Funeral service held for author Elie Wiesel

Wiesel, 87, died at his New York City home on Saturday. Although he was an American citizen who never resided in Israel, news of his death sparked an outpouring of grief among Israelis who consider him one of their own. “At the same time anti-Semitism, Holocaust revisionism keeps rising. And, I personally have lost a very special friend”, Foxman said.

Wiesel was 87 years old. “Elie was born in 1927 in the town of Sighet, and during the Holocaust, when Elie was faced with certain death in the horrors of the Auschwitz concentration camp, he refused to give up the will to live”.

“He carried a message universally, he carried the Jewish pain, the message of Jewish tragedy to the world but he took it way beyond”.

On Sunday, mourners shared personal memories.

Two local members of Congress are among many paying tribute. In 1958, he published his first book, Night, about his experience at Auschwitz, which became one of the most representative books of Holocaust literature.

Foxman said that in recent months he and Wiesel would reminisce, in Yiddish, and talk philosophy. “His life was dedicated to the fight against all hatred, and for the sake of man as created in the image of God – he was a guide for us all”.

Extending his condolences to Wiesel’s wife, family and all others touched by this loss, the Secretary-General said that the United Nations is grateful for Wiesel’s contributions and remains strongly committed to Holocaust remembrance and the wider struggle for human rights for all, the spokesperson added.