PHOTOS: Elie Wiesel through the years

ByABC7.com staff KABC logo
Sunday, July 3, 2016
Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel gestures while talking on April 20, 1985 during a White House in Washington.
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PHOTOS: Elie Wiesel through the years Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel gestures while talking on April 20, 1985 during a White House in Washington.
AP

Nobel laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel has died at 87. His death was announced Saturday by Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial.

Tributes to Wiesel have been pouring in from throughout the world.

"Elie Wiesel was one of the great moral voices of our time, and in many ways, the conscience of the world," President Barack Obama said. "Tonight, Michelle and I join people across the United States, Israel and around the globe in mourning the loss and celebrating the life of a truly remarkable human being.

Wiesel's widow Marion Wiesel said: "My husband was a fighter. He fought for the memory of the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust, and he fought for Israel. He waged countless battles for innocent victims regardless of ethnicity or creed. But what was most meaningful to him was teaching the innumerable students who attended his university classes. We are deeply moved by the outpouring of love and support we have already seen in the wake of his passing."

Elisha Wiesel said: "My father raised his voice to presidents and prime ministers when he felt issues on the world stage demanded action. But those who knew him in private life had the pleasure of experiencing a gentle and devout man who was always interested in others, and whose quiet voice moved them to better themselves. I will hear that voice for the rest of my life, and hope and pray that I will continue to earn the unconditional love and trust he always showed me."

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a statement saying that Wiesel "gave expression to the victory of the human spirit over cruelty and evil, through his extraordinary personality and his fascinating books."

Netanyahu said that "in the darkness of the Holocaust, in which our sisters and brothers were killed - six million - Elie Wiesel served as a ray of light and example of humanity who believed in the goodness in people."

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said: "With the death of Elie Wiesel, we have lost one of the great witnesses to history. Few wrote as eloquently or as forcefully about the horrors of the Nazi holocaust, and, more than anyone, he embodied the moral imperative never to repeat similar horrors in future. He will be mourned here in Los Angeles as he will be everywhere - and his message will never be forgotten."

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