Simon Wiesenthal

    BEIJING, Sept. 20 (Xinhuanet) -- Simon Wiesenthal, the Holocaust survivor who dedicated his life to tracking down Nazi war criminals and bringing them to justice, died Tuesday at the age of 96.

    Wiesenthal died in his sleep at his home in Vienna, Austria, according to Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean and founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles.

    "Simon Wiesenthal was the conscience of the Holocaust," said Rabbi Hier, "When the Holocaust ended in 1945 and the whole world went home to forget, he alone remained behind to remember."

    Wiesenthal, who had been an architect before World War II, was born on December, 1908 in Ukraine. During World War II he was assigned to a forced labor camp, but eventually managed to escape.

    He changed his life's mission after the war, dedicating himself to trying to track down Nazi war criminals and to being a voice for the 6 million Jews who died during the onslaught.

    Wiesenthal spent more than 50 years hunting Nazi war criminals, speaking out against neo-Nazism and racism, and remembering the Jewish experience as a lesson for humanity. Through his work, some 1,100 Nazi war criminals were brought to justice.

    "When history looks back I want people to know the Nazis weren't able to kill millions of people and get away with it," he once said. Enditem

    (Agencies)