Simon Wiesenthal: Bogus 'Nazi Hunter'

by Mark Weber

Simon Wiesenthal is a living legend. In a formal White House ceremony in August 1980, a teary-eyed President Carter presented the world's foremost "Nazi hunter" with a special gold medal awarded by the U.S. Congress. President Reagan praised him in November 1988 as one of the "true heroes" of this century.

He is the recipient of West Germany's highest decoration, and one of world's most renowned Holocaust organizations bears his name: the Simon Wiesenthal Center of Los Angeles. He was portrayed in flattering terms by the late Laurence Oliver in the 1978 film fantasy "The Boys From Brazil," and by Ben Kingsley in the April 1989 made-for-television movie "The Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story."

Wiesenthal's reputation is undeserved. The man whom the Washington Post calls the "Holocaust's Avenging Angel" has a well-documented record of reckless disregard for truth. [1] He has lied about his own wartime experiences. He has misrepresented his postwar "Nazi-hunting" achievements, and has spread vile falsehoods about alleged German atrocities. He is certainly no moral authority. More