Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate, dies aged 87

Born in 1928 in Sighet, Transylvania, which is now part of Romania, Elie Wiesel was fifteen years old when he and his family were deported by the Nazis.  A survivor of Auschwitz, Buna, Buchenwald and Gleiwitz, he dedicated his life to ensuring that no one would ever forget the Nazi Holocaust inflicted on the Jews.

After the liberation of the camps in April 1945, Wiesel spent a few years in a French orphanage and in 1948 began to study in Paris at the Sorbonne. Wiesel published over thirty books, earned the Nobel Peace Prize, was appointed to chair the US President's Commission on the Holocaust, was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal of Achievement and a host of other honors. Wiesel is survived by his wife Marion, their son Shlomo Elisha Wiesel, and his stepdaughter Jennifer and two grandchildren