The Story of Elie WieselThe Story of Elie Wiesel

http://www.chipublib.org/003cpl/onebook_night/

author.html

http://www.scu.edu/ethics/architects-of-peace/Wiesel/

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Created By Sarah Meidinger

The Early The Early YearsYears

Born in Sighet, Born in Sighet, Transylvania on Transylvania on Sept. 30, 1928Sept. 30, 1928

He had two older He had two older sisters and one sisters and one younger sisteryounger sister

His father was His father was looked up to by looked up to by members of the members of the community and they community and they would come to him would come to him for advicefor advice

His family was very His family was very faithful to the faithful to the Jewish religionJewish religion

http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/photocredit/achievers/wie0-009

The Horror Begins - The Horror Begins - DeportationDeportation

www.holocaust.com.au/mm/n_senta.htm

On April 19, 1944 Elie and his family were deported, along with all the other members of the town of Sighet, to Auschwitz-Birkenau. They were crammed into cattle cars and did not eat or drink anything for days.

The Horror – Concentration The Horror – Concentration CampsCamps

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When Elie’s family arrived at the concentration camps, Elie and his father were separated from his mother and sisters. Once Elie and his father were stripped of their clothing and shaved from head to toe, they were registered into the camp. They saw babies being thrown into the air and shot and grown men being burned alive.

In the pictures to the right, the top one is women being shaved and the bottom one is all the clothes and shoes that were once owned by Jews.

The Horror – Forced The Horror – Forced LaborLabor

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blbuchenwald14.htm

In the concentration camps, the men were forced into building railroads or doing other hard labor jobs. If they stopped working for a few seconds, they would be shot. If they tried to run away, they got shot. Even if they looked too weak to go on, they were shot. A lot of the men died from brutality.

Elie always made sure to work his hardest and stay in shape so that he was not shot because of being too weak or not working hard enough. He also pushed his father to work hard and not look too weak in order to keep him stay alive.

The Horror - The Horror - MalnutritionMalnutrition

http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/buchen.htm

http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/buchen.htm

The men were not fed properly and eventually became malnourished. Thousands starved to death and as you can see, their bones protruded out through their skin. Six million people died in the concentration camps during WWII.

This is a picture of the barracks at Buchenwald. Elie Wiesel is the seventh person in the second row from the bottom.

The Horror – Medical The Horror – Medical ExperimentsExperiments

http://history1900s.about.com/library/holocaust/blcampsbuch.htm

Prisoners were taken into medical settings and had various organs removed from their bodies for experimental purposes. No medication was given and many died from these horrible medical procedures that were performed on them.

Elie was taken to a doctor to get his gold tooth pulled, but he was able to spare it because he knew down the road he might need that gold in order to survive.

The Horror - The Horror - CrematoriumsCrematoriums

http://history1900s.about.com/library/holocaust/blbuchenwald2.htm

Crematory ovens were used to burn dead bodies. Sometimes they would make live people march into the ovens to be killed. Smoke would fill the air all day long and the stench was horrible for the prisoners because they knew that someday they might be in the ovens.

Elie’s father was burned in the crematory, but Elie does not know if he was alive or dead when they took him.

The Horror The Horror EndsEnds

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Finally in April of 1945 Buchenwald was liberated by the Third American Army. Elie had survived Auschwitz, Buna, Buchenwald and Gleiwitz. But his father had died in Buchenwald four months earlier from dysentery, starvation, exposure, and exhaustion.

Elie’s love for his religion and his family had all disappeared during his stay at the concentration camps. All he could think about was keeping himself alive in the camps. His spirit and great wit was gone and all he had left was his fragile body that he could not even recognize when he looked into a mirror for the first time in a year and a half.

After the After the HorrorHorror

He began to study He began to study philosophy, philosophy, literature and literature and psychology in Parispsychology in Paris

He became a He became a journalist for a journalist for a French newspaperFrench newspaper

He also began to He also began to find his faith again find his faith again in the Jewish in the Jewish traditionstraditions

Elie later learned Elie later learned that his mother and that his mother and youngest sister died youngest sister died in the gas chambers in the gas chambers at Auschwitz. at Auschwitz.

His two older sisters His two older sisters had survived had survived

After the liberation, After the liberation, Elie lived in a French Elie lived in a French orphanageorphanage

Elie’s Elie’s AchievementsAchievements

Wiesel has written Wiesel has written various novels about various novels about his experiences his experiences during the Holocaust during the Holocaust including “Night” including “Night”

He has written over He has written over 40 novels in his 40 novels in his lifetimelifetime

He also won the He also won the Nobel Peace Prize in Nobel Peace Prize in 1986 1986 www.un.org/News/ossg/

messengers.htmwww.meredith.edu/summer-reading/overview.htm

I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.

~Elie Wiesel

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/e/elie_wiesel.html

http://www.undergrad.nova.edu/articles/speakerseries/eliewiesel/

In His Own Words