Elie Wiesel

At 15 years old Elie Wiesel, born in 1928 in Sighet, Romania was sent with his family to Auschwitz during the Holocaust. Though he was liberated in 1945, his mother, father, and younger sister all were killed. Wiesel's memoir, Night, became a seminal work on the Holocaust. He has since written more than 60 books of fiction and non-fiction, and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1968. He has also established the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity, which works to fight injustice and intolerance. Updated 2008