Night By Elie Wiesel

Elie Wiesel

O Elie Wiesel was born September 30, 1928 (still alive)

O Wiesel grew up in a close-knit community shaped by its religious beliefs/practices (Sighet, small town on the Hungarian-Romanian border )

O Sighet had a population of 10,000 Jews

O In 1944, near the end of WWII, all the Jews of Sighet were deported to Germany

O Jan. 28, 1945—Elie’s father died in Buchenwald (3 months before liberation)

O Apr.1945--liberated from concentration camp

Elie’s Life Timeline continued…

O Wiesel survived but his mother, father, and one of his three sisters died

O After the war, Wiesel was placed in a French orphanage, where he learned the French language and was reunited with his older sisters, Hilda and Bea, who had also survived the war

O After the Holocaust, Elie took a 10 year vow of silence refusing to write or talk about his experience during the Holocaust

O 1948--moved to Paris to study at the Sorbonne (studied philosophy)

O 1948--work in journalism begins (several newspapers, etc.)

O 1952--decides to write about the Holocaust (persuaded by friend)

O 1954--started writing Night (first book)O 1956--hit by a car in New York, spent one year in a

wheelchair recovering from injuries O 1958--Night is published O 1963--receives U.S. citizenship

Timeline continued…O 1964--returned to Sighet O 1969--married Marion Rose O 1972--son is born, ElishaO 1978--appointed chair of Presidential

Commission on the Holocaust O 1980--Commission renamed U.S.

Holocaust Memorial Council O 1985--awarded Congressional Gold

Medal of Achievement O 1986--awarded Nobel Peace Prize O 1995--publishes memoirs O Today, Wiesel is a humanitarian and a

professor

Elie WieselO Wiesel wrote 57

novels (best known is Night), several memoirs, and non-fiction pieces

O Often referred to as “the messenger of mankind”

O Still to this day searching for answers, and questions his faith in God

Peace Prize 1996O Accepting Nobel

Peace for Prize

Picture at Concentration Camp