SIMON WIESENTHAL
was born on this date in the small Ukrainian town of Buczacz. Trained
as an architectural engineer, Wiesenthal survived the Nazi concentration
camps losing over eighty members of his extended family and dedicated
the rest of his life to seeking justice for all those who died by
bringing Nazi war criminals to justice. He was later celebrated as a
"Nazi-hunter" and portrayed by Laurence Olivier in "The Boys from
Brazil," but for many years, as Cold War governments had forgotten about
Nazi atrocities,
Wiesenthal was a
veritable prophet in the wilderness, tirelessly working in the memory of
all those who had died. He wrote a number of bestselling books
including "Murders Among Us," "Justice, Not Vengeance," and "The
Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness." Through his
efforts countless Nazi criminals stood trial. Without Wiesenthal's
activity and vision, there would not have been war crimes hearings about
Rwanda, Bosnia, or a permanent War Crimes tribunal in the Hague.
For the sake of
this Gay Wisdom listserve, we would point out that Wiesenthal spoke for
all those who had lost their lives and was an early outspoken activist
for the thousands of homosexuals who died in the holocaust, pointing out
that they had all been buried together in mass graves and should all be
acknowledged. Wiesenthal died of natural causes in 2005 at the age 96.
Recent events
remind us that we are still not out of the woods with respect to facsist
politics and that we must all remain as vigilant as Wiesenthal.
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