Elie Wiesel, Renowned Holocaust Narrator, Passes Away at 87

Elie Wiesel, a survivor of the genocide of ethnic groups, dissidents, and LGBTQ individuals during the Nazi regime, activist, author, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, known as one of the most important 'narrators of the Holocaust', passed away at the age of 87. Mr. Wiesel was the author of a book titled 'Night', which recounts his memories of the time he spent in the Auschwitz camp. His mother and sister were murdered in this camp, but he was among the survivors of this million-person massacre. He was the initiator of a statement signed by dozens of Nobel laureates addressed to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the former President of Iran, condemning the 'widespread repression of the people' in the country. Mr. Wiesel won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. The Nobel Committee described him as a figure 'who has devoted his life to being a witness to the massacre that occurred during World War II at the hands of the Nazis'. He was born in September 1928 in a small town in Romania. In addition to losing his mother and sister in the gas chambers at Auschwitz, his father later died from starvation and digestive issues in the 'Buchenwald' camp, one of the largest forced labor camps during the Nazi regime, where the American army liberated Elie Wiesel at the age of 17. He then joined his two other sisters in France and studied at the Sorbonne University. After receiving the Nobel Prize, Mr. Wiesel, along with his wife, established a foundation for humanitarian and human rights work. This activist and Holocaust memoirist passed away on July 2, at the age of 87 in New York.