Eliezer "Elie" Wiesel KBE (/ˈɛli wɪˈzɛl/; September 30, 1928 – July 2, 2016) was a Romanian-born American Jewish writer, professor, political activist, Holocaust survivor, and Nobel Laureate. He was the author of 57 books, written mostly in French and English, including Night, a work based on his experiences as a prisoner in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps.

Along with writing, he was professor of the humanities at Boston University, which created the Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Studies in his honor. He was involved with Jewish causes, and helped establish the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. In his political activities he also campaigned for victims of oppression in places like South Africa and Nicaragua and genocide in Sudan. He publicly condemned the Armenian genocide of a century ago.

Wiesel was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986, at which time the Norwegian Nobel Committee called him a "messenger to mankind," stating that through his struggle to come to terms with "his own personal experience of total humiliation and of the utter contempt for humanity shown in Hitler's death camps", as well as his "practical work in the cause of peace", Wiesel had delivered a message "of peace, atonement and human dignity" to humanity.

Early life

Elie Wiesel was born in Sighet, Transylvania (now Sighetu Marmației), Maramureș, Romania, in the Carpathian Mountains. His parents were Sarah Feig and Shlomo Wiesel. At home, Wiesel's family spoke Yiddish most of the time, but also German, Hungarian, and Romanian. Wiesel's mother, Sarah, was the daughter of Dodye Feig, a celebrated Vizhnitz Hasid and farmer from a nearby village. Dodye was active and trusted within the community.

Wiesel's father, Shlomo, instilled a strong sense of humanism in his son, encouraging him to learn Hebrew and to read literature, whereas his mother encouraged him to study the Torah. Wiesel has said his father represented reason while his mother Sarah promoted faith.

Wiesel had three siblings – older sisters Beatrice and Hilda, and younger sister Tzipora. Beatrice and Hilda survived the war and were reunited with Wiesel at a French orphanage. They eventually emigrated to North America, with Beatrice moving to Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Tzipora, Shlomo, and Sarah did not survive the Holocaust.

Imprisoned and orphaned during the Holocaust

In March 1944, Germany occupied Hungary which extended the Holocaust into that country. Wiesel was 15, and he with his family, along with the rest of the town's Jewish population, were placed in one of the two confinement ghettos set up in Sighetu, the town where he had been born and raised. In May 1944, the Hungarian authorities, under German pressure, began to deport the Jewish community to the Auschwitz concentration camp.

After they were sent to Auschwitz, his mother and one of his sisters were killed. Wiesel and his father were deported to the concentration camp at Buchenwald, where his father was also killed. In Night, Wiesel recalled the shame he felt when he heard his father being beaten and was unable to help. Wiesel was tattooed with inmate number "A-7713" on his left arm. The camp was liberated by the U.S. Third Army on April 11, 1945.

Post-war career as writer

France

After World War II ended and Wiesel was freed, he went to Paris where he learned French and studied writing at the Sorbonne. By the time he was 19, he had begun working as a journalist, writing in French, while also teaching Hebrew and working as a choirmaster. He wrote for Israeli and French newspapers, including Tsien in Kamf (in Yiddish).

In 1946, after learning of Irgun's bombing of the King David Hotel, Wiesel made an unsuccessful attempt to join the underground movement. In 1948, he translated articles from Hebrew to Yiddish for Irgun periodicals, but said he was not a member of the organization. In 1949 he travelled to Israel as a correspondent for the French newspaper L'arche. He then was hired as Paris correspondent for the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, subsequently becoming its roaming international correspondent.

Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky. Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my faith forever. Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me, for all eternity, of the desire to live. Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never.

For ten years after the war, Wiesel refused to write about or discuss his experiences during the Holocaust. However, a meeting with the French author François Mauriac, the 1952 Nobel Laureate in Literature who eventually became Wiesel's close friend, persuaded him to write about his experiences. Wiesel said that a discussion he had with Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson was a turning point in his writing of the Holocaust.

As a result, he wrote in French, La Nuit, in 1955 which was translated into English as Night in 1960. The book sold few copies after its publication, but still attracted interest from reviewers, leading to television interviews with Wiesel and meetings with literary figures such as Saul Bellow. Currently, Night has been translated into 30 languages with ten million copies sold in the United States. Oprah Winfrey made it a spotlight selection for her book club in 2006, while film director Orson Welles wanted to make it into a feature film. Wiesel refused, however, saying that his memoir would lose its meaning if it were told without the silences in between his words.

United States

In 1955, Wiesel moved to New York as foreign correspondent for the Israel daily, Yediot Ahronot. In 1969, he married Marion Erster Rose, who was from Austria, who also translated many of his books. They had one son, Shlomo Elisha Wiesel, named after Wiesel’s father.

In the U.S., he went on to write over 40 books, most of them non-fiction Holocaust literature, and novels. As an author, he has been awarded a number of literary prizes and is considered among the most important in describing the Holocaust from a highly personal level. As a result, some historians credited Wiesel with giving the term "Holocaust" its present meaning, although he did not feel that the word adequately described that historical event.

The 1979 book and play The Trial of God are said to have been based on his real-life Auschwitz experience of witnessing three Jews who, close to death, conduct a trial against God, under the accusation that He has been oppressive of the Jewish people. Regarding his personal beliefs, Wiesel calls himself an agnostic.

Wiesel also played a role in the initial success of The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinski by endorsing it before revelations that the book was fiction and, in the sense that it was presented as all Kosinski's true experience, a hoax.

Wiesel published two volumes of memoirs. The first, All Rivers Run to the Sea, was published in 1994 and covered his life up to the year 1969. The second, titled And the Sea is Never Full and published in 1999, covered the years from 1969 to 1999.

Political activism

Wiesel and his wife, Marion, started the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity in 1986. He served as chairman for the Presidential Commission on the Holocaust (later renamed US Holocaust Memorial Council) from 1978 to 1986, spearheading the building of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. The museum gives The Elie Wiesel Award to "internationally prominent individuals whose actions have advanced the Museum’s vision of a world where people confront hatred, prevent genocide, and promote human dignity." The foundation had invested its endowment with money manager Bernard L. Madoff's failed investment scheme, costing the foundation $15 million and Wiesel and his wife much of their own personal savings.

He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986 for speaking out against violence, repression, and racism. The Norwegian Nobel Committee described Wiesel as "one of the most important spiritual leaders and guides in an age when violence, repression and racism continue to characterize the world." Wiesel explained his feelings during his acceptance speech:

Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant.

He received many other prizes and honors for his work, including the Congressional Gold Medal in 1985, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and The International Center in New York's Award of Excellence. He was also elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1996.

In 2009, Wiesel criticized the Vatican for lifting the excommunication of controversial bishop Richard Williamson, a member of the Society of Saint Pius X.

Wiesel co-founded Moment Magazine with Leonard Fein in 1975. They founded the magazine to provide a voice for American Jews. He was also a member of the International Advisory Board of NGO Monitor.

Wiesel became a popular speaker on the subject of the Holocaust. As a political activist, he also advocated for many causes, including Israel, the plight of Soviet and Ethiopian Jews, the victims of apartheid in South Africa, Argentina's Desaparecidos, Bosnian victims of genocide in the former Yugoslavia, Nicaragua's Miskito Indians, and the Kurds.

In early 2006, Wiesel accompanied Oprah Winfrey as she visited Auschwitz, a visit which was broadcast as part of The Oprah Winfrey Show. On November 30, 2006, Wiesel received a knighthood in London in recognition of his work toward raising Holocaust education in the United Kingdom.

In September 2006 he appeared before the UN Security Council with actor George Clooney to call attention to the humanitarian crisis in Darfur. When Wiesel died, Clooney wrote, "We had a champion who carried our pain, our guilt and our responsibility on his shoulders for generations."

In 2007, Wiesel was awarded the Dayton Literary Peace Prize's Lifetime Achievement Award. That same year, the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity issued a letter condemning Armenian genocide denial, a letter that was signed by 53 Nobel laureates including Wiesel. Wiesel has repeatedly called Turkey's 90-year-old campaign to downplay its actions during the Armenian genocide a double killing.

In June 2009, Wiesel accompanied US President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel as they toured Buchenwald. Wiesel was an adviser at the Gatestone Institute. In 2010, Wiesel accepted a five-year appointment as a Distinguished Presidential Fellow at Chapman University. In that role, he made a one-week visit to Chapman annually to meet with students and offer his perspective on subjects ranging from Holocaust history to religion, languages, literature, law and music.

In 2009, Wiesel returned to Hungary for the first visit since the Holocaust. During his visit, Wiesel participated in a conference at the Upper House Chamber of the Hungarian Parliament, met Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai and President László Sólyom, and made a speech to the approximately 10,000 participants of an anti-racist gathering held in Faith Hall. However, in 2012, he protested against "the whitewashing" of Hungary's involvement in the Holocaust, and he gave up the Great Cross award he had received from the Hungarian government.

Wiesel was active in trying to prevent Iran from making nuclear weapons, stating that "the words and actions of the leadership of Iran leave no doubt as to their intentions." He also condemned Hamas for the "use of children as human shields" during the 2014 Israel-Gaza Conflict. The Times refused to run the advertisement, saying "the opinion being expressed is too strong and too forcefully made and will cause concern amongst a significant number of Times readers."

Wiesel has often emphasized the Jewish connection to Jerusalem, and has criticized the Obama administration for pressuring Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to halt East Jerusalem Israeli settlement construction. He has explained that "Jerusalem is above politics. It is mentioned more than six hundred times in Scripture—and not a single time in the Koran.... It belongs to the Jewish people and is much more than a city..."

Teaching

Wiesel was particularly fond of teaching and held the position of Andrew Mellon Professor of the Humanities at Boston University since 1976, where he taught in both its religion and philosophy departments. He became a close friend of the president and chancellor John Silber. The university created the Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Studies in his honor. From 1972 to 1976 Wiesel was a Distinguished Professor at the City University of New York and member of the American Federation of Teachers.

In 1982 he served as the first Henry Luce Visiting Scholar in Humanities and Social Thought at Yale University. He also co-instructed Winter Term (January) courses at Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, Florida. From 1997 to 1999 he was Ingeborg Rennert Visiting Professor of Judaic Studies at Barnard College of Columbia University.

Personal life

In 1969 he married Marion Erster Rose, who was from Austria, who also translated many of his books. They had one son, Shlomo Elisha Wiesel, after Wiesel’s father. The family lived in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Wiesel was attacked in a San Francisco hotel by a 22-year-old Holocaust denier Eric Hunt in February 2007, but was not injured. Hunt was arrested the following month and charged with multiple offences.

In February 2012, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints performed a posthumous baptism of Simon Wiesenthal's parents. After Wiesel's name had been submitted to be proxy baptised, he spoke out against the practice of posthumously baptizing Jews and asked presidential candidate and Latter-day Saint Mitt Romney to denounce it. Upon hearing of Wiesel's death, Romney said "I pray that the beacon that was Elie Wiesel will long guide us away from the shoals of hatred and racism."

Death

Wiesel died on July 2, 2016 at his home in Manhattan, aged 87.

Awards and honors

• Prix de l'Université de la Langue Française (Prix Rivarol) for The Town Beyond the Wall, 1963.
• National Jewish Book Council Award for The Town Beyond the Wall, 1963.
• Ingram Merrill award, 1964.
• Prix Médicis for A Beggar in Jerusalem, 1968.
• Jewish Heritage Award, Haifa University, 1975.
• Holocaust Memorial Award, New York Society of Clinical Psychologists, 1975.
• S.Y. Agnon Medal, 1980.
• Jabotinsky Medal, State of Israel, 1980.
• Prix Livre Inter, France, for The Testament, 1980.
• Grand Prize in Literature from the City of Paris for The Fifth Son, 1983.
• Commander in the French Legion of Honor, 1984.
• U.S. Congressional Gold Medal, 1984.
• Four Freedom Award for the Freedom of Worship, 1985.
• Medal of Liberty, 1986.
• Nobel Peace Prize, 1986.
• Grand Officer in the French Legion of Honor, 1990.
• Presidential Medal of Freedom, 1992
• Niebuhr Medal, Elmhurst College, Illinois, 1995.
• Grand Cross in the French Legion of Honor, 2000.
• Star of Romania, 2002.
• Man of the Year award, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, 2005.
• Light of Truth award, International Campaign for Tibet, 2005.
• Honorary Knighthood, United Kingdom, 2006.
• Honorary Visiting Professor of Humanities, Rochester College, 2008.
• National Humanities Medal, 2009.
• Norman Mailer Prize, Lifetime Achievement, 2011.
• Loebenberg Humanitarian Award, Florida Holocaust Museum, 2012.
• Nadav Award, 2012.
• S. Roger Horchow Award for Greatest Public Service by a Private Citizen, an award given out annually by Jefferson Awards, 2013.
• John Jay Medal for Justice John Jay College, 2014

Honorary degrees

Wiesel has received more than 90 honorary degrees from colleges worldwide.

• Doctor of Humane Letters, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, 1985.
• Doctor of Humane Letters, DePaul University, Chicago, 1997.
• Doctorate, Seton Hall University, New Jersey, 1998.
• Doctor of Humanities, Michigan State University, 1999.
• Doctorate, McDaniel College, Westminster, MD, 2005.
• Doctor of Humane Letters, Chapman University, 2005.
• Doctor of Humane Letters, Dartmouth College, 2006.
• Doctor of Humane Letters, Cabrini College, Radnor, PA, 2007.
• Doctor of Humane Letters, University of Vermont, 2007.
• Doctor of Humanities, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, 2007.
• Doctor of Letters, City College of New York, 2008.
• Doctorate, Tel Aviv University, 2008.
• Doctorate, Weizmann Institute, Rehovot, Israel, 2008.
• Doctor of Humane Letters, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA, 2009.
• Doctor of Letters, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, 2010.
• Doctor of Humane Letters, Washington University in St. Louis, 2011.
• Doctor of Humane Letters, College of Charleston, 2011.
• Doctorate, University of Warsaw, June 25, 2012.
• Doctorate, The University of British Columbia, September 10, 2012.