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Simon Wiesenthal
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Vienna to name street after Simon Wiesenthal

Austrian capital to rename on of its street in honor of Holocaust survivor, Nazi hunter, who died on September 2005

Vienna will rename one of its streets in honor of Holocaust survivor and Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal, officials said Wednesday.

 

Wiesenthal, who helped find one-time SS leader Adolf Eichmann and the policeman who arrested Anne Frank, died in his sleep at his home in Vienna on September 20, 2005.

 

The renaming ceremony will take place after the first anniversary of Wiesenthal's death, according to a statement released by the socialist faction of Vienna's city council.

 

The street will be home to a new centre in Wiesenthal's honor, the statement said.

 

Wiesenthal was born on December 31, 1908 in Ukraine. During World War II he was assigned to a forced labor camp, but eventually managed to escape. Following the war, he began gathering evidence on Nazi atrocities on behalf of the War Crimes Section of the American military.

 

In 1953 Wiesenthal received information that former senior Nazi official Adolf Eichmann was living in Argentina. He relayed the information to the Israeli government, but for some unknown reason, Israel received erroneous information that Eichmann was living in Syria.

 

It was only in 1959 that Eicmann's presence in Argentina could be verified.

 

In 1962, Eichmann was abducted by Mossad agents in Buenos Aires, brought to Israel, and tried for crimes against the Jewish people, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. Eichmann was found guilty and executed on May 31, 1962.

 

Ynet contributed to the report

 


פרסום ראשון: 05.18.06, 07:57
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