Simon Wiesenthal: Dead at 96

Zeno · #1 10-02-2005, 02:44 AM

I just saw his Obit in the Economist (Sept 24, issue). A bit of a late notice but I'm behind in my reading. His 'greatest triumph' was abducting Adolf Eichmann. A few statements from the obit that caught my eye:

"Inevitably he made enemies. Far-right groups regularly threatened to kill him and denounced him as a murderer and a liar. In 1982, neo-Nazis blew up his house. More moderate critics thought he was driven by revenge."

And then this:

"In 1941 he stood in a row of men who were being shot in the neck, one by one, by a Ukrainian policeman. He was saved by the ringing of the bell for evening mass."

And finally this:

"The Final Solution claimed 89 members of Mr. Wiesenthal's family, including his mother. Helpless, he watched her being packed into a stifling goods train for Belzec. He himself was transferred between 12 different concentration camps. During his four years of internment he twice attempted suicide, twice tried to escape and was twice chosen for immediate execution."

And he lived to be 96.

-Zeno

Cyrus · #2 10-02-2005, 08:45 AM

[ QUOTE ]
More moderate critics thought he was driven by revenge.

[/ QUOTE ]
Good for him. Revenge is a good motive.

[ QUOTE ]
During his four years of internment [Wiesenthal] twice attempted suicide, twice tried to escape and was twice chosen for immediate execution

[/ QUOTE ] Primo Levi is of the essence here. Committed suicide finally.

El Barto · #3 10-02-2005, 12:21 PM

[ QUOTE ]
"In 1941 he stood in a row of men who were being shot in the neck, one by one, by a Ukrainian policeman. He was saved by the ringing of the bell for evening mass."

[/ QUOTE ]

So he was saved by the worship of Jesus. [img]/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img]

whiskeytown · #4 10-02-2005, 06:54 PM

the world is a lesser place without him, that's for sure....

RB

Zeno · #5 10-02-2005, 07:06 PM

[ QUOTE ]
So he was saved by the worship of Jesus. [img]/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

There is more than just one or two interesting things about this event.

But one is a theme that I have mentioned before, a long time ago in some long forgotten thread probably. Anyway, In essence: Christainity helped make Nazism and the Holocaust possilbe. Nothing really shocking, or new, about that at all.

-Zeno