'He was in many ways, the conscience of the world': Obama leads the tributes to Holocaust survivor, author and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel who has died at age 87

Elie Wiesel, who survived the Holocaust and went on to become an influential author and Nobel Peace Prize winner, has died aged 87, Israel's Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem said on Saturday. 


Wiesel's experiences in the concentration camps became the basis for his book 'Night', which won him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. He later became a journalist and in 1978, President Jimmy Carter appointed Wiesel as Chairman of the President's Commission on the Holocaust. In his lifetime, Wiesel was also awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States Congressional Gold Medal, and the Grand Croix of the French Legion of Honor.