| Wiesenthal, Simon | M | 01908-12-3131 December 1908 | 02005-09-3030 September 2005 (96) | Ukraine |
(based Wikipedia entries) After being forced to work as a slave labourer in Nazi concentration camps, Wiesenthal dedicated most of his life to tracking down and gathering information on fugitive Nazi war criminals so that they could be brought to trial.
Sadly, there are many inconsistencies in Wiesenthal’s biographies and descriptions of his history. Guy Walters. a britixh author, wrote “”Wiesenthal’s scant regard for the truth makes it possible to doubt everything he ever wrote or said,” British journalist and editor of The Times Daniel Finkelstein describes Walters’ research as “impeccable”, and reports that Ben Barkow of the Wiener Library supported the need to re-evaluate Wiesenthal’s contributions. Finkelstein said that “accepting that Wiesenthal was a showman and a braggart and, yes, even a liar, can live alongside acknowledging the contribution he made”.
Rabbi Hier meets with Pope Francis
Amongst these contributions is The Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. The Center was founded in 1977 by Rabbi Marvin Hier Hier’s organisation paid Wiesenthal an honorarium for the right to use his name.[90] The center helped with the campaign to remove the statute of limitations on Nazi crimes and continues the hunt for suspected Nazi war criminals, but today its primary activities include Holocaust remembrance, education, and fighting antisemitism.[91][92] The center’s Holocaust museum, the largest in the United States, opened in 1993.[93] Moriah Films, the media division, has won two Academy Awards, including one for the documentary Genocide (1982).[94] Wiesenthal was not always happy with the way the center was run. He thought the museum was not dignified enough and that he should have a larger say in the overall operations. He even wrote to the Board of Directors requesting Hier’s removal, but in the end had to be content with being a figurehead.