Elie Wiesel

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“He’s the man who’s lived through hell without every hating. Who’s been exposed to the most depraved aspects of human nature but still manages to find love, to believe in God, to experience joy.” This was a quote said by Oprah Winfrey during her interview with Elie Wiesel, a holocaust survivor. No person who has not experienced the Holocaust and all its horrors could ever relate to Elie Wiesel. He endured massive amounts of torture, physically, mentally, and emotionally just because he was a Jew. One simple aspect of Wiesel’s life he neither chose or could changed shaped his life. It is important to take a look at Wiesel’s life to see the pain that he went through and try to understand the experiences that happened in his life. Elie Wiesel is a well respected, influential figure with an astonishing life story. Although Elie Wiesel had undergone some of the harshest experiences possible, he was still a man able to enjoy life after the Holocaust.

Elie Wiesel was born in Sighet, Romania (United States Holocaust). Wiesel had three sisters and they were an Orthodox Jewish family; with his parents being shop keepers. Wiesel’s father was highly respected in the community and many people looked up to him (Wiesel). Wiesel started studying the Kabbalah, a discipline and school of thought concerned with the mystical aspect of Judaism. It is a set of esoteric teachings meant to explain the relationship between an eternal/mysterious Creator and the mortal/finite universe (Google). This was odd for a boy of Wiesel’s age. Wiesel’s family was socially active within the community and well trusted. When World War II began, the town of Sighet was forced to live within two ghettos. However, Wiesel and his family were able to live wi...

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...ade Manifest: The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Virginia University, 10 Mar. 1997. Web. 5 Apr. 2011. eliebio.htm>. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. "Elie Wiesel." Holocaust Encyclopedia. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 6 Jan. 2011. Web. 5 Apr. 2011. .

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. "United States Holocaust Memorial Museum." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 6 Jan. 2011. Web. 5 Apr.2011..

Hearst Corporation "Oprah Talks to Elie Wiesel." Interview by Oprah Winfrey. Oprah. The Oprah Magazine, Nov. 2000. Web. 5 Apr. 2011. .
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