Few authors have the ability to truly capture the essence of any experience, let alone the absolute horror of an event like the Holocaust.  Elie Wiesel did just that, penning 57 books, including his most well-known work, “Night,” a memoir based on the anguish of his experience in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps of WWII. Wiesel, writer, professor, and Holocaust survivor, passed away on July 2^nd in his Manhattan home at the age of 87, leaving behind a legacy of humanitarian lessons that continue to echo throughout the world.

Wiesel, in a 1981 interview with the New York Times, stated that “If I survived, it must be for some reason. I must do something with my life. It is too serious to play games with anymore, because in my place, someone else could have been saved.” He would go on to live out this declaration, publically speaking out against man’s inhumanity to man, tirelessly campaigning for victims of oppression all over the world.  Not afraid of making himself heard to world leaders, Wiesel raised concerns to Presidents Reagan and Clinton during visits to the White House, and implored President Obama to do all that he could to bring peace to the world.  Few have worked harder, and had a stronger voice with which to bring people together for the common good. Wiesel was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986 for his work.

Wiesel was born in Romania in 1928, to parents who instilled strong humanitarian values in him at an early age. Growing up, he was exposed to both academic reason and religious faith in equal measure, once saying that his father, to him represented reason, while his mother advocated faith.

In March of 1944, Wiesel, at the age of 15, was taken, along with his family, into confinement by Germany. Then went on to be shuttled to Auschwitz, where his mother and younger sister were killed.  Later, Wiesel lost his father at the concentration camp at Buchenwald, just 8 months before liberation by Americans.

His book, “Night,” is a harrowing recollection of these experiences that has touched millions of readers.  In an excerpt from the book, Wiesel writes, “Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky. Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my faith forever. Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me, for all eternity, of the desire to live. Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never.”

Because Wiesel was willing to share his unimaginably painful experience with the world, and because he was able to communicate it so skillfully that millions of readers were able to walk in his shoes for a time, his work increased, and continues to increase global sensitivity to human suffering. To read his work is to remember, and to remember is to never allow such tragedy to happen again.