While being stuck inside is affecting the whole world, I've been using this time to read incredible survival stories, one of which I'm going to tell you now, it is both heart-breaking and heart-warming.
This man is Simon Wiesenthal
He survived loss, violence, starvation, imprisonment, death and at end of all of this! He came out with a stronger mind set than ever!
Born in 1908 in Ukraine, to a Jewish family, tragedy struck the family from the beginning, losing his father to WW1, and in 1923 his younger brother to a fall.
In 1936 Simon met and married the beautiful Cyla Mueller, together they set out for a happy normal life.
But sadly, historical events were about to take place which would change the course of Simon’s life forever…
In 1941, Hitler betrayed Stalin, invading the Soviet Union and the Ukraine
Simon and Cyla were captured and imprisoned within Janowska concentration camp.
CLICK HERE- If you want to know all about the Soviet/German Pact that Hitler and Stalin made at the beginning of World War Two.
Eventually Simon and Cyla were sent on to Ostbahn concentration camp.
In January 1942 at the Wannsee Conference leading Nazis declared the Final Solution- the extermination of all Jews.
Sadly at the end of 1942 Simon lost his mother to Belzec death camp and 89 relatives from his and Cyla’s families.
Belzec liked Auschwitz is open to the public to visit and remember those who perished.
Desperate to save Cyla and not lose another person he loved, Simon made a deal with the Polish Underground to get her false papers, she was spirited out of the camp, with Simon not knowing whether he would ever see Cyla again.
By 1943 Simon managed to escape Ostbahn concentration camp
However, he was captured! And sent back to Janowksa to face certain death……
As luck would have it, by 1944, the German Eastern Front was rapidly collapsing under the advancement of the Red Army. SS Guards at Janowska desperate to avoid combat kept 34 prisoners out 149,000 alive…. Simon Wiesenthal was in that 34.
He was then transported to Mauthausen Concentration Camp.
On May 5th, 1945 Mauthausen was liberated!!!!!
Simon was found barely alive in the barracks, among hundreds of dead bodies, he weighed less than 100 pounds.
Once his health was restored, he was then reunited with his dear Cyla and life it seemed could return to normal...
However, when the war ended thousands of Nazis escaped the allies
After his horrific ordeal Simon could have lived a normal life with Cyla, after all he had earned it
He could forget his past and all of the 6 million Jews who had died.
But he could not….
In 1947 he opened the Jewish Historical Documentation centre with 30 volunteers. Together with friends, colleagues and WW2 veterans they located, gathered and anaylsed any information regarding escaped Nazi’s.
In this Simon became a Nazi Hunter he aided and helped imprison several Nazis…
These included:
Adolf Eichmann (Head of the Gestapo and leading Nazi on the Final Solution) imprisoned and executed in 1961.
The capture of Eichmann is a hugely interesting story if you want to read it CLICK HERE
Or better yet you can watch the 2018 film on Netflix starring Ben Kingsley!-Operation Finale
This list continues....
Karl Silberbauer the Gestapo officer who arrested Anne Frank! in 1963
Nine SS guards in 1966
Franz Stangl (commander of Treblinka and Sobibor concentration camps) in 1967…..
AND many more...
While Nazi hunting was important, Simon even managed to build a life with Cyla and have kids!
He died peacefully in 2005.
When asked why he dedicated his life to hunting Nazis Simon Wiesenthal said
“I believe. When we come to the other world and meet the millions of Jews who died in the camps and they ask us, ‘What have you done?’ there will be many answers. You will say, ‘I became a jeweller,’ Another will say, ‘I built houses,’ But I will say, ‘I did not forget you’.
To learn more about Simon Weisenthal's life follow the link to learn all about his foundation and work or you can read the following books about him.
Simon Wiesenthal: The Life and Legends by Tom Segev
The Sunflower: On the possibilities and limits of forgiveness by Simon Wiesenthal
There is even a great show on Amazon Prime called The Hunters based on the true stories of Nazi Hunters!!
Head over to the sources page to find out all my information, See ya next time and STAY INSIDE
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