Elie Wiesel

Born in Sighet on September 30,1928

Grew up in small villagein Romania

Was born as an Orthodox Jew

Parents were Shlomo and Sarah-Owned grocery store

Older sisters, Hilda and Bea

Younger sister -Tsiporah

1940, Nazis turned Sighet over to Hungary

Hungarian Government ruled that all Jews who couldnot prove Hungarian citizenship be transferred to Nazi-help Poland and then murdered

Wiesel’s friend, Moshe was only one to escape fromPoland

Studied Bible

Jewish books

Learned astrology

1944, German soldiers occupied SighetForced Jews to wear yellow stars Nazis closed Jewish storesRaided HousesCreated two ghettos May, deportations began Wiesel family was not loaded till early June

Loaded into car filled with eighty people

Mother and younger sister taken to gas chambers

Elie and father were sent to be slave laborersSurvived first Aushwitz then Buna labor camp/8 months

Endured beatings, hunger, roll calls, other torture

Given number A- 7713

January 19, Death march

June 29, his father dies

Sent to Buchenwald

April 6, 1945 guards told prisoners they would no longer be fed

Began evacuating campKilling 10,000 prisoners a

day

Morning of April 11, underground movement rose and attacked the SS guards

Early evening, first American military unit arrives and liberated the camp

After liberation, Wiesel became sick with intestinalproblems

Spent several days in hospital

While hospitalized, he wrote the outline for abook describing his experiences during theHolocaust

Was not ready to publicize his experiences andpromised he would wait ten years before writingthem down in detail

Released from hospital with no family to returnto

Joined a group of 400 orphans being taken toFrance

1947 Wiesel, by chance, got in touch with hissister

1948 he enrolled in Sorbonne University

Later spent a year drawing on the outline he had written in the hospital which he called And theWorld Was Silent

Gave to a publisher who made it into a bookcalled Night.

After Night was published, he wrote a second novel in1961, Dawn.

Night (1958)Dawn (1961)

The accident (1962)The Town Beyond The Wall (1964)

The Gates Of The Forest (1966) The Jews Of Silence (1966)

Legends Of Our Time (1968)A Beggar in Jerusalem (1968) One Generation After (1970)

Souls on Fire (1972)Night Trilogy (1972)

The oath (1973)Ani maamin (1973)

The Madness of God (1974)Messengers of God (1976)

A Jew Today (1978)Four Hasidic Masters (1978)Images from the Bible (1980)

The Trial of God (1979) The Testament (1981)

1969, Wiesel married Marion Erster RoseA divorced woman from Austria

She helped translate Wiesel’s books

1972, They had a sonNamed him after Wiesel’s father, Shlomo Elisha Wiesel

1980, He delivered food to starving Cambodians

1986, He received the Nobel Peace Prize as a messenger to mankind and a human being dedicated to humanity

1972-1978 was a professor

1985, Wiesel was awarded the Congressional Gold Metal of Achievement

In the early 1990s, he lobbied the U.S. government on behalf of victims of ethnic cleansing in Bosnia.

He received many rewards, approximately 75 honorary doctorates.

1993, spoke at the dedication of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.

Bibliography"Elie Wiesel Bio." American Studies @ The University of Virginia. Web. 29 Mar. 2011.

<http://xroads.virginia.edu/~cap/holo/eliebio.htm>.

Schoenberg, Shira. "Elie Wiesel." Jewish Virtual Library Homepage. Web. 29 Mar. 2011.

<http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Wiesel.html>.

"Elie Wiesel Biography, Elie Wiesel Childhood, Life and Timeline." Famous People –Famous People in History, Famous People List & Biography. Web. 29 Mar. 2011.

<http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/elie-wiesel-13.php>.