The Jewish Chronicle
On this day: Simon Wiesenthal dies
The Holocaust survivor turned Nazi-hunter dies at the age of 96
September 20, 2010 16:27
The Holocaust survivor turned Nazi-hunter dies at the age of 96
September 20, 2010 16:27Simon Wiesenthal described himself as “the deputy of the dead.”
Born in what was then Austria-Hungary, he spent much of his childhood in Vienna before going to Prague to study architecture.
Several members of his family were murdered by the Nazis and he was separated from his wife Cyla and sent to Mauthausen, where he survived, barely.
After the Holocaust the couple, who had believed each other dead, were reunited and in 1946 he opened the Jewish Documentation Centre in Lin, with the aim of identifying former Nazis and bringing them to justice.
