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Elie Wiesel - Born 1928
Eliezer Wiesel was born in Romania.
Wiesel's family was killed in the
Holocaust. He
himself survived when the Buchenwald concentration camp was
liberated in April 1945.
In 1963, Wiesel became a U.S. citizen.
In 1986, Wiesel was awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize.
And here is why:
It is the
Committee's opinion that Elie Wiesel has emerged as one of the
most important spiritual leaders and guides in an age when
violence, repression and racism continue to characterize the
world.
Wiesel is a messenger to mankind; his message is one of peace,
atonement and human dignity. His belief that the forces fighting
evil in the world can be victorious is a hard-won belief. His
message is based on his own personal experience of total
humiliation and of the utter contempt for humanity shown in
Hitler's death camps. The message is in the form of a testimony,
repeated and deepened through the works of a great author.
Wiesel's commitment, which originated in the sufferings of the
Jewish people, has been widened to embrace all repressed peoples
and races.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee believes that Elie Wiesel, with
his message and through his practical work in the cause of
peace, is a convincing spokesman for the view of mankind and for
the unlimited humanitarianism which are at all times necessary
for a lasting and just peace.
In 1999, Elie Wiesel delivered his
The Perils of Indifference speech.
The speech was so
titled after the theme of the evening on which it had been given -
the 7th Millennium Evening, "The Perils of Indifference: Lessons
Learned From a Violent Century"
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