Eliezer "Elie" Wiesel was born in Sighet, Transylvania (present-day Romania), on September 30, 1928. He had two older sisters, Bea and Hilda, and a younger sister, Tzipora. His parents ran a store in Sighet. Wiesel grew up speaking Yiddish at home and Hungarian, Romanian, and German outside of his home. He also learned classical Hebrew in school. Elie's mother's family was part of the Hasidic sect of Judaism. As a child, Elie was fascinated with the mystical tradition of Kabbalah. He devoted his early years to religious study, though his father encouraged him to study modern Hebrew and secular subjects also.
During the early years of World War II, Sighet remained relatively unaffected by...
