He died the creator of the term “Holocaust” – Politics

Elie Wiesel was born September 30, 1928. In a Hasidic family in Romania. During World War II, when Hungary annexed the town in which he lived, and the Jewish population in ghettos closed, Wiesel and his father was deported to Auschwitz. In the gas chambers he killed one of his sisters and mother. Exhausted father died beaten by the SS during the death march to Buchenwald.

When Wiesel was liberated from the camp he was only 16 years old. He went to France, where the orphanage he met his two sisters rescued from the war. He studied at the Sorbonne, was a journalist. He wanted to work in the Israeli underground, but admitted in an interview, was not allowed to leave. “In 1946,., After the Irgun blew up the King David hotel, I decided that I will come to the underworld. Very naively I went to the Jewish Agency in Paris, but I was not let inside. The caretaker asked – What do you want ?, and I said to him that I wanted to join the underground. He threw me. “

In the mid-50s, he emigrated to the United States (in 1963 received citizenship), where he published his most famous book,” Night, “based on his experiences in the camp. “Night” became a bestseller – it sold over 10 million copies. In total, published more than 40 books.

Wiesel most of his life devoted to nurturing the memory of the Holocaust. He even had his participation in the discovery of the role during World War II, he was Jan Karski. Marian Turski, reminding silhouette Karski wrote in a POLICY of former emissary of the Polish government, which President Roosevelt passed reports of the Holocaust, based on their own direct observation: “Only after a few decades took out a certificate Claude Lanzman for the use of memorable film about the destruction Jews. Then again, there was a break, until one day – in 1980. – Phoned him the Nobel Prize winner Elie Wiesel: “Are you the Karski with the war?”. He confirmed. He gave to invite you to the international conference. “He convinced me that it was my duty as a witness …” – he explained. “

Wiesel was heavily involved in the creation of the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, which established an award named after him in recognition of his action against hate, prevention rzeziom and the promotion of human dignity.

the historians attribute to give the term “Holocaust” in the context of the Holocaust, perpetrated on the Jews during world war II. Sam Wiesel believed that this concept does not fully reflect what happened.

In the same year in which he received the Nobel Wiesel founded the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity (foundation lost $ 15 million, placing them at Bernard Madoff, famous swindler and creator of financial pyramid. also the Wiesel lost most of its private savings).

In 1986. received the Nobel peace Prize. “I tried to preserve the memory and fight those who wanted to forget, because if you forget we owe, we will be partners” – said receiving this award.

Over the years engaged in political campaigns for victims of violence around the world publicly condemned the massacre of Armenians, demanded of the victims of the war in the Balkans and the victims of apartheid in South Africa. He performed for the Kurds, Indians in Nicaragua, along with George Clooney drew attention to the situation in Darfur.

He was not afraid to speak on matters which he considered important. When it turned out that in 1985. President Ronald Reagan during a visit to Germany intends to visit the cemetery where they are buried Nazis, Wiesel told him: “This is not your place. Lord’s place is with the victims of the SS. ” And Bill Clinton in 1993., And during the war in former Yugoslavia: “I can not sleep by what I saw.” Barack Obama reproached criticizing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the expansion of settlements in East Jerusalem, believing that Jerusalem belongs to the Jewish people.

It was not until 2009., For the first time since the war, he went to Hungary, where he delivered a speech in parliament. However, a few years later, he gave the Grand Cross of the Hungarian state award in protest against whitening by Hungary the role played during the Holocaust.