Elie Wiesel was born on September 30, 1928 in Sighet, Hungary (now Romania). At the age of fifteen, after Germans invaded Sighet in 1944, he and his whole village were transported to various camps throughout Poland. Upon arrival at Auschwitz, he was separated from his mother and sisters, yet remained with his father. They were deprived of many necessities that the modern American culture takes for granted such as shoes, clothing, and food. They were starved, beaten, and were used as forced slave labor. The conditions were so terrible that many "lived" on the verge of death day by day. Elie's father died in Buchenwald after suffering from dysentery and starvation.
After liberation and the war he went to France where he surprisingly found out that his two older sisters had survived. He studied philosophy and mastered the French language. Elie taught Hebrew and became a professional journalist in France and Israel. For the first time ever in 1955 he wrote down his experience in Auschwitz entitled, Un die welt hot geshvign (And the World Kept Silent). He later consolidated his book into a 127-page edition called La Nuit (Night). Since then Elie has written for many plays as well as near biographies elaborating on his experience in the Holocaust. In 1985 he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Freedom. The following year he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and in 1995 he published his memoirs entitled: "All Rivers Run to the Sea: Memoirs".
