Biography of dawn and elie wiesel

A Biographical Overview

Wiesel at age 15

Elie Wiesel, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in , was born in the provincial town of Sighet, Romania on September 30, A Jewish community had existed there since , when it sought refuge from an outbreak of pogroms and persecution in Ukraine.

His maternal grandfather, Reb Dodye Feig, was a devout Hasidic Jew, whose influence on Wiesel was deep, and inspired him to pursue Talmudic studies in the town's Yeshiva. However his father Shlomo, who ran a grocery store, although also religious, was regarded as an emancipated Jew, open to events of the world.

He insisted that his son study modern Hebrew as well, so that he could read the works of contemporary writers. And at home in Sighet, which was close to the Hungarian border, Wiesel's family spoke mostly Yiddish, but also German, Hungarian and Romanian.

Today, Wiesel thinks in Yiddish, writes in French, and, with his wife Marion and his son Elisha, lives his life in English.

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