A catastrophe opened to the world by Elie Wiesel

A man to whom the world owes his knowledge of the catastrophe. A man who was one of the first to publish data on the oppression of the Jewish people by the Nazis. Elie Wiesel is the author of the novel "Night", which opened the world the truth about the crimes of the Nazis. Survived all the horrors of Auschwitz, he denounced not only his executioners, but the whole world, indifferently silent and passing by.

Being a famous writer, he received the Nobel Prize. She was presented not as a contribution to literature, but as a fighter for peace, as he was until the last days of his life - a ray of light and a model of humanity, never losing faith in good.

Wiesel Eli. Biography

Elie Wiesel was born on September 30, 1928 in Northern Transylvania, in the city of Siget, in a religious Jewish family. He received a traditional religious education. As he himself said, childhood and youth "stayed in the Talmud." Every day he studied Hebrew. Parents - Sarah and Shlomo Wiesel - taught him to selflessly love the Jews. And he followed it all his life.

In 1941, the city where the Wiesel family lived was joined to Hungary. Since that time, the Nazis have killed Jews who have remained ignorant of what their fate is. In 1943, the Nazis occupied Hungary.

In Siget, the hometown of Eli, there were rumors of an uprising of Jews in the Warsaw ghetto. They lamented that there was not much left and must be patient. This is how Vizel Eli himself writes - the books "Gateway of the Forest" and "Night" tell a lot about this period of his life.

But in 1944 the Nazis began to fulfill their monstrous plan. Only in Hungary in 1944, more than 800,000 Jews were killed. Those who stayed were deported to Auschwitz, a concentration camp in Poland. Upon arrival in the camp, he and his father were separated from their mother and three sisters.

His mother Sarah and younger sister Zipora did not survive in prison. Wiesel Eli and his father were sent to the labor camp of Monovitz. Eight months of imprisonment, Vizel managed to stay close to his father, despite the fact that they were transferred endlessly from one sector to another.

Marsh of death

In the winter of 1944, Auschwitz was evacuated, as Soviet troops advanced. The prisoners were driven on foot to Buchenwald, a concentration camp in Germany. Many people died from hunger and cold, from the exhaustion and cruelty of the guards. The camp was liberated on April 11, 1945. Father Eli did not live until the liberation of the camp for only a week, without enduring exhaustion and beatings. At that moment, Vizel's faith wavered. But with renewed vigor returned to him later.

On the third day of freedom, Wiesel Eli received the most severe poisoning, within two weeks he was in hospital between life and death. When he got up, he wanted to look at himself and went to the mirror. As Wiesel himself writes, he has not seen his face since he got into the camp. From the depths of the mirror the dead man stared at him. Then Eli found his sisters, Hilda and Beatrice, in one of the Paris shelters.

Carier start

In 1948 he entered the Sorbonne - the University of Paris. He studied psychology, philosophy, literature. After graduation, he worked as a journalist and soon went to India, where he spent one year. In 1955 he moved to the United States and in 1963 received citizenship.

Literary career Wiesel began in Yiddish, later published in Hebrew. Then he wrote in French and in recent years - in English. "And the world was silent" - the first book that was published by Elie Wiesel in Argentina in Yiddish in 1956. After 2 years it was translated into French and published under the title "Night".

The Jews of Silence

The book brought world fame. The world heard him. It was impossible not to hear. Wiesel Elie, whose books denounced the horrors of the Nazis and those who indifferently kept silent and passed by, for life preserved the memory of the Holocaust. One of the first he began to urge the world community to help Soviet Jews, to ease their fate behind the Iron Curtain.

In 1965, Wiesel came to the Soviet Union, wishing to personally see the plight of the Jewish people. He meets with representatives of the communities. Under the impression of what Eli Wiesel heard and saw in the Union, the book "Jews of Silence" was written. An exciting book about the life of Soviet Jews. The title of the book has a double meaning.

Starting to read the work, you think that the book is about people who are silent about their fate. But by the end of reading you realize that these words are primarily addressed to Jews living in free countries, for their passivity and idleness in the face of others' sufferings. Wiesel is not silent - he lectures, writes articles, calls on international organizations to protest against the policy of the Soviet Union.

Creativity of Wiesel

In the late 50's, Eli turned to literary activity. A significant part of the works written by Elie Wiesel are devoted to the terrible and unforgettable Holocaust of the Jewish people. The heroes of his novels, their problems and fates are exclusively Jewish.

He perceives life through the prism of Kabbalah and the Talmud. Many books are written about the extermination of Jews by the Nazis, about the senselessness of their atrocities, about the impossibility to comprehend these events from a religious point of view. In his messages, he talks about the inadmissibility of violence and disregard for human rights, discrimination and indifference.

Many of his lectures and articles are devoted to refugees, people, lacking faith, name and homeland. People who are on the verge of existence. A great contribution of Elie Wiesel was introduced into the affairs of immigrants and refugees. Public and political organizations pay attention to the problems of these people. Wiesel infuses desperate hope for a better fate, for human participation and trust.

Elie Wiesel. Author's books

• "The Night", 1958.
• "The Gate of the Forest", 1966.
• "Breaking Dawn", 1960 year.
• The Day, 1961.
• "Jews of Silence", 1966.
• "The Jerusalem Beggar", 1968.
• "Hasidic fun", 1971.
• "The Oath in Kolviyak", 1973.
• "Zalman, or Divine Madness", 1968.
• "The Fifth Son", 1983.
• "At dusk in the distance", 1987.

Social activity

Wiesel Eli, as a professor of Jewish studies, taught at Georgetown, Boston and Yale universities. He traveled a lot around the world and lectured, spoke at conferences. He was active in public activities.

• 1980-1986 - Chairman of the Holocaust Museum in Los Angeles.
• 1985 - awarded the medal of the US Congress.
• 1986 - Nobel Prize laureate.
• 2006 - awarded the title of Honorary Knight.

July 2, 2016 in New York died Elie Wiesel - a humanist and enlightener who devoted his entire life to the struggle for human rights. He tried to convey to the whole of humanity the value of freedom. He defended against the lawlessness of those who do not have the knowledge or ability to defend their rights.