logo
episode-header-image
Sep 2018
35m 24s

Elie Wiesel: Living with an Open Heart

Oprah
About this episode

The late Nobel Peace Prize winner, professor, New York Times bestselling author, humanitarian and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel discusses his life-changing heart surgery and his latest memoir, “Open Heart.” He shares the fears associated with his life-saving operation and how they allowed him to re-examine his career and deepen his devotion to his family. Elie also explains what he hopes will be the destiny of his life's work. Elie Wiesel was just 15 years old when he was sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp. Years later, he would write his firsthand account of the Holocaust in what has become what many consider to be one of the most important books of our time, “Night.” In 2006, Elie returned to Auschwitz to meet Oprah and walk the grounds of the 6,700-acre complex and reflect on the lives that were lost in the 20th century’s greatest tragedy. Elie passed away in 2016 at his home in Manhattan. He was 87 years old.

Up next
Oct 8
Super Soul Special: Janet Mock: Redefining Realness
This episode originally aired February 7, 2018. Janet Mock, the transgender advocate, television host and New York Times best-selling author, discusses her powerful journey, the importance of speaking your truth, and becoming the person you know you were always meant to be. Janet ... Show More
36m 44s
Oct 1
Super Soul Special: Amy Purdy: The Power of Visualization
This episode originally aired February 5, 2018. After losing both her legs at age 19 as a result of bacterial meningitis, Amy Purdy survived to lead a life of extraordinary accomplishments. She embodies inner strength as she continues to overcome obstacles and serve as a role mod ... Show More
31m 57s
Sep 24
Super Soul Special: Brian Grazer: The Secret to a Bigger Life
This episode originally aired January 21, 2018. From "A Beautiful Mind" to "Empire," Brian Grazer has produced some of the greatest films and television shows of the past 40 years. Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Brian sits down with O ... Show More
32m 50s
Recommended Episodes
Dec 2023
Hommage à Magda Hollander-Lafon, rescapée d'Auschwitz
Magda Hollander-Lafon est morte ce dimanche 26 novembre 2023 à l’âge de 96 ans. Elle était l'une des rares survivantes de la déportation de plus de 430.000 Juifs hongrois dans le camp d'Auschwitz-Birkenau. Elle avait 16 ans en 1944 et pendant un an, sa vie a basculé dans l'horreu ... Show More
55 m
Jul 2020
How Well Do You Cope?
From April 3, 1998: Oprah talks to people who have survived terrible tragedies. Dr. Paul Stoltz, keynote speaker and #1 New York Times best-selling author of The Adversity Quotient discusses how to turn obstacles into opportunities and how adversity leads to strength. Dr. Stoltz ... Show More
29m 32s
Nov 2022
The Man Who Escaped from Auschwitz to Warn the World
Rudolf Vrba was sent to Auschwitz at the age of seventeen, and, because he was young and in good health, he was not killed immediately but put to labor in the camp. Vrba (originally named Walter Rosenberg) quickly discovered that the scale of the killing was greater than anyone o ... Show More
34m 56s
Jan 2020
Surviving Auschwitz
January 27, 1945. This week, we commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, one of Nazi Germany's largest concentration and extermination camps. Auschwitz has since become a symbol for the Holocaust itself, but what did liberation actually mean for its surviv ... Show More
27m 25s
Jan 2022
Opera arias reinvented, Holocaust survivor Rachel Levy
We’re all too familiar with operatic heroines, dying tragically on stage. The arias they sing are often completely beautiful, the skill of the composers not in doubt, but the stereotyping does modern women no service. It’s a dilemma that award winning, all women string quartet Za ... Show More
56m 19s
Jul 2016
Evil, Forgiveness, and Prayer | Elie Wiesel
“When words bring you closer to the prisoner in his cell, to the patient who is dying on his bed alone, to the starving child, then it’s a prayer.” Elie Wiesel, the beloved writer known for his memoir of the Holocaust, “Night,” speaks of the power of prayer and forgiveness in the ... Show More
9m 45s
Jan 2024
Our House: Stories of the Holocaust
Jo Glanville meets Berliners who have researched the stories of the Jewish families who once lived in their homes. Marie, Hugh, Anke and Matthias all became fascinated by the history of the families who lived in their flats before them when the Nazis were in power and wanted to f ... Show More
27m 14s
Jan 2022
Surviving Auschwitz (Replay)
History repeats itself this week with an episode from the HISTORY This Week archives: January 27, 1945. Four Russian soldiers arrive at Auschwitz, one of Nazi Germany's largest concentration and extermination camps. The soldiers have come to liberate the survivors inside, but the ... Show More
29m 53s
Jan 2023
Triumph and Disaster: The Life of Rudyard Kipling
On this episode of Our American Stories, the life of the youngest-ever winner of the Nobel Prize for literature, Rudyard Kipling, was filled with tragedy. He survived a difficult childhood to go on to become one of the most celebrated authors of his day, penning such classics as ... Show More
17m 58s