Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Simon Wiesenthal goes into the good night...



Simon Wiesenthal, the Holocaust survivor who helped track down Nazi war criminals following World War II, then spent the later decades of his life fighting anti-Semitism and prejudice against all people, died Tuesday. He was 96.

For as long as I can remember Mr. Wiesenthal has been one of my personal heroes. As a child studying the Holocaust in school I was always moved to tears by the subject. It’s a period of history that has always intrigued me because I see that the lesson provided by such inhumane history is often repeated. Mr. Wiesenhal’s personal crusade ( he lost 89 relatives to the Holocaust) against the ignorance and hate that fueled the Holocaust inspired me as a child and teenager and in many ways helped teach me respect , acceptance and tolerance for those different from myself. Poet Dylan Thomas once wrote,” Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”

But Mr. Wiesenthal earned his rest,earned his place in heaven. He accomplished so much in life. I hope that his passing was peaceful and that he went into the good night ever so gently on the wings of angels. That if there is such a thing as heaven, that he was reunited with the ones he lost; the ones he fought so hard to bring justice to, the ones he ensured would never be forgotten.
Mr. Wiesenthal was the voice and the conscience of the Holocaust.I know I will never forget him, his life and work had such an enormous impact on my life.

"The most important thing I have done is to fight against forgetting and to keep remembrance alive." -Simon Wiesenthal



Posted by @ 8:44 AM
1 comment from:  Miss Cellania,