Elie Wiesel to speak at Saint Xavier University; Tickets on sale soon for third ‘SXU Voices and Visions Speaker Series’ lecture

Chicago (March 17, 2008) – Tickets go on sale soon to see Nobel Peace Prize recipient and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel as the third speaker in the highly successful SXU Voices & Visions Speaker Series at Saint Xavier University in Chicago. Wiesel will speak at 7 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 25.

Prior to his lecture, Wiesel will conduct a special classroom discussion with Saint Xavier students.

“We are very pleased that Mr. Wiesel will continue our tradition of bringing international figures to the Chicago area.” said Robert Tenczar, vice president for University Relations. “We received tremendous response to our first two SXU Voices and Visions speakers, Former Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright and Gen. Colin L. Powell, USA (Ret.).”

Elie Wiesel was born in 1928 in Sighet, Transylvania, which is now part of Romania. He was 15 when he and his family were deported by the Nazis to the concentration camp, Auschwitz. His mother and younger sister perished, but his two older sisters survived. Elie and his father were transported to Buchenwald, where his father died shortly before the camp was liberated in April 1945.

Later as a journalist, he was persuaded to write about his experiences. The result was his internationally acclaimed memoir, “La Nuit” or “Night,” which has since been translated into more than 30 languages.

In 1978, President Jimmy Carter appointed Elie Wiesel as Chairman of the President's Commission on the Holocaust. In 1980, he became the Founding Chairman of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council. He is also the Founding President of the Paris-based Universal Academy of Cultures and the Chairman of The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity, an organization he and his wife created to fight indifference, intolerance and injustice. Wiesel has received more than 100 honorary degrees from institutions of higher learning.

Since 1976, he has been the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Boston University. Previously, he served as Distinguished Professor of Judaic Studies at the City University of New York (1972-76) and the first Henry Luce Visiting Scholar in Humanities and Social Thought at Yale University (1982-83).

Elie Wiesel is the author of more than 40 books of fiction and non-fiction, including A Beggar in Jerusalem (Prix Médicis winner), The Testament (Prix Livre Inter winner), The Fifth Son (winner of the Grand Prize in Literature from the City of Paris), and two volumes of his memoirs.

For his literary and human rights activities, he has received numerous awards including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal and the Medal of Liberty Award, and the rank of Grand-Croix in the French Legion of Honor. In 1986, Wiesel won the Nobel Prize for Peace, and soon after, Marion and Elie Wiesel established The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity.

The event is co-sponsored by the Office of University Relations and the Student Activities Board.

For more information about the event, please call (773) 298-3311 or e-mail specialevents@sxu.edu. Reporters interested in covering Wiesel’s lecture or taking advantage of a special media opportunity the day of the lecture should contact Director of Media Relations Joe Moore at (773) 298-3937 or (cell) (773) 203-6671.


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