Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel dies

Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor and Nobel Laureate passed away on 2 July 2016 in New York, U.S. He was 87.

In his first book, Night, Wiesel gave an account of his family being sent to the Nazi concentration camps.

Who was Elie Wiesel?

• Elie Wiesel was a Romanian-born American Jewish writer, professor and political activist.

• He wrote mostly in French and English.

• He was the author of 57 books, including Night, in which he shared his experiences as a prisoner in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps.

• He was also involved with Jewish causes and helped establish the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.

• He had been described as the most important Jew in America by the Los Angeles Times.

• In 1986, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Life at Auschwitz concentration camp

• Elie Wiesel was only 15 years old when he was sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland with his family in 1944.

• After they were sent to Auschwitz, his mother and his younger sister were killed.

• Wiesel and his father were later deported to the concentration camp at Buchenwald.

• After they were taken to Buchenwald, his father only survived for eight months, dying just a few weeks before the camp was liberated.

• In his book Night, Wiesel recalled the shame he felt when he heard his father being beaten and was unable to help.

• He was tattooed with inmate number A-7713 on his left arm.

• The camp was liberated by the U.S. Third Army on 11 April 1945.

Now get latest Current Affairs on mobile, Download # 1  Current Affairs App