On September 30, 1928, there was a birth that would later have a life changing experience to spread across the globe and educate millions. Elie Wiesel was born in the town of Sighet, which is now a part of Romania. Along with other common Jewish families, his environment was focused on religious studies, family importance, God, and community.

With the start of the Holocaust, Elie’s village was deported in 1944. "Never shallI forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust," he stated in his novel, Night.

Wiesel was a survivor of the sickening concentration camps; he attended Auschwitz, Buna, Buchenwald and Gleiwitz. Elie turned to his father for support after they were separated from the rest of their family. In January of 1945, his father died in Buchenwald.

The camps were liberated in April, and Elie went to a French orphanage until 1948. He then began to study in Paris and was involved with the French newspaper L'arche. His passion for journalism soared for publications of over thirty books to share his story. His achievements included the Nobel Peace Prize, appointment to chair the President's Commission on the Holocaust, and he was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal of Achievement. Wiesel became a United States citizen in 1956 while in recovery from a car accident in New York. While on the Commission board, Wiesel planned a memorial site to honor Holocaust victims and remained chairman until 1986. His determination will never be forgotten.