Elie Wiesel

Elie Wiesel (1928-2016) is a writer, survivor of the Nazi camps, born in Transylvania. After the liberation of the Auschwitz camp in April 1945, he was taken in charge by the OSE (Children’s Aid Society). He studied philosophy at the Sorbonne. Then he earned his living by doing many small jobs. In 1958, following his meeting with François Mauriac, he published La nuit, a poignant account of the Holocaust. In 1963, he obtained American citizenship and became Chair of the Humanities at Boston University. Speaking out against indifference, he said, “As long as a dissident is in prison, our freedom will not be true. As long as a child is hungry, our lives will be filled with anguish and shame.” An activist for peace and human rights, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. In 1988, he organized with President François Mitterrand a conference gathering 76 Nobel Prize winners whose mission is to reflect on the future of the planet. This meeting has since been repeated every two years. He passed away in Manhattan in 2016, at the age of 87.