Elie Wiesel By: Jessica Vazquez

Childhood real name is Eliezer grew up speaking Yiddish at home and Hungarian, Romanian, and German outside of home was an Orthodox Jew born in Sighet, Transylvania (now Romania) born on Sept. 30, 1928 parents were grocery store owners (Shlomo and Sarah) 3 sisters (2 older- Hilda and Bea) and (1 younger- Tsiporah)

Childhood (cont) attended Jewish school at age 3 (learned Hebrew, Bible, and Talmud) ideas were influenced by maternal grandfather who was prominent Hasid spent a lot of time with Moshe (was a caretaker of synagogue and taught him of Messiah and Judaism mysteries) 1942 had his bar mitzvah studied Bible and Jewish books attracted Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) learned about astrology, parapsychology, hypnotism, and magic to further his studies deported in 1944

As a Prisoner forced to get on cattle car with 80 other people after 4 days, train stopped at Auschwitz dad and Elie were sent to be slave laborers and mom and younger sister were sent to gas chamber was known as A-7713 tortured and beaten at different camps such as (Buna and Gleiwitz) winter right knee swelled up and was operated by doctor at camp two days later him and other prisoners were forced by SS to do a death march (included 10 days of running) then they were sent on a train to Buchenwald (6,000 out of 20,000 made it there) stayed with his father until his death on June 29 (when he died of dysentery, starvation, exposure, and exhaustion) April liberated by United States Third Army

After the War learned mom and younger sister died in gas chambers and two older sisters survived lived in French orphanage for a few years tried to immigrate to Palestine but couldn't saw sister (Bea) in newspaper and was reunited with her in Antwerp began to study at Sorbonne in Paris (literature, philosophy, and psychology) was a journalist for French newspaper (L'Arche) and Israeli newspaper (Yediot Ahronot) vowed never to write about the Holocaust but changed his mind when he met French Catholic novelist (Francois Mauriac) in 1955 wrote "And The World Remained Silent" in Yiddish (900 pgs) after 2 years, it was compressed into 127 pg French version "La Nuit" (Night) moved to New York was hit by taxicab in New York and was put in a wheelchair for almost a year after recovery, continued to live in New York as a writer for Jewish Daily Forward wrote 35 works in France (Judaism and Holocaust realated) wrote novels (L'Aube- Dawn, Le Jour- The Accident) traveled around the world as a journalist traveled to USSR and described situation in "The Jews of Silence" lectured at colleges married Marion Erster Rose from Austria son Shlomo Elisha was born

Awards Andrew Melon Professor of Humanities of Boston University since Rememeberance Award Jewish Heritage Award for Excellence in Literature France's Prix Medicis 1972-Prix Bordin from French Academy Eleanor Roosevelt Memorial Award Frank and Ethel S. Cohen Award from Jewish Book Council was appointed Chairman of United States Holocaust Memorial Council by Jimmy Carter Prix Livre International Jabotinsky Metal from State of Israel Prix des Bibliothecaries Congressional Gold Medal of Achievement by Ronald Reagan International League for Human Rights Humanitarian Award Nobel Prize for Peace Courage Award from B'nai B'rith Human Rights Law from the International Humans Right Law Group Human Rights Campaign Fund Humanitarian Award Award of Highest Honor from Soka University Ellis Island Medal of Honor Golden Slipper Humanitarian Award