One of modern times’ heroes, Simon Wiesenthal, died at age 96.
An adequate tribute can’t be paid here in this small space but there is lots to be found on the internet. He might be best known to younger Canadians educated in private schools for his namesake institute, the great Simon Wiesenthal Center.
Most people aren’t aware of this, but the founding of the Simon Wiesenthal Center is thanks in large part to a half-million-dollar gift from Canadian businessman Samuel Belzberg in the late 70s. The Center is based in Los Angeles but has offices in several cities.
This story reports the news and offers a little background, but do yourselves a favor and learn more about this great man.
VIENNA, Austria — Simon Wiesenthal, who after surviving five death camps helped track down Nazi war criminals and then spent the rest of his life fighting anti-Semitism and prejudice against all people, died Tuesday. He was 96.
Wiesenthal, who helped find one-time SS leader Adolf Eichmann and the policeman who arrested Anne Frank, died in his sleep at his home in Vienna, said Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean and founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles.
“I think he’ll be remembered as the conscience of the Holocaust. In a way he became the permanent representative of the victims of the Holocaust, determined to bring the perpetrators of the greatest crime to justice,” Hier told The Associated Press.
After being liberated from the Mauthausen death camp in May 1945, Wiesenthal dedicated himself to tracking down Nazi war criminals and to being a voice for the 6 million Jews who died during the onslaught. He himself lost 89 relatives in the Holocaust.
Wiesenthal spent more than 50 years hunting Nazi war criminals, speaking out against neo-Nazism and racism, and remembering the Jewish experience as a lesson for humanity. Through his work, he said, some 1,100 Nazi war criminals were brought to justice.
PTBC was founded by Mr. Johannesen in 2000.
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