Born in the town of Sighet in northern Transylvania, near the Ukrainian border in 1928, Eliezer Wiesel grew up experiencing first-hand the horrors of the Holocaust.

  In 1944, Wiesel and his family were transported to Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland during World War II. There, Elie's mother and youngest sister, Tzipora, died in the gas chambers. The following year, after he and his father were transferred to Buchenwald, the senior Wiesel died from starvation and dysentery. Elie did not learn that his two older sisters were alive until after the war.

  In 1945, at the end of the war, Wiesel moved to Paris, where he studied literature, philosophy, and psychology at the Sorbonne. With a strong desire to write, Mr. Wiesel worked as a journalist in Paris before coming to the United States in 1956. He became an American citizen almost by accident. After coming to New York City on assignment, he was hit by a taxicab, and confined to a wheelchair for a year. A friend convinced him to apply for U.S. citizenship, and he eventually decided to remain in America.

  Credited by many as being the first person to use the term "holocaust," Mr. Wiesel published his first novel in 1956. Un di Velt Hot Geshvign (And the World Has Remained Silent) was the first of a series of books Wiesel would write about his experiences at Auschwitz and Buchenwald. Although his works were ultimately successful, Elie Wiesel met with initial skepticism. "The holocaust was not something people wanted to know about in those days," he reported in an interview with Time magazine. "The diary of Anne Frank was about as far as anyone wanted to venture into the dark."

  Elie Wiesel also worked for the improved treatment of Jews in the Soviet Union. His book, The Jews of Silence: A Personal Report on Soviet Jewry, helped to make the world aware of the plight of Jewish people attempting to survive in the Soviet Union. He has been seen by many as a pioneer in the liberation of Soviet Jews.

  Mr. Wiesel's goal in his writings has primarily been to educate others on the plight of Jews around the world. Through the relating of his own experiences, he hopes to make people aware of the injustice going on around them, therefore preventing what happened during World War II from occuring again.

  In 1986, Elie Wiesel was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in improving the living conditions, and promoting the understanding and global acceptance of Jews. For this same reason, Mr. Wiesel was presented with an Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 1992.

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