Elie Wiesel was born in 1928 in the town of Sighet, now part of Romania. During World War II, he, with his family and other Jews from the area, were deported to the German concentration and extermination camps, where his parents and little sister perished. Wiesel and his two older sisters survived. Liberated from Buchenwald in 1945 by advancing Allied troops, he was taken to Paris where he studied at the Sorbonne and worked as a journalist. In 1958, he published his first book, La Nuit, a memoir of his experiences in the concentration camps.

First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out--because I was not a Jew. 

Then they came for the communists and I did not speak out--because I was not a communist. 

Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out--because I was not a trade unionist. 

Then they came for me--and there was no one left to speak out for me. 

(1939)