Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal dies

[LoKyBuckeye]

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Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal dies
Tue Sep 20, 2005 7:59 AM EDT6

VIENNA (Reuters) - Simon Wiesenthal, the veteran Nazi hunter who tirelessly tracked down Nazi war criminals for more than six decades, has died in Vienna at the age of 96, the Simon Wiesenthal Center said on Tuesday.

In a campaign aimed at ensuring the world did not forget the terrors of the Third Reich, Wiesenthal brought 1,100 Nazi fugitives to trial. Among them was Adolf Eichmann, the man entrusted by Adolf Hitler with carrying out the Nazi genocide program against the Jews.

"Simon Wiesenthal acted to bring justice to those who had escaped justice," Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said. "In doing so, he was the voice of 6 million."

Altogether the Nazis are estimated to have murdered 11 civilians, including 6 million Jews.

Wiesenthal died in his sleep, Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, told Reuters by phone.

Wiesenthal, born in 1908 in what is now Ukraine, traveled the world into his old age, lecturing on the Holocaust and as director of the Jewish Documentation Center collecting data on the whereabouts of the last unpunished villains of Nazi Germany.

Himself a Jew and former concentration camp inmate, Wiesenthal founded the Jewish Documentation Center in his post-war home Austria. There he built up an information network which he used to uncover and pin evidence on those responsible for World War Two atrocities.

He maintained that his motivation was not anger but justice. "I am someone who seeks justice, not revenge," Wiesenthal said.

"His legacy is that he will be regarded by many as the conscience of the Holocaust," Hier said. Speaking of Wiesenthal's role as a Nazi hunter, Hier added: "He just took the job, nobody appointed him, nobody else wanted it."

 

[BB73]

He lived an interesting life. It's amazing he lived so long, based on what his mission in life was.

 

[chille37]

Altogether the Nazis are estimated to have murdered 11 civilians, including 6 million Jews

Does this make sense to anybody else?

 

[OSUsushichic]

Does this make sense to anybody else?

The Nazis killed Slavs and other people they deemed racially inferior. Even Germans who were mentally or physically handicapped were killed. Some homosexuals were killed. They didn't have to be Jewish.

 

[Bucklion]

I think he meant the "11 civilians" which is supposed to be "11 million civilians"

Some estimates are closer to 20, but no one will ever know for sure. Of course, there are still the nutbags out there who claim it never happened at all...even though it was our guys who found a lot of them.

 

[Southpaw Stone]

I thought Hitler killed all the gypsies and homosexuals he could find....I know I read that somewhere. Anyway....Kudos to Wiesenthal. He lived a great life (and was lucky enough to die in his sleep.) Good on him. :cheers: