Elie
(Eliezer) Wiesel is a Jewish Romania-born American Holocaust survivor, writer
and political activist who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986 for his written
works and activism which have brought a powerful message of "peace, atonement
and human dignity" to the world. Only 15 when his family was sent to a concentration
camp, Elie Wiesel lost his mother, father and younger sister before he and other
survivors were liberated in 1945. When the war was over, Elie Wiesel studied in
Paris and became a journalist. After he interviewed the French Nobel Prize winning
writer Francois Mauriac, Mauraic convinced Elie Wiesel to write about his experiences
in the Nazi death camps. His book, La Nuit (Night) won acclaim all around
the world and has been translated into more than 30 languages. Since then, Elie
Wiesel has written more than 40 books, has been a professor at several universities,
and has been active in many causes for human rights, including defending Israel,
and speaking out for the plight of many other oppressed groups, including Soviet
Jews, Cambodian refugees, victims of famine in Africa, victims of apartheid in
South Africa, victims of war in the former Yugoslavia, Nicaragua’s Miskito Indians
and Argentina’s Desaparecidos. President Jimmy Carter appointed Elie Wiesel as
Chair of the President’s Commission on the Holocaust in 1978 and in 1980 Elie
Wiesel became the Founding Chair of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council.
Shortly after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, Elie Wiesel and his wife started
the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity, whose mission is to "combat indifference,
intolerance and injustice through international dialogue and youth-focused programs
that promote acceptance, understanding and equality." For his dedication
to humanitarian efforts, Elie Wiesel was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom,
the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal, the Medal of Liberty Award, was given the rank
of Grand-Croix in the French Legion of Honor and was granted honorary knighthood
in England.
