drawings and letters.
Wiesel, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986, wrote nearly five dozen books and helped found the National Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., and New York Human Rights Foundation.
Wiesel personally signed the note.
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Founded in 1903, Ransom Everglades School is a coeducational, college preparatory day school for grades 6 - 12 located on two campuses in Coconut Grove, Florida. Ransom Everglades School produces graduates who "believe that they are in the world not so much for what they can get out of it as for what they can put into it." The school provides rigorous college preparation that promotes the student's sense of identity, community, personal integrity and values for a productive and satisfying life, and prepares the student to lead and to contribute to society.