Elie Wiesel

Today (September 30, 1928) would have been Elie Wiesel’s 95^th Birthday.

Elie was born in Sighet, Romania (today Sighetu Marmației, Romania.)

He was the third of four Children and the only Son of Shlomo and Sarah Wiesel. Shlomo owned a Grocery Store in town and was well respected in the community. In addition to Yiddish, the family spoke German, Romanian, and Hungarian at home.

(Buchenwald Concentration Camp, photo taken April 16, 1945, five days after Liberation of the Camp. 16 year old Elie Wiesel is in the second row from the bottom, seventh from the left, next to the bunk post.)

His childhood, like that of so many other Jewish Children, was cut short by the war. In 1940, Sighet came under Hungarian control and he lost his Romanian Citizenship and automatically became a Hungarian Citizen.

However, in 1944, Germany occupied its former ally. Shortly thereafter, Hungarian Authorities working with the Germans began the Deportation of Jews from Hungary.

In May 1944, 15-year-old Elie and his Family were deported to Auschwitz. The night they arrived at the infamous camp was the last time Elie would ever see his Mother and younger Sister, Tzipora – they were both gassed to death and their bodies burned upon arrival.

“In the camp there were no Friends to remind me of my childhood,” remembered Elie. “In the Camp I had no more childhood. I had only my f=Father, my best friend, my only friend.”

Elie and his Father were later transferred to the Buchenwald Concentration Camp in Germany, where Shlomo died shortly after their arrival.

“If only I could recapture my Father’s wisdom, my Mother’s serenity, my little Sister’s innocent grace,” Elie lamented in his memoir. “If only I could hold my memory open, drive it beyond the horizon, keep it alive even after my death.”

16 year old Elie was liberated by the Americans in Buchenwald on April 11, 1945. All his Family had been murdered.

(Ellie Wiesel in 1985.)

He moved to France and was Stateless from 1945-1963.

He authored 57 Books (including “Night.”) He also helped establish the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC.

He became a US Citizen in 1963.

He married Marion Erster Rose (originally from Austria) in 1969 and had a Child, Shlomo Elisha Wiesel (named after his Father.)

He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986

He was awarded the US’ Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992.

Elie Wiesel died on July 2, 2016 in New York City.

I once met Elie Wiesel when I worked at the USHMM in DC. He spoke to me for about 2 minutes,  signed a book for me and shook my hand. It was an amazing moment.