[Jewish True Tales] Simon Wiesenthal

[Lawrence J. Epstein]

[http://jewishtruetales.com]

Simon Wiesenthal (1908-2005). I was once writing a book and collecting stories. I had met the great Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal once and seen him lecture. I wrote to him at his office in Austria and asked him if he could tell a story about his work. He very kindly responded with the following:

"Two Israeli journalists asked me in the course of a discussion in our office, 'Mr. Wiesenthal, please tell us what would be gratifying for you. But we will not accept it if you were to say that you feel satisfaction when a Nazi criminal you have been looking for for a long time is finally caught, or when he is put on trial. This kind of success bears too much blood, too many tears and painful memories to give you a deep, humane feeling of satisfaction. So what would give you real satisfaction?'

"I felt in a way that they were right and thus I started trying to think of an occurrence that would show what gave me satisfaction. After a while, I told them the following: 'The kind of satisfaction I sometimes feel, no other person in this world can feel, neither Jew or non-Jew.' Obviously, the journalists became interested.

"I continued. 'When two Nazis quarrel, one threatens the other with 'I'll go to Wiesenthal and tell him everything about you!'

"The journalists began to laugh, and I said, 'And believe me, some of them really come to me and give me some important information.'"

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Posted By Lawrence J. Epstein to Jewish True Tales at 3/10/2011 01:00:00 PM