“No human race is superior; no religious faith is inferior. All collective judgments are wrong. Only racists make them.”

Romanian-born American writer, professor, and political activist

Elie Wiesel was a Romanian-born American writer, professor, and political activist. He was also a Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate, known for his witness to the destruction of European Jewry and for writing about memory, suffering, and moral responsibility. He wrote 57 books, mostly in French and English, including Night, drawn from his experience as a Jewish prisoner at Auschwitz and Buchenwald during the Holocaust. His work combines testimony with reflection, and his public life centered on remembrance, human rights, and the ethical demands of history.