Holocaust survivor and Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal dies at age 96

[IndianaGreen]

Now breaking on BBC.

On edit, here is the AP story:

Holocaust survivor Simon Wiesenthal dies
Legendary Nazi hunter, anti-Semitism educator was 96
Updated: 3:03 a.m. ET Sept. 20, 2005

LOS ANGELES - Holocaust survivor Simon Wiesenthal, who fought against anti-Semitism for decades and founded the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, has died in his sleep in Vienna, according to officials at the center. He was 96.

Wiesenthal helped track down numerous Nazi war criminals following World War Two then spent the later decades of his life fighting anti-Semitism and prejudice against all people.

"I think he'll be remembered as he 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," Rabbi Marvin Hier, the center's dean and founder, told The Associated Press.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9404749/

[babylonsister]

1. RIP, Mr. Wiesenthal; 96! Wow!!

[IndianaGreen]

2. He was a great man

who was determined to bring to justice people that committed the most heinous crimes in modern history.

[Archae]

3. The damn Nazi-loving IHR says he's "fraudulent."

Can these fascist slime get ANYTHING right>
Guess not. :mad:

http://www.ihr.org/leaflets/wiesenthal.shtml

[Journeyman]

4. . . . and so his obligation to Simon Dubnow is at an end. . .

and we alone are left to carry on. . .

[NoodleBoy]

5. the entire world should mourn that the old symbols of fighting fascism are

dying.

[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

53. Deleted message

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[IndianaGreen]

24. The Nazis intended to exterminate entire races and peoples

Jews, Roma, mental and physical impaired, etc. There is no comparison between the Holocaust and other historical events before or after it.

Israel has no policies of systematically exterminating the Arabs. Sadly, the same cannot be said about groups such as Hamas.

[Name removed]

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[IndianaGreen]

29. The only "final solution" is the one advocated by Hamas

Israel is a democracy, not a dictatorship, and the vast majority of Israelis would oppose a policy of ethnic cleansing or outright extermination. The same cannot be said for the majority of Israel's opponents. Fed a steady diet of anti-Semitism from their mosques and madrassas, they would not hesitate to kill every Jew in the region if given the chance. The jidahists are not a myth! This is why it is so important to keep fanning the flames of peace, and why it is also important to recognize that just as you have legitimate peacemakers on both sides, you also have jihadists on both sides as well.

[hogwyld]

30. Let me ask you this

Is it democratic to build up a separation barrier, or an endless maze of roadblocks? What democracy would advocate turning Gaza into literally a prison, cut off from access to sea, air, or land? While it might be a democracy by the book, some of it's leaders use dictatorial powers.

[Mairead]

44. Of course comparisons can be made! You can argue that the Shoah

was historically unique in magnitude and in the nature of the eventual Endlösung, but the Nazis started out by trying to emotionally crush and 'transfer' the Jews, not exterminate them. Which is what the Likudniki and their fellow-travellers are trying to do to the Palestinian Arabs today. Recall that it was the Commies and socialists, not the Jews, who were the first groups 'beseitigt' by the Nazis.

There are broadly accurate parallels that can be drawn between the pre-war Nazi treatment of Jews in Germany, the Afrikaner treatment of the Black people in SA during Apartheid, and the Zionist treatment of Arabs in Palestine since 1948. I really don't think there's any way you can believably dispute that.

[AlienGirl]

52. Can we please, just once, have a moment of mourning

for a man who fought *real* Nazis, the kind with jackboots and swastikas, and not have it turn into an Israel-bashing thread?

Tucker

[barb162]

63. ABSOLUTELY

He was a great man who worked tirelessly for his very worthy cause. The entire world should miss him. I hope the entire world does miss him.

[Mairead]

70. Sure. I suppose it can even include the "hagiographising" under the

nihil nisi bonum convention. I'll say no more. Zej gezint.

[Jim Sagle]

54. If 180 degrees off is broadly accurate, then I guess you're right.

[iamjoy]

59. There Are Major Differences

Jews living in Western Europe in the first few decades of the twentieth century never said Germany had no right to exist. Quite the contrary, many of the German Jews were loyal citizens, some had even fought in the Great War for the Kaiser, only to be gassed some twenty-five years later.

OTOH, Many Arabs have been stating that the Jewish people have no right to a homeland. Since 1948 they have been speaking of "pushing Israel into the sea." In some ways, it is the Arab goals that are not so different than the Nazis, only now the Jews have the big guns.

Israel is not trying to crush all Palestinians, all Arabs or all Muslims. What they are trying to do is crush terrorists who wish to wipe them from the face of the earth. Tragically, they have not handled it well and innocent Palestinians have been caught in Israel's brutal repression. Sadly, it is becoming harder and harder to separate criticism of Israel from Anti-Zionism or from Anti-Semitism.

[aion]

71. What exactly is a German Jew, however?

Is it a citizenship sort of thing, or an "I was born of parents who were born..." sort of regress?

I am also not entirely sure how far you can push that "loyal citizens" argument. What does it say of you if you're entirely loyal to a brutal dictator?

[iamjoy]

76. I Mean Before Hitler's Rise To Power

a lot of the Jews living in Germany considered themselves loyal Germans. They loved their country, just like Americans of all religions love the USA.

When Hitler rose to power, some of them didn't take him seriously. A lot of them thought it would pass and didn't want to leave their homeland. Think about it, most of us are unhappy with the way things are going in the USA now, but how many of us have actually packed up and emigrated? We love our country, we consider ourselves patriotic and we don't like Dubya.

added on edit: this is not a comparison of Dubya to Hitler or the US today to 1930's Germany. It is a statement about how patriotic citizens can strongly dislike their leader or feel conflicted about their love of country because of their leader(s). It is a statement about how people may even feel scared of the future, but stay 'cos they think it will get better.

[Colorado Blue]

65. Excuse me but I don't think the Jews were waging war

against the Germans, nor were factions of Jews threatening to destroy Germany and exterminate all her inhabitants, a la Hamas et.al., or throw the Germans into the sea, nor were there any Jewish suicide bombers blowing up German buses.

Moreover, the Jewish people have not been damning and persecuting Arabs (or anybody else) for centuries, or even since 1948, as was the case in Europe, merely because they constitute a minority or otherwise don't meet with church, state or societal approval. The Holocaust was the culmination of 2,000 years of violent persecution. The situation in the Middle East is the result of decades of war and violence - a political, nationalist and cultural conflict - not just between Israel and the Palestinians, but between Israel and many of the Arab states.

Finally I don't see any plans to transfer any Palestinians. Last I checked it was the Jews who got transferred - out of their homes, their farms, their businesses - out of Gaza.

Finally, Israel was FOUNDED by "commies and socialists" and one of the reasons Jews got into trouble in the 20th century was the fact that the Bolshevik revolution was blamed on them. That indeed is still believed in certain far right corners of the universe. So the comment about "commies and socialists" is not only inappropriate, it is a little silly.

The comparison between the Arab/Israeli conflict and the treatment of Jews in Nazi Germany is beyond spurious, it is odious.

[KitchenWitch]

6. Kicked and Nominated.

:cry:

[In_The_Wind]

7. nominated

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. now the torch has been passed

and we are now the torch bearers

[enigmatic]

9. Very, Very Sad

RIP, my friend.

[applegrove]

10. Peace to you my brother.

[Behind the Aegis]

11. Today, 16 Elul 5765, sadness...just sadness...

The Mourner's Kaddish


The Shema (first two lines)



His name and his deeds will live on, like his people!

[eyl]

72. Amen

baruch dayan emet

yehi zichro baruch

[Greeby]

12. So long, Simon

:patriot: <-------- shame we can't get an Austrian one of these

[MADem]

13. I can only hope that his work will be remembered

I cannot believe it, even though he was elderly. He was such a symbol for justice and understanding.

Funny, I feel a bit worried at his passing, that the events that he kept in the forefront of people's mind may be forgotten someday, and they should never be forgotten. He was such a living symbol, IMO.

[flygal]

14. RIP - what an amazing human being

[Piperay]

17. R-I-P Simon

Peace for you at last.

[psychopomp]

18. Sometimes, the good don't die young

RIP Mr. Weisenthal.

[LibertyorDeath]

19. Died in his sleep at the age of 96

Sounds like someone was watching over Mr.Wiesenthal

RIP

So many Nazi's so few Wiesenthal's

[In_The_Wind]

20. .

rest in peace

[sabra]

21. "Zichrono Livracha"

Hebrew for "may his memory be a blessing"

[Poll_Blind]

22. Wiesenthal "appallingly silent on Israel's intolerance of Palestinians"

Don't get me wrong, hunting down old Nazis has its place- ever since I saw Marathon Man with Dustin Hoffman I was disgusted that any of the fuckers had escaped to safety. He just may have outlived the Nazis he sought, a fitting tribute to the human spirit of survival.

However, he didn't do much to help Jews by his silence on the intolerance shown twoard Palestinians by Israel. If he had applied his keen sense of human rights equally his organization might have been taken more seriously by the rest of the world.

PB

[IndianaGreen]

25. I wouldn't use Norman Finkelstein as a reliable source for anything

and Counterpunch has a well-established track record of wearing blinders when it comes to the Middle East and terrorism. Finkelstein's comparison of the Holocaust to Israel's Occupation of Palestine is factually wrong and it is a smear intended to diminish the Nazi horrors.

Many of my friends on the Left wear rose-colored glasses when it comes to Palestinian terrorism. I doubt that many of them would shed any tears if the Arabs succeeded in driving Israel into the sea.

[ursacorwin]

48. well, i'm not in the mood for a pissing contest about I/P "terrorism"

but hopefully you'll agree with me that the iraq war is one based on lies and that serves no good purpose except to enrich halliburton et al? over 100K iraqis are dead, killed by an american would-be dictator, one who shows no signs of slowing down and makes noises about invading other nations like iran and syria. whatever may happen in iraq, and all the deaths there happening now, the guilt is clearly on bush, right?

SW was a supporter of the war, and used his own center to push pro-war propaganda before and after the start of the war. he lost a lot of credibility in my eyes when he did that.

[Behind the Aegis]

50. Confusion

The SW Center is run by a different man. It was named for SW. I have googled all over and I cannot find one statement that SW, himself, supported the war. The SW Center did support it based on the lies of the administration, as did many organizations.

[ursacorwin]

80. right here

http://www.wiesenthal.com/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=fwLYKnN8LzH&b=245506&ct=285326

" "As a survivor of the Nazi Holocaust who lost 89 members of my family, I have experienced firsthand the horrors of war and bloodshed. I know that in any conflict many innocent lives will be lost. But history has taught us that the consequences of ignoring evil and terror pose an even greater risk for mankind.

The world has confronted Saddam before, but for twelve years he has refused to listen. President George W. Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and Prime Minister Jose Mara Aznar of Spain, do not seek to conquer Iraq but rather to confront a dictator who has used weapons of mass destruction and committed genocide against his own people."


didn't take me that long to find it. color me unimpressed.

[barb162]

64. How very true your words are here.

[Tai-chi]

26. Wiesenthal missed the most important issue

the financial supporters and creators of the Nazi war machine.

Bush - Nazi Link Confirmed
By by John Buchanan
from The New Hampshire Gazette Vol. 248, No. 1, October 10, 2003

By John Buchanan

Exclusive to The New Hampshire Gazette

WASHINGTON - After 60 years of inattention and even denial by the U.S. media, newly-uncovered government documents in The National Archives and Library of Congress reveal that Prescott Bush, the grandfather of President George W. Bush, served as a business partner of and U.S. banking operative for the financial architect of the Nazi war machine from 1926 until 1942, when Congress took aggressive action against Bush and his "enemy national" partners.

The documents also show that Bush and his colleagues, according to reports from the U.S. Department of the Treasury and FBI, tried to conceal their financial alliance with German industrialist Fritz Thyssen, a steel and coal baron who, beginning in the mid-1920s, personally funded Adolf Hitler's rise to power by the subversion of democratic principle and German law.

Furthermore, the declassified records demonstrate that Bush and his associates, who included E. Roland Harriman, younger brother of American icon W. Averell Harriman, and George Herbert Walker, President Bush's maternal great-grandfather, continued their dealings with the German industrial baron for nearly eight months after the U.S. entered the war.

More:

http://www.nhgazette.com/cgi-bin/NHGstore.cgi?user_action=detail&catalogno=NN_Bush_Nazi_Link

[Name removed]

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[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

46. He didn't speak in FAVOR of it either. And he hunted Nazis.

That makes him okay in my book. RIP. :thumbsup:

[Jim Sagle]

55. He was taken quite seriously. It should happen to you.

[CatWoman]

23. he was an amazing man

RIP, Dear Sir.

RIP.

HBO did a docudrama on him a few years back -- I never cried so much.

[JuniperLea]

31. Nazi Hunter Simon Wiensenthal Dies At Age 96

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9404749/

snip

LOS ANGELES - Simon Wiesenthal, the Holocaust survivor who helped track down Nazi war criminals following World War II, then spent the later decades of his life fighting anti-Semitism and prejudice against all people, died Tuesday. He was 96.

Wiesenthal 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.

[lala_rawraw]

32. NOOOOOOOOOOO....fuck

[SteppingRazor]

34. Hey, the guy lived a long and great life...

mourn the dead, but don't feel too bad for him. He accomplished far more and lived far longer than most people ever will.

[tabasco]

33. RIP, Mr. Wiesenthal.

Good work !

[edbermac]

35. Well some good news for the freepers for a change...

:sarcasm:

[AnneD]

36. A fond farewell....

It is said that God will judge the quick and the dead. And some people will not see justice in their lifetime.
A fond farewell to a man who spent a lifetime helping people see justice in their lifetime.

[are_we_united_yet]

37. RIP sir.

It saddens me that those brave individuals who commit their life to such honorable causes cannot live forever.

[Jack Rabbit]

38. Rest in peace, brave soul

[DoBotherMe]

39. I was praying that he would live forever...sad, sad day for

humanity. D ; )

[goclark]

40. RIP nominated

[defiant1]

41. Ashes to ashes....

Dust to dust....

:patriot:

[Book Lover]

42. Thank you, Mr. Wiesenthal

for your life's work. This one man did more than hundreds of others acting in concert. Let him be an example to us all.

[Jack Rabbit]

43. Bump

Photo from the BBC

[Centered]

45. RIP Sir

[Jack Rabbit]

47. Bump

Never again!!

[u4ic]

49. A rare exception to the statement

"only the good die young".

A remarkable man.

RIP Mr Wiesenthal.

[JohnLocke]

51. He had a long, full life

He never rested in the jursuit of justice...

[Kralizec]

56. "Where have all the anti-fascists gone?!" Many of the originals are dead,

and now it is up to the NEW GENERATION of ANTI-FASCISTS!!!

¡Hasta la Victoria Siempre!
:smoke:

[Raiden]

57. What a great man!

RIP Simon :toast:

[cyr330]

58. Sad

But I suppose living to 96-y-o is amazing in itself, especially after what he lived through during the war. He was an amazing person and had much to contribute. He will be missed.

[Name removed]

60. Deleted message

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[chopper]

69. uh...

really?

[Andromeda]

61. Your work is done, Simon...

Rest in peace; may others continue your great work.

[tomg]

62. Simon Wiesenthal , thank you for fighting

the good fight.

[Colorado Blue]

66. We will miss you. Blessings and tears.

[Gemini Cat]

67. RIP Simon Wiesenthal

:cry:
A true hero.

[Violet_Crumble]

68. Don't forget

From the Observer blog...

"Meanwhile, under international pressure - mainly from Colin Powell, then US Secretary of State - the Baltic governments started to put the Holocaust in their history books, to distance themselves from SS nostalgia and generally get to grips with the ugly complexity of history. Holocaust denial, they realised, wasn't doing anyone any favours apart from the ageing Nazis, so they dropped it.

It would have been a different story had it not been for Simon Wiesenthal, who died today. He has been described as "the conscience of the Holocaust". I can vouch for the fact that that he pricked my conscience, and the conscience of a troubled corner of Europe that I know."

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/observer/archives/2005/09/20/dont_forget.html


RIP....


Violet...

[Frederik]

73. He was a giant

[Skittles]

74. I adored this man

he is one of the few true heroes in my life

[genieroze]

75. Now that's a real legacy, he left. Take a hint *.

[Behind the Aegis]

77. Simon Wiesenthal to be laid to rest Friday in Herzliya

Nazi-hunter and Holocaust survivor Simon Wiesenthal will be laid to rest at noon Friday at the Pinsker Street cemetery in Herzliya.

World leaders, human rights activists and Jewish organizations have expressed their sadness at Wiesenthal's death Tuesday at the age of 96, praising his courage and determination to seek justice - rather than revenge - against Nazi atrocities.

Wiesenthal died in his sleep at his home in Vienna, Austria, according to Rabbi Marvin Hier, the 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 said.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/627079.html

[IndianaGreen]

78. Thanks for the info...

We should all share the same passion for justice that Wiesenthal had. Ironic that as Wiesenthal was working to bring Nazis to justice, the US was hiding the fact that then UN-General Secretary Kurt Waldheim was a Nazi war criminal, and was using that knowledge to keep Waldheim on a short leash.

[Solly Mack]

79. A name that meant courage

Simon Wiesenthal

and always will

[bunkerbuster1]

81. Peace, my friend

I wish I could have met you. You were a hero and an inspiration to all who thirst for justice and decency.