Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and renowned Holocaust survivor, dies at 87

[Cooley Hurd]

Source: Haaretz

Holocaust survivor, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, prolific author and outspoken activist Elie Wiesel died Saturday at the age of 87. Wiesel was perhaps best known for his major role in promoting Holocaust education, and for perpetuating the memory of the Holocaust in the post-World War II era with his memoir “Night,” based on his experience as a teenager in the Auschwitz concentration camp.

Eliezer “Elie” Wiesel was born on September 30, 1928 in the Romanian town of Sighet, to Sarah and Shlomo Wiesel. His maternal grandfather, Dodye Feig, was a member of the Vishnitz Hasidic sect; his strong influence over Wiesel was seen later in some of his writings. Wiesel received a traditional religious education while growing up in Sighet; many years later, in 2002, he returned to his hometown to dedicate the Elie Weisel Memorial House at the site of his childhood home.

The Wiesel family’s lives were seriously disrupted in 1940, when Hungary annexed Sighet and all the Jews in town were forced to move into one of two ghettoes. In May 1944, the Nazis, with Hungary’s agreement, deported the Jewish community of Sighet to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. The teenage Wiesel was sent with his father Shlomo to the Buna Werke labor camp, a sub-camp of Auschwitz III-Monowitz, where they were forced to work for eight months before being transferred to a series of other concentration camps near the war’s end.


Read more: http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.575072

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A great man with a profound sense of justice and peace. Cross gently, Great Soul.

[sinkingfeeling]

1. Sad.

[gademocrat7]

2. May he rest in peace.

[shenmue]

3. Memory eternal

[BumRushDaShow]

4. U.S. media now has breaking banners on this

R.I.P. to someone who gave voice to the horror but represented hope that one could go on with life.

[Nonhlanhla]

5. A moment of silence

[Stellar]

6. So sad.

[Odin2005]

7. Another victim of this shitty year.

[Danmel]

8. A voice for justice

Deeply saddened to hear of the loss of Elie Wiesel. A man of courage, conviction and deep humanity. As the daughter of a survivor, the loss of every survivor hurts and reinforces the importance of ensuring that we remember, and teach future generations that humanity is always just one inch away from unimaginable evil if we remain silent. May all who loved him and admired him be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem and may his memory always be for a blessing.

[sheshe2]

9. May he rest in peace

[Sand Rat Expat]

10. Godspeed, Elie.

Never again.

[etherealtruth]

11. .

[DinahMoeHum]

12. Rest In Power, Mr. Wiesel.

Your witness and your writing will forever sear the world's conscience.

[lordsummerisle]

13. RIP

[msanthrope]

14. I had the honor of meeting him once. What a great soul. nt

[irisblue]

15. .

[MADem]

16. I saw this at Raw Story and came to LBN to see if it had been put up yet. RIP, EW. nt

[elljay]

19. The difference being

posters on DU wished Wiesel to rest in peace and Raw Story is filled with antisemites who couldnt miss the opportunity to make their vile comments. Antisemitism is the only bigotry tolerated, even applauded by people who consider themselves progressive and Raw Story is the Stormfront of so-called progressive sites.

[JI7]

20. i can't even consider people with such views to be progressive .

even though Elie Wiesel lived into his late 80s i still feel he is gone too soon.

[MADem]

21. Is it, really? I never heard that--I was reading another story at that site and saw the headline.

I've never seen the sort of language you mention, but then again, I don't spend much time reading the comments at unmoderated sites--there's just too many haters out there.

[elljay]

25. Unfortunately it is

You frequently see posts about Jews controlling the media, describing Israel as " a nation of Zionist pigs," conflating the treatment of Palestinians to Auschwitz (please show me 1.5 million burnt bodies outside a West Bank gas chamber!). Every OP about Jews invites comments about Israel, when they would never think to post about Boko Haram just because an African American posted about different subject matter. Antisemitism is widely tolerated in liberal circles, especially when cloaked as "anti-Zionist," and yes, I can and do distinguish very valid criticism of Israel. It is a disturbing trend and I just am not seeing the outrage.

[MADem]

26. I've never seen articles like that at RS--in fact, they were using Haaretz as a source.

They don't control what people post, though, I guess.

I suppose they could go for moderation, but I imagine there is an expense involved with that , and they don't seem to have super-deep pockets.

Because I'm not much of a comment reader, I haven't seen this uptick--every time I go to read comments from papers and webpages I see all kinds of hate--religious hate, racial hate, and that ever present Hillary hate--it turns me off to reading what anyone might have to say, which is why I prefer to come to DU for internet interaction.

That said, I have noticed Donald Trump dogwhistling on white bigotry and that latest charmer of a tweet with HRC with the money and the blood red Star of David, and I was appalled that he basically got away with that, particularly on the day that one of the world's Jewish heroes passed on.

I don't think that kind of bashing and trashing is appropriate and I object to it when I do see it.

[elljay]

28. Raw doesn't moderate comments

but they are selective in an interesting way about the articles they post. They avoid posting articles about Palestinian terrorist attacks on Israeli Jews but post articles about Israeli attacks on Palestinians. Either post both or neither I say. And, while sites like Raw may not moderate comments, I expect the readers to jump on bigots of all flavors. I don't want to read racists posts and I don't tolerate those people. I used to like Raw but became disgusted at the toleration of antisemitism. From the relative lack of pushback, I have to conclude that the current commenters don't mind it. I chose to get my information from sites that don't have this attitude. Fair criticism is always ok and necessary in a democracy, and bonus points for documenting the supporting facts. When it crosses the line from factual to irrational, I get mad.

[MADem]

29. I can't remember ever going there for international news, as a rule, anyway,

so maybe that is the disconnect with me. I usually get shuttled there by a link re: a domestic issue, and then, once there, I do what a lot of people do, I click around a bit.


It's not a real news site, anyway--it's a news aggregator, like Drudge. They scour the net and try to be "SECOND" to produce the hot story. Their product, pretty much, is only as good as where they swipe it from.

[mountain grammy]

17. Rest in peace.

[Night Watchman]

18. Truly a Good Man

Godspeed, Mr Wiesel.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

22. My favorite quote from him is, "Hate isn't the opposite of Love, Indifference is."

[smirkymonkey]

23. May he rest in peace.

[Silver_Witch]

24. The world has lost a great voice! May we never forget!

[BlancheSplanchnik]

27. His voice. A Jewish voice.

A Voice for the World.

My parents mentioned many relatives who died in the gas chambers, but never went into any further detail. Not even names or stories of their lives.

[Beacool]

30. He was one of a dwindling number of Holocaust survivors.

Ellie Wiesel was a witness to the atrocities committed by the Nazis, but he spoke for the victims of genocides around the world.

The world has lost a great man. May he rest in peace.

[raven mad]

31. True hero.