was born in Romania. At the age of 16, he was deported, along with his family, to Nazi concentration camps. He survived, but his mother, father, and a sister did not. Later, he became a voice for victims of the camps, and has written more than 40 works dealing with the Holocaust, Judaism, and the moral responsibility of all people to fight hatred, racism, and genocide. In 1986, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for helping people learn "how not to succumb to despair."
For the last 25 years, Professor Wiesel has been the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Boston University, where Kim Shippey asked him how, during his time in prison, he had kept his faith.
I don't owe those I live with my despair. I owe them what I can do with it.
