The Life and Times of Elie Wiesel

You are a young and curious child of about fourteen. You wake up and your day begins just like any other, but today isn’t just like any other. Today your life changes forever. You watch your family and friends be gathered up and stuffed into trains, not knowing if you will ever see them again. You are lucky, if you can call it that. You are young and strong, you are to take the gassed bodies of others and send them into the furnaces. You then watch you father die, everyone you have ever loved you now believe to be dead. After you are finally liberated would you have the courage to tell your story to the world, would you be capable of recalling those frightful nights and wrenched mornings. Would you be able to remind yourself of the tortures you faced, and of the loved ones you lost, everyday of your life? Why do historians find Elie Wiesel important, you ask? How has he impacted our world today, you ask? Elie Wiesel did the impossible--he wrote about his experiences life, both during and after the holocaust, his imprisonment in Auschwitz, and the loss of his family. Not only did he speak out about the Holocaust, he spoke out against all genocide--against all acts of one race against another. He promoted human rights and helped keep the world from repeating the Holocaust, from repeating its mistakes. 
 Elie Wiesel’s story starts just like the rest of ours, he was born to Shlomo and Sars Wiesel, in the town a Signet, Transylvania in 1928. Signet was a predominantly Jewish town, with several synagogues and places of learning. Like much of the town the Wiesels were Jewish. Elie studied the bible and Torah with much fervor, he was fascinated with the holy texts and with religion, he could study these in peace, and in depth, until March...

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...n the world of literature, and for his activeness in human rights. His reward money went to setting up The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity. Then in 2005 the Dalai rewarded Elie with the Light of Truth Award, to signify his “signifagant contributions to the fight for human rights and democratic freedoms for the people of Tibet (Koestler-Grack 89, 90, 96).”

Works Cited

Estess, Ted L. Elie Wiesel. New York. Frederick Ungar Publishing Co.,Inc. 1980. Print.
Koestler-Grack, Rachel. Elie Wiesel: Witness for Humanity. Pleasantville: New York. Gareth Stevens, Inc. 2009. Print.

Wiesel, Elie. From The Kingdom of Memory. New York: New York. Elirion Associates, Inc. 1990. Print.
Wiesel, Elie. Memoirs: All Rivers Run to the Sea. New York. Schocken Books Inc. 1994. Print.
Wiesel, Elie. Night. Trans. Marion Wiesel. La Nuit: France. Les Editions de Minuit. 2006. Print.