Simon Wiesenthal dies at 96

Simon Wiesenthal, the death camp survivor who dedicated the rest of his life to tracking down Nazi war criminals, died on Tuesday at his hom...

Simon Wiesenthal, the death camp survivor who dedicated the rest of his life to tracking down Nazi war criminals, died on Tuesday at his home in Vienna. He was 96.

After hairbreadth escapes from death, two suicide attempts and his liberation by American forces in Austria in 1945, it was Wiesenthal’s role as a stubborn sleuth on the trail of history’s archfiends that helped keep the spotlight on a hideous past that he said the world was too disposed to forget.

“To young people here, I am the last,” he said in a 1993 interview. “After me, it’s history.”

Story continues below this ad

Despite vilification and threats of death, he vowed to continue in his calling, saying he was “the bad conscience of the Nazis”. His goal, he said, was not vengeance but ensuring that Nazi crimes “are brought to light so the new generation knows about them, so it should not happen again”. It was a matter of pride, he said, that old Nazis who quarrel threaten one another with a vow to go to Simon Wiesenthal.

His efforts are documented in his memoirs, The Murderers Among Us (1967) and Justice, Not Vengeance (1989). “Survivors should be like seismographs,” he wrote.””They should sense danger before others do, identify its outlines and reveal them. They are not entitled to be wrong a second time or regard as harmless something that might lead to catastrophe.” —NYT

EAM Jaishankar and US Secretary of State Rubio hold bilateral discussions in New York

India14 min ago

Indian Foreign Minister Jaishankar and US Senator Rubio met in New York to discuss the 25% tariff on Indian oil imposed by Trump. This was their first in-person meeting since the Quad Foreign Ministers' Meeting. India and the US also began talks for a trade agreement, with positive discussions during a recent visit by US trade officials to India.

View all shorts

Live Blog