Eliezer "Elie" Wiesel (September 30, 1928 to July 2, 2016) was a Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He authored 57 books, written mostly in French and English, including Night, a work based on his experiences as a Jewish prisoner in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps. In 1986, Wiesel was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for being a messenger to mankind: his message is one of peace, atonement and dignity.