Elie Wiesel
September 30, 1928 –July 2, 2016
Writer, Political activist, Judaic scholar, Novelist, Autobiographer, University teacher
Lived 87 years
- Born in
- Sighetu Marmației
- Passed away in
- New York City
Eliezer "Elie" Wiesel (September 30, 1928 – July 2, 2016) was a Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He authored 57 books, written mostly in French and English, including Night, which is based on his experiences as a Jewish prisoner at Auschwitz and Buchenwald during the Holocaust.
As a political activist, Wiesel became a regular speaker on the subject of the Holocaust and advocated for justice in numerous causes around the globe, including that of Soviet Jews and Ethiopian Jews, South African apartheid, the Rwandan genocide, the Bosnian genocide, the War in Darfur, the Kurdish independence movement, the Armenian genocide, Argentina's Desaparecidos, Nicaragua's Miskito people, the Sri Lankan Tamils, and the Cambodian genocide. He was also an outspoken advocate for Israel and frequently weighed in to support the country during escalations of the Arab–Israeli conflict and throughout the Iran–Israel proxy conflict. He backed Netanyahu publicly, including his controversial 2015 Congress speech on Iran, and signed ads praising Jewish settlers. He said Jerusalem "belongs to the Jewish people" and opposed territorial compromise there. He also hosted direct talks to facilitate the Israeli–Palestinian peace process.
Wiesel was a professor of the humanities at Boston University, which created the Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Studies in his honor. He received a number of awards, including the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. He was a founding board member of the Human Rights Foundation and remained active in it throughout his life. Wiesel was one of the main figures who spearheaded the establishment of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1993.
Notable works: Night Awards: Prix Médicis, Bordin Prize, Prix du Livre Inter, Grand Prix littéraire de la Ville de Paris, Lucien Barrière Literary Award, Nobel Peace Prize, Four Freedoms Award – Freedom of Worship, honorary doctor of the University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne, honorary doctor of the University of Miami, Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour Education: Faculty of Arts of Paris
Source: Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elie_Wiesel