You are a young and curious child of about fourteen. You wake up and your day starts like any other, but today is not like any other. Today your life changes forever. You watch your family and friends being picked up and loaded onto trains, not knowing if you'll ever see them again. You're lucky, if you can call it that. You are young and strong, you must take the gassed bodies of others and send them into the furnaces. Then you watch your father die, everyone you ever loved you now believe is dead. After you are finally freed, you would have the courage to tell your story to the world, you would be able to remember those scary nights and heartbreaking mornings. Would you be able to remind yourself of the tortures you faced, and the loved ones you lost, every day of your life? Why do historians think Elie Wiesel is important, you ask? What impact did it have on our world today, you ask? Elie Wiesel did the impossible: he wrote about his life experiences, both during and after the Holocaust, his imprisonment in Auschwitz, and the loss of his family. Not only did he speak openly about the Holocaust, but he spoke out against all genocide, against all acts of one race against another. He promoted human rights and helped prevent the world from repeating the Holocaust, from repeating its mistakes. Elie Wiesel's story begins just like the rest of ours, he was born to Shlomo and Sars Wiesel, in the town of Signet, Transylvania in 1928. Signet was a predominantly Jewish town, with several synagogues and places of learning. Like much of the city, the Wiesels were Jewish. Elie studied the Bible and the Torah with great fervor, he was fascinated by the sacred texts and religion, he could study them in peace, and in depth, until March...... middle of the paper ......n the world of literature and for his activity in favor of human rights. The money from his reward went to the creation of the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity. Then, in 2005, the Dalai awarded Elie with the Light of Truth Award, to signify his "significant contribution to the struggle for human rights and democratic freedoms of the people of Tibet (Koestler-Grack 89, 90, 96)." Works Cited Estess, Ted L. Elie Wiesel. New York. Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., Inc. 1980. Print. Koestler-Grack, Rachel. Elie Wiesel: witness to humanity. Pleasantville: New York. Gareth Stevens, Inc. 2009. Print.Wiesel, Elie. From the Kingdom of Memory. New York: New York. Elirion Associates, Inc. 1990. Print. Wiesel, Elie. Memoirs: All rivers go to the sea. New York. Schocken Books Inc. 1994. Print. Wiesel, Elie. Night. Trans. Marion Wiesel. La Nuit: France. Les Editions de Minuit. 2006. Print.