The short, sad-eyed Wiesel, his face an ongoing reminder of one man’s endurance of a shattering past, summed up his mission in 1986 when accepting the Nobel Peace Prize: “Whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation, take sides”.
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In this September 12, 2012, photo Elie Wiesel is photographed in his office in NY.
Wiesel’s death was announced Saturday by Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial.
This evening, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has directed the lights of One World Trade Center’s 408-foot spire to be displayed in the blue and white colors of the Israeli flag to honor the life of noted author, Nobel Laureate and Holocaust survivor, Elie Wiesel.
In his first book – “Night”, published in 1958 – he described his family being sent to Auschwitz when he was 15, CNN reports.
Wiesel’s parents and his younger sister died at Auschwitz but he survived and moved to France. Wiesel and his father were eventually transported to Buchenwald – his father died shortly before the camp was liberated in April 1945, his foundation says. “He waged countless battles for innocent victims regardless of ethnicity or creed”. “He stood up for the people in Rwanda, he stood up for the Yugoslavians, he stood up for the Cambodians”, Foxman, who has known Wiesel for decades, said before the service.
“What was most meaningful to him was teaching the innumerable students who attended his university classes”, Marion Wiesel said.
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Among the numerous honors and awards given to Wiesel throughout his life are U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom, the French Legion of Honor Grand Cross, and was knighted a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
