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Simon Wiesenthal: The Life and Legends

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Tom Segev, an Israeli writer and reporter for Haaretz, has produced a scrupulously researched account of Simon Wiesenthal's life and "legends", by which he means the often varying versions of Wiesenthal's hunt for Nazi criminals. Wiesenthal did his work from an office, first in Linz, then in Vienna, combing through documents in search of SS officers -- "the murderers among us", as Wiesenthal termed it. Famous for locating Eichmann in Argentina, for hunting down the commandant of Treblinka and many others, most famously Mengele, Wiesenthal gave varying accounts of his activities. Segev has gone through the archives, the biographies, the adventure stories, with - I can only say the doggedness of a Wiesenthal.

Unfortunately, not all the details of Wiesenthal's work in, say, the 1950's are necessary. I could have skipped a lot of the minutiae without regret. Martin Gilbert also collects minute details about Churchill but as a historian he is a compelling, lucid writer and Tom Segev, at least in translation, is not. The narrative gets bogged down and the reader loses the thread. As the story develops and Wiesenthal gains greater reknown, however, the story picks up speed. Segev describes the establishment of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles and Wiesenthal's initial support for its director, Marvin Hier, and his growing dissatisfaction at being treated he felt, as a mere figurehead. Even more interesting was the rivalry Wiesenthal felt with Elie Wiesel for moral authority and indeed, for the Nobel Prize. Segev brings out the basic philosophical difference between the two: Wiesenthal was a universal humanist, insisting the Holocaust happened not just to the Jews, but to millions of other victims of the Nazis. Wiesel, on the other hand, in establishing the Washington Holocaust Museum spoke out for the primarily Jewish effect of the Holocaust, though there were other victims.

Segev's tone is strictly dispassionate. Nazi crimes are mentioned only in very general terms. The focus of the book is on retelling the life and sifting for the truth as thoroughly as possible. Segev is very factual. He asks at every turn, is there evidence?

Segev presents Wiesenthal as a difficult person, with reason. He seemed not to care about his wife and child. His daughter grew up and went to school in Austria, an anti-Semitic country. Wiesenthal brought many Nazis to justice, but he had many failures, too. Segev astutely assesses his motives for Nazi hunting as rooted in survivor guilt. He explains this better than I could in the last chapter. I think Segev's journalistic skepticism is needed, but at times I feel he is overly European in his outlook. For example, he dismisses Golda Meir as "a suspicious person with narrow horizons" in the same breath as he praises Austrian chancellor Bruno Kreisky as "a statesman who thought in the broadest international terms". Yet Segev's discussion of Kreisky's character in contrast to his arch-rival Wiesenthal in terms of Viennese Jew versus Ostjude, is right on target. Lots of good material here, but most of it is in the last 100 pages of a 400 page book.

I remember the days when I saw Simon Wiesenthal hurry in the mornings to get to his office in Vienna in the first district- the city I was living during the 1980. He looked humble, yet strong and proud of himself and I was extremely happy to have been a witness to one of the bravest men that has had the courage to face the devil and the ex-Nazi beasts by himself.
However, with time, I started reading more and more about the Holocaust and for some years actually worked in the field of research with many known historians in the academic world.I published quite a few things about the Holocaust, too.
Wiesenthal was not forgotten and ,as time passed, he became for me more and more enigmatic and less and less the hero I so much had admired before.
Tom Segev's book is one of those rare ones which have been published during the last years and I decided to read it in the original language, Hebrew. Mr.Segev had to cope with hundreds of thousands of pages belonging to the archive of Wiesenthal, in addition to the other bulk of material published so far. Wiesenthal lived a long life -he was over 90 when he died- and was indeed a brave man, but was also a man full of contradictions and in many cases made false accusations, was an egomaniac and on different occasions a liar as well.
Segev's book is very disorganized, badly written, repetitive ad nauseam and does not produce any new things which could be pointed out. The main parts of the book revolve around the trials of capturing of Eichmann and Wiesenthal's quarrel with Chancelor Kreisky. The rest is written without any sense of direction or purpose and the reader gets lost amid the thousands of little pieces of information.This book could have easily been shortened to a 100-page monograph.
In short, this book is a huge disappointment. If you would really like to read about Wiesenthal, I largely recommend Guy Walters' brilliantly researched book called: "Hunting Evil"(see my review on;amazon.co.uk)
Mr. Wiesenthal will still have to find another good biographer,in the meantime.

This is an interesting look at a man who was famous for his Nazi-hunting, but written with the eye of a thorough journalist. Segev shines a light on both the humanity of Wiesenthal and the incredible circumstances surrounding Jews at the end of WW2. None of us have a good understanding of what these people endured after WW2 and this book gives you an, at times, overly thorough look at this incredible and insane time. Drink a lot of coffee to handle all the details, but enjoy a facinating look at this part of Jewish and world history!

Well researched, but the writing or translation was somewhat awkward and jumped from one topic to another without good transitions and often the topic ended incomplete.

Simon Wiesenthal the infamous international Nazi hunter has had numerous books and movies written and produced about him. Including the tear jerking DVD "I HAVE NEVER FORGOTTEN YOU". The author Tom Segev's research and investigation is excruciatingly detailed and perhaps too minutely targeted. Utilizing newly available information from governments around the world including data from the secret services of the United States, Israel, Poland, and East Germany, along with having access to Wiesenthal's private papers... the author spends as much time and energy raising questions about Simon's motives, integrity, and boasts... as he does on his actual historical accomplishments. What after awhile seems to be an ongoing flood of decades of soap opera like accusations... many claims are disproved... some claims are acknowledged... and some are left to simply float into the ether.

Wiesenthal's childhood and his internment in multiple Nazi prison camps are discussed but they are not the type of intricately despicable details as have been covered in other Wiesenthal media. This is more of a textbook like dissection of Simon's interaction with all forms of media representatives such as newspaper and magazine reporters, and his connections, both real and imagined with multiple countries secret service organizations. Untold microcosms of innumerable events within each of these categories are held up to a bright light with the sole purpose of filing each individual circumstance into a slot designated either... "HAPPENED-WITH-PROOF"... "NEVER-HAPPENED"... "POSSIBLY-HAPPENED"... "MAY-NOT-HAVE-HAPPENED"... et al. Because of this constant attempt to put even the smallest details (Which may not even be that interesting or earth shattering) under the strongest literary microscope, many parts of the book seem to drag.

There are of course the names of histories must wretched individuals ranging from Hitler to Eichmann to Stangl to Mengele to Bormann... and so on... through the list of the Holocaust's horrific non-human abominations. But this book does not attempt to go anywhere near the detail on these individuals that have been unearthed like the turning over of a rock many times before. Covered are Wiesenthal's many books he authored... the many articles he wrote... the speeches he gave... his battle for funding... his allies and enemies (in his quest for bringing Nazi's to justice)... and the constant effort by the author to prove... disprove... or not come to a full conclusion... on seemingly endless minute issues... rather than more fully explore and share the bigger picture items that made Simon Wiesenthal such a revered figure keep this book from fully satisfying the reader.

With the overall tone of the book seeming to be verification or non-verification on the historical image that was Simon Wiesenthal a quote from Mordechai Elazar a Mossad (Israel's secret service.) agent seems to sum it up well:

"WIESENTHAL WAS A MAN WITH MANY IDENTITIES-LIKE A DIAMOND WITH MANY FACETS," "ELAZAR RECALLED AFTER HE RETIRED. THEY SPOKE YIDDISH. IN THE EYES OF HIS ISRAELI FRIEND, WIESENTHAL WAS THE ULTIMATE JEW AND THERE WAS NOTHING THAT WAS MORE JEWISH THAN HE WAS. HE WAS REFERRING TO, AMONG OTHER QUALITIES, WIESENTHAL'S WILLINGNESS AND ABILITY TO LIVE OUT OF CHOICE IN A COUNTRY WHERE JEWS WERE NOT WANTED AND TO HIS INCLINATION TO FEEL AT HOME THERE."

I just started reading the book. Very well written and well researched. Good reading. Can't wait to continue. I always knew Simon Wiesenthal as the Nazi Hunter. I was not aware that he was in concentration camps. This book interweaves his experiences with his actions.