by Barbara Goldberg
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Relatives of Elie Wiesel Sunday attended a funeral ceremony in a synagogue in Manhattan, the day after his death at his home in New York after a life dedicated to the memory of Holocaust victims.
“My husband was a fighter,” said Marion Wiesel. “He fought for the memory of the six million Jews who perished during the Holocaust and Israel. He led many battles for the innocent victims, regardless of their origin and their faith.”
Born in Romania, the writer and philosopher was deported 15 years in the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp, which he recounts in “the Night”. Installed in the USA, where he led an academic career, he obtained US citizenship in 1968. The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to him in 1986. He was 87 years old.
“We, the survivors have lost the voice of memory and I personally lost a very close friend,” lamented Abraham Foxman, former director of the Anti-Defamation League, American Association of struggle against anti-Semitism.
in the evening, the One World Trade Center in New York was to be illuminated in blue and white Israeli national colors, to honor the missing.
“May the memory of Elie remains forever a blessing, “said Andrew Cuomo, Governor of the State of New York, in a statement.
in 1986, the Nobel Committee hailed him as” one of the most important leaders and spiritual leaders at a time when violence, repression and racism continue to dominate the world. “
in France, where he completed his journalism studies at the Sorbonne, Elie Wiesel was awarded in 1984 the Legion of Honour, before being made Grand officer in 1990 and Grand cross in 2001.
“Elie Wiesel was the same elegance, grandeur and generosity” said Jack Lang, a former culture minister, in a statement Saturday.
“the horrible suffering that life has inflicted made him grow in his deep humanity. Great writer, he has admirably express the density of the human soul. His love of France led him to write in French he savored with passion, “he said.
” NEVER FORGET I DO TONIGHT “
Author of dozens of books written in French, Elie Wiesel has never given up his fight for the memory of the Holocaust. Received in 1985 at the white House, he had tried to dissuade President Ronald Reagan lays a wreath flowers in a German cemetery where the graves of many famous SS are.
Near Barack Obama, he did not hesitate to challenge his policy towards Israel and s’ in favor of the colonization of East Jerusalem. the US president on Saturday welcomed the memory “of the great moral voices of our time and, in many ways, the conscience of the world”.
“his life and the power of his example, lead us to be better,” he said in a statement. “the face of evil, we must appeal to our ability to do good. Faced with hatred, we must love. “
After the war, Elie Wiesel waited ten years to get into writing” Night “, the first volume of a trilogy whose other two parts are entitled “Dawn” and “the Day.”
“I will never forget that night, the first night of camp, which has made my life a long night, seven times locked. Never shall I forget that smoke, “he writes there.
” Never shall I forget the little faces of the children I had seen the body turn into scrolls under a silent sky. Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my faith forever. I will never forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me for all eternity of the desire to live. “
(With Ari Rabinovitch, Jean-Philippe Salaun Lefief and Tangi for the French service)
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