It was twenty years ago this month that Holocaust survivor, human rights advocate, and novelist Elie Wiesel was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Although more commonly called Elie, he was born Eliezar in September of 1928 in the Transylvanian (now Romanian) town of Sighet. At the age of fifteen, barely more than a boy, he and his family were taken by the Nazis and incarcerated in one of the most infamous concentration camps, Auchwitz. His mother and younger sisters died while there.
Later, Elie and his father were transported to another camp, Buchenwald. His father died in 1945, just missing the liberation of the camp in April of that year.
After the war, Elie became a journalist, then used his writing abilities to create his most famous and memorable piece, “Night,” which is the story of his experiences with the camps. It was through reading this book that I became acquainted with Elie’s life. A gruesome tale of man’s cruelty to man, it nevertheless presents a tale of a boy determined to live, and teaches the reader in a very real way what the camps were like for those who were forced to endure them. “Night” has been translated into over thirty languages.
Since that time, he has authored over forty more books, each of them poignant and thought-provoking. When he was awarded the Peace Prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said that he is a “messenger to mankind.” I agree with their assessment. What would we have never learned without his efforts to show us? His beautiful use of prose to teach of the human condition is admirable and I found my eyes opened as I read.
Elie’s name has been put forward as a possible replacement to Moshe Katsav, the President of Israel, in the event that Katsav may be forced to resign due to indiscretions while in office.
In November of 2006, Elie was awarded an honorary knighthood in England for his work in raising Holocaust awareness in the United Kingdom.
I do offer the warning that Elie’s books are not easy to read. We all know the horrors of the camps, at least to a degree, and Elie does not attempt to soften the things he experienced. However, I must say that his writings are vastly educational and I appreciate so much the enlightenment I found by reading them.
Information for this article was found at the Elie Wiesel Foundation and Wikipedia.
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