The world has been mourning the passing of Elie Wiesel. President Barack Obama (pictured, via) wrote a message to praise the Night author.
Here’s an excerpt from Obama’s statement: “Elie was not just the world’s most prominent Holocaust survivor, he was a living memorial. After we walked together among the barbed wire and guard towers of Buchenwald where he was held as a teenager and where his father perished, Elie spoke words I’ve never forgotten – ‘Memory has become a sacred duty of all people of goodwill.’ Upholding that sacred duty was the purpose of Elie’s life.”
Wiesel was well-known as an author, an activist, a Holocaust survivor, and the 1986 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. Throughout his writing career, he created novels, essays, and articles. Deadline reports that many people have shared messages in remembrance of Wiesel including Vice President Joe Biden, The BFG movie director Steven Spielberg, and gothic fiction author Anne Rice. Do you have a favorite quote from Wiesel? (via TIME)