Describe Elie Wiesel, including why he began writing about his experiences. Next, explain why you think his book Night is so pop
ular. Support your response with facts and details from the Article. Here’s the article. Please help me!
NEW YORK, New York. For more than half a century, Elie Wiesel voiced his beliefs to world leaders, celebrities, and general audiences on behalf of victims of violence and oppression. And Wiesel knew much about these things. He was a survivor of the Nazis' attempt to conquer Europe during World War II and to destroy the Jews, in what became known as the Holocaust. Wiesel wrote about the Nazis' crimes. His efforts furthered public knowledge of one of the largest atrocities in modern history. Elie was born in Sighet, Romania. In 1944, when he was 15, Nazi Germany invaded his hometown. Elie and his family were sent to Auschwitz, a Nazi concentration camp. Like 85 percent of the camp's prisoners, Elie's mother and younger sister were killed in gas chambers. Elie and his father, Shlomo, were later sent to another concentration camp. Elie's father died there. His death came shortly before the camp was freed by the U.S. Army in 1945. After the war, Elie was reunited with his two older sisters.
Elie Wiesel began writing about his experiences in the mid-1950s. It was just a decade after the Holocaust. The memories were still too raw for many survivors to even talk about them. Wiesel shared the painful story of his time as a prisoner at concentration camps in his book Night. His tale was so grim that publishers doubted it would appeal to readers. But the book became one of the most widely read books about the Holocaust. To date, it has sold millions of copies in more than 30 languages. Wiesel went on to write more than 50 books.
As the years passed, Wiesel worked to make sure that memories of the Holocaust endured. It was his hope that its lessons would not be forgotten and that history would not repeat itself. In 1978, Wiesel was chosen by U.S. President Jimmy Carter to head the President's Commission on the Holocaust and plan an American Holocaust memorial museum. Wiesel encouraged the museum to tell the story of the Jews while still remembering the persecution of others.
In 1986, Wiesel was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The award is given to the person or group considered to have made the greatest contributions to world peace. In his acceptance speech, Wiesel expressed his goal: "I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and [shame]. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented."
Wiesel followed through on this promise. In 1988, he established The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity to explore the problems of hatred and ethnic conflicts around the world. Wiesel stood up for Soviet Jews, Nicaraguan Miskito Indians, Cambodian refugees, the Kurds, and starving people in Africa.
Wiesel spoke at the dedication of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., in 1993. His words are now carved in stone at its entrance: "For the dead and the living, we must bear witness."
Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, remembered Wiesel telling him, "'The opposite of love is not hate; it's indifference. It was indifference that brought [hatred of Jews] to Germany, and it was indifference that brought the Holocaust.'" Lauder said he considered this to be one of Wiesel's most important lessons.
In addition to the Nobel Peace Prize, Wiesel was awarded the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal of Achievement, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the rank of Grand-Croix in the French Legion of Honor, and Israel's Presidential Medal of Distinction.
When Wiesel died in 2016 at age 87, his passing was mourned by leaders worldwide.
"Elie was…a living memorial," said U.S. President Barack Obama. "He raised his voice, not just against [hatred of Jews], but against hatred…in all its forms. He [urged] each of us, as nations and as human beings, to do the same, to see ourselves in each other, and to make real that pledge of 'never again.'"
