Elie WieselBirth Chart

Elie Wiesel was a writer, professor, and political activist born in Romania whose work became a key reference on the experience of the Holocaust. Author of about 57 books, he wrote primarily in French and English; Night — an account based on his experience as a prisoner in Auschwitz and Buchenwald — is his best-known work and established his voice as a witness and memorialist of the Nazi genocide. As a public figure, Wiesel spent much of his life defending human rights, speaking repeatedly about the Holocaust and intervening in numerous international crises: among others, the persecutions of Soviet and Ethiopian Jews, South African apartheid, the genocides in Rwanda and Bosnia, and the conflicts in Darfur and the Middle East. He was also a fervent defender of Israel and took part in initiatives aimed at peace between Israelis and Palestinians. An academic and educator, he taught humanities at Boston University, which created a center in his name. He received international awards, including the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986, and helped found and promote memorial institutions such as the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. His legacy endures in human rights activism and in the preservation of Holocaust memory.