Wiesel's book was among the first popular accounts written by a witness to the very worst, and it documented what Frank could hardly have imagined. "Elie, a master of words, expressed in his unique personality and fascinating books the victory of human spirit over cruelty and evil." "The state of Israel and the Jewish people bitterly mourn the death of Elie Wiesel," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity, which he established in 1988, explored the problems of hatred and ethnic conflicts around the world. In 1978, he was chosen by President Carter to head the President's Commission on the Holocaust, and plan an American memorial museum to Holocaust victims.

Source: New Zealand Herald July 02, 2016 22:12 UTC