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In a drab Vienna office, a very ordinary - looking man pours over the letters and documents strewn across his desk. His name is Simon Wiesenthal. He is balding, slightly paunchy, and usually dressed in a plain, gray business suit. Yet, this man is the most feared avenger in the world, and his inconspicuous office is the center of an incredible international tracking network responsible for the capture of nearly 1,000 notorious Nazi's! Adolf Eichmann, Franz Stangl, Commandant of the Sobibor and Treblinka death camps, Murer, "the Butcher of Wilna," Silberbauer, the Gestapo agent who arrested Anne Frank — the list of his "clients" reads like a Who's Who of Hell...
THE MURDERERS AMONG US is the terrifying story of this man, and of how and why he earned the label, "The world's most relentless Nazi-Hunter!"
"Reads like a fascinating detective thriller.. .You just can't lay the book down."
-SATURDAY REVIEW
"AN ABSORBING NIGHTMARE TALE...IT IS ALL TRUE, BUT THE READER MUST PINCH HIMSELF TO BELIEVE IT."
-MIAMI HERALD
THE MURDERERS AMONG US is the terrifying story of this man, and of how and why he earned the label, "The world's most relentless Nazi-Hunter!"
"Reads like a fascinating detective thriller.. .You just can't lay the book down."
-SATURDAY REVIEW
"AN ABSORBING NIGHTMARE TALE...IT IS ALL TRUE, BUT THE READER MUST PINCH HIMSELF TO BELIEVE IT."
-MIAMI HERALD
421 pages, Unknown Binding
First published January 1, 1967
34 people are currently reading
1339 people want to read
About the author
Simon Wiesenthal
55 books113 followersSimon Wiesenthal, KBE, was an Austrian-Jewish architectural engineer and Holocaust survivor who became famous after World War II for his work as a Nazi hunter who pursued Nazi war criminals in an effort to bring them to justice.
Following four and a half years in the German concentration camps such as Janowska, Plaszow, and Mauthausen during World War II, Wiesenthal dedicated most of his life to tracking down and gathering information on fugitive Nazis so that they could be brought to justice for war crimes and crimes against humanity. In 1947, he co-founded the Jewish Historical Documentation Center in Linz, Austria, in order to gather information for future war crime trials. Later he opened Jewish Documentation Center in Vienna. Wiesenthal wrote The Sunflower, which describes a life-changing event he experienced when he was in the camp.
A biography by Guy Walters asserts that many of Wiesenthal's claims regarding his education, wartime experiences and Nazi hunting exploits are false or exaggerated. Walters calls Wiesenthal’s claims "an illusion mounted for a good cause". It is difficult to establish a reliable narrative of Wiesenthal’s life due to the inconsistencies between his three memoirs which are in turn all contradicted by contemporary records. It is partly thanks to Wiesenthal that the Holocaust has been remembered and properly documented.
Wiesenthal died in his sleep at age 96 in Vienna on September 20, 2005, and was buried in the city of Herzliya in Israel on 23 September. He is survived by his daughter, Paulinka Kriesberg, and three grandchildren. The Simon Wiesenthal Center, located in Los Angeles in the United States, is named in his honor.
Following four and a half years in the German concentration camps such as Janowska, Plaszow, and Mauthausen during World War II, Wiesenthal dedicated most of his life to tracking down and gathering information on fugitive Nazis so that they could be brought to justice for war crimes and crimes against humanity. In 1947, he co-founded the Jewish Historical Documentation Center in Linz, Austria, in order to gather information for future war crime trials. Later he opened Jewish Documentation Center in Vienna. Wiesenthal wrote The Sunflower, which describes a life-changing event he experienced when he was in the camp.
A biography by Guy Walters asserts that many of Wiesenthal's claims regarding his education, wartime experiences and Nazi hunting exploits are false or exaggerated. Walters calls Wiesenthal’s claims "an illusion mounted for a good cause". It is difficult to establish a reliable narrative of Wiesenthal’s life due to the inconsistencies between his three memoirs which are in turn all contradicted by contemporary records. It is partly thanks to Wiesenthal that the Holocaust has been remembered and properly documented.
Wiesenthal died in his sleep at age 96 in Vienna on September 20, 2005, and was buried in the city of Herzliya in Israel on 23 September. He is survived by his daughter, Paulinka Kriesberg, and three grandchildren. The Simon Wiesenthal Center, located in Los Angeles in the United States, is named in his honor.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
September 4, 2015
This is not the 5-star block-buster book that absorbs you and makes you forget about your responsibilities, that to do list, and let's you "get away." Instead, it's the book that sobers you to life's realities and reminds you that humans are animals and it is our choices that make us humane. We are not born that way, necessarily, but we learn it by becoming compassionate through seeing suffering and empathizing with it.
Mr. Simon Wiesenthal was truly a compassionate man because even after losing his entire family to Nazi brutality, even after witnessing that brutality through four separate concentration camps, even after receiving testimonies from other witnesses for the ensuing decades after the liberation -- often for naught, he remained compassionate not only to the oppressed, but to his persecutors and their innocents.
In this book he bears witness. It is one thing to be told in the text books about the deaths of eleven million people of Europe, six million of them Jews. It is completely another thing to learn about individual Germans that committed specific crimes and got away with murder -- multiple murders, sometimes multiple thousands of murders.
Mr. Wiesenthal bears witness for the dead that cannot speak for themselves in order that the unspeakable crimes will not happen again. He saw it as his responsibility. It is our responsibility to inform ourselves in order that when we are faced with decisions, they will be humane.
Mr. Simon Wiesenthal was truly a compassionate man because even after losing his entire family to Nazi brutality, even after witnessing that brutality through four separate concentration camps, even after receiving testimonies from other witnesses for the ensuing decades after the liberation -- often for naught, he remained compassionate not only to the oppressed, but to his persecutors and their innocents.
In this book he bears witness. It is one thing to be told in the text books about the deaths of eleven million people of Europe, six million of them Jews. It is completely another thing to learn about individual Germans that committed specific crimes and got away with murder -- multiple murders, sometimes multiple thousands of murders.
Mr. Wiesenthal bears witness for the dead that cannot speak for themselves in order that the unspeakable crimes will not happen again. He saw it as his responsibility. It is our responsibility to inform ourselves in order that when we are faced with decisions, they will be humane.
June 6, 2021
Ο Σίμον Βίζενταλ περιγράφει την προσωπική εμπειρία του από το ολοκαύτωμα και επεισόδια από τη δράση του για τον εντοπισμό διάφορων γνωστών, ή λιγότερο γνωστών, ναζί εγκληματιών που είχαν κρυφτεί και διαφύγει στο χάος που ακολούθησε το τέλος του Β΄ΠΠ. Από τη διήγηση των ιστοριών του προκύπτει ότι δεν πρόκειται για κάποιο εμμονικό εκδικητή αλλά για έναν επίμονο άνθρωπο που πίστευε στην απόδοση δικαιοσύνης και όχι στην αυτοδικία. Οι ιστορίες του με απορρόφησαν.
May 28, 2011
This book is both a great portrait of Simon Wiesenthal's campaign for justice for the victims of the Holocaust as well as a history of the perpetrators of Nazi crimes - the ones that escaped via ODESSA and other means, and the ones who were brought to some kind of justice. The book is filled with examples of the ideological and emotional fallout of the Holocaust - from the individuals who crossed Simon Wiesenthal's path to the greater German and especially Austrian societies characterized by varying degrees of suffering, guilt, apathy, ignorance... There are some heart-wrenching stories in this book, like the man who accompanied Wiesenthal into a castle full of prayer books of the murdered European Jewry, and found the very one his sister had written a message in moments before her arrest by the Gestapo.
However, one thing that bothered me in this book was its style, which was way too Nancy Drew - to the point of being irreverent. I guess popularization of an issue comes with its problems, but it was too much. Also, the bizarre organization of this book, despite the attempted justification in the preface, was really off-putting. The incredible character of the man who was Simon Wiesenthal also does not come out in this book - anyone who's seen "I have not forgotten you" will know what I mean. Still a great book, just could have been done better.
However, one thing that bothered me in this book was its style, which was way too Nancy Drew - to the point of being irreverent. I guess popularization of an issue comes with its problems, but it was too much. Also, the bizarre organization of this book, despite the attempted justification in the preface, was really off-putting. The incredible character of the man who was Simon Wiesenthal also does not come out in this book - anyone who's seen "I have not forgotten you" will know what I mean. Still a great book, just could have been done better.
October 12, 2022
Ao ler este livro, fiquei com mais conhecimento sobre o Senhor Simon Wiesenthal. Foi um livro com bastante informação sobre o famoso caça-nazi.
Havia informações que desconhecia, retrata a vida deste Senhor, as suas experiências, os seus objetivos ao longo da sua vida, como um exemplo, na contribuição da detenção do nazi - Adolf Eichmann, devolução dos quadros e outros bens perdidos dos seus donos judeus que depois ficaram na mão dos nazis e a história do diário da Anne Frank.
Recomendo ler este livro !
5 ⭐️
Havia informações que desconhecia, retrata a vida deste Senhor, as suas experiências, os seus objetivos ao longo da sua vida, como um exemplo, na contribuição da detenção do nazi - Adolf Eichmann, devolução dos quadros e outros bens perdidos dos seus donos judeus que depois ficaram na mão dos nazis e a história do diário da Anne Frank.
Recomendo ler este livro !
5 ⭐️
December 25, 2007
This very early Wiesenthal book is one of his best. Simon is a wonderful story teller, managing to describe his various hunts with humor and in captivating style, and when this book was writte, he was still his initial self, without too much of the world's fuss and friction around him. In this book you can also find Simon's story of his experience in the holocaust, the part he was willing to detail this early in his writing career.
Highly recommended, I enjoyed this book.
Highly recommended, I enjoyed this book.
December 23, 2014
Persistence pays off. I think this story is a great reminder of why we cannot give up. I was appalled that nation's thought it was more important to "forgive & forget" the horrible things the Nazis did in the Holocaust. Having a statue of limitations on mass torture/murder when the Nazis had no limits really on their sadism & wealth/connections to escape (Odessa).
Wiesenthal reminds us that we CANNOT EVER FORGET!!!
Wiesenthal reminds us that we CANNOT EVER FORGET!!!
January 22, 2016
The emotions felt while reading this book was difficult to explain. Someone actually had to hunt down the monsters that left one of the darkest marks on human history? Seriously? Not so proud about my species.
February 7, 2024
How does one rate a book written by a Nazi hunter? I had difficulties with setting this book aside at times. Reading an older version printed in the 70's was fascinating as many individual's cases weren't finished at the time of printing.
I'd like to read more about the author as it seems that some of the stories are incongruent.
I certainly pray that he received closure with a few of his "clients." This book is a different WWII aspect of many I've read.
Many of the author's thoughts are disturbing in a "yikes, we should have seen this coming" as it pertains to modern day happenings.
Would recommend.
I'd like to read more about the author as it seems that some of the stories are incongruent.
I certainly pray that he received closure with a few of his "clients." This book is a different WWII aspect of many I've read.
Many of the author's thoughts are disturbing in a "yikes, we should have seen this coming" as it pertains to modern day happenings.
Would recommend.
December 15, 2017
This is a story you will never forget. Amidst the horrors of the Holocaust, Wiesenthal's humanity and integrity shines through. The title is made very clear when Wiesenthal took his daughter to a trial of a Nazi accused of a multitude of murderers. His daughter stared at the Nazi and said that he looked like everyone else. How did her father find them to bring them to justice? Her father nodded thoughtfully and told her that that was the problem. They look like everyone else and they live among us.
June 20, 2013
No está mal para aquellos a quienes interesen estos temas. Revela muchos aspectos desconocidos sobre la segunda querra muncial y, en especial, detalles de los crímenes nazis. Está escrito en los años 60, de modo que habla en presente (o en pasado reciente) de muchos acontecimientos que para nosotros, hoy día, ya quedan lejos.
May 7, 2009
Utterly fascinating. Tale of a concentration camp survivor who then spent decades tracking down Naxi war criminals. Stories of what they did, where they hid, how they were found; along with witness accounts from those in the camps. Renewed my desire to read more about the Holocaust.
November 19, 2014
Excellent book on the pursuit of the Nazis by Simon Wiesenthal. He lived the disgrace by the German government to rise to hunt them down.
June 13, 2020
This book was published over 50 years ago but is still relevant in a time of rampant antisemitism.
Simon Wiesenthal tracked down over 900 former nazis in hiding, the most famous of which was Adolf Eichmann. His efforts were vital to creating an awareness of the Holocaust, especially in countries that wanted to forget their complicitness with the nazis.
The book starts with an account of Wiesenthal's own experiences during the war, brutal treatment at the hands of the SS, how he escaped death and how he assisted the Allies to track down war criminals after the war. There are chapters devoted to specific cases where you learn about individual acts of bravery, cruelty that defies description and exactly how thorough the nazis were in their preparation of their killing machine.
Well written and despite the sensitive subject matter, an engrossing read.
The cover states "The remarkable story of one man's search for justice." I don't think that goes nearly far enough. More like one remarkable man's remarkable search for justice.
Simon Wiesenthal tracked down over 900 former nazis in hiding, the most famous of which was Adolf Eichmann. His efforts were vital to creating an awareness of the Holocaust, especially in countries that wanted to forget their complicitness with the nazis.
The book starts with an account of Wiesenthal's own experiences during the war, brutal treatment at the hands of the SS, how he escaped death and how he assisted the Allies to track down war criminals after the war. There are chapters devoted to specific cases where you learn about individual acts of bravery, cruelty that defies description and exactly how thorough the nazis were in their preparation of their killing machine.
Well written and despite the sensitive subject matter, an engrossing read.
The cover states "The remarkable story of one man's search for justice." I don't think that goes nearly far enough. More like one remarkable man's remarkable search for justice.
December 27, 2018
Changed my life.
May 9, 2019
Een van de belangrijkste boeken die ik ooit heb gelezen
January 29, 2020
Interesante. Me dejó pensando mucho.
December 29, 2022
,,Cei drepți nu se lasă niciodată recunoscuți de ceilalți oameni. Ei apar în epocile de cumplită trebuință, își împlinesc datoria și mor.”
May 21, 2024
Informative.
December 30, 2016
This book has an interesting niche when it comes to writings about the aftermath of World War II. For a variety of reasons, I tend to reflect often about the problem of anti-Semitism [1], and this book provides the immensely worthwhile perspective of someone who barely survived World War II and then devoted his postwar life to helping bring the murderers of the SS to justice from his base in Austria. One can understand his passion for justice to the extent that one has survived injustice, and it makes for a rather chilling sort of book where over and over again the author reflects on his growing insight about the behavior of the SS, particularly among the Volksdeutsche outside of Germany who wished to prove themselves as being just as German as native Germans and as a result were often very cruel to prisoners at the concentration camps. The author movingly speaks of the experience of Jews and others (including Gypsies) who suffered at the hands of the Nazis and points a finger at many of Hitler's willing and eager executioners, pointing out that in the aftermath of WWII and the start of the Cold War that any people around the world had to deal with the corrupting influence of living among unrepentant but hidden murderers.
This book, which is more than 300 pages in length, is organized more or less in an episodic fashion, consisting of a variety of chapters of different length that detail various cases that Simon Wiesenthal was a part of, as well as giving flashbacks to his own experiences and that of others during World War II. Included are a mix of famous cases like that of Eichmann and Mengele and less familiar people including the SS officer who arrested Anne Frank and her family and a half-Jew who went undercover on Wiesenthal's behalf in the underground postwar neo-Nazi movement. Included among the chapters as well are the moving story of the Jewish boy who lit a prayer candle for himself when he was arrested by the SS because he knew that he was already dead, as well as a version of the thirty six righteous that had been the basis of a novel I had read when I was in college that also, perhaps not coincidentally, dealt with the Holocaust. The author also manages to write without too much bitterness, but with a certain amount of sarcasm, about the way that many people involved in the brutality of Hitler's Germany were doing business first or engaged in their own quests, and the author even discusses a castle that was a school for mass murder.
There are a lot of people who likely won't like this book's perspective, but the author manages to make a compelling memoir out of his efforts to close the door on Hitler's Germany by facing the truth of the incompleteness of denazification. This is a book that deals with the question of global networks of former Nazis seeking to escape the dragnet of arrest warrants and Nazi hunters and enjoy the company of others of like mind. It is perhaps somewhat ironic that many anti-Semites consider there to be a worldwide network of Jewry intent on controlling the world when this book details an anti-Jewish global network. Perhaps those who are engaged in such transnational networks themselves, and struggle with the creation of codes and secret lines of communication are prone to project upon those they seek to target the same sort of behavior that they do. Those with a guilty conscience are often quick to consider others just like themselves, and this book makes it clear that the author is quite willing to risk danger to help ensure that the horror of the Holocaust never happens again, at least not if he has anything to say or do about it.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2012...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2012...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2014...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2012...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2011...
This book, which is more than 300 pages in length, is organized more or less in an episodic fashion, consisting of a variety of chapters of different length that detail various cases that Simon Wiesenthal was a part of, as well as giving flashbacks to his own experiences and that of others during World War II. Included are a mix of famous cases like that of Eichmann and Mengele and less familiar people including the SS officer who arrested Anne Frank and her family and a half-Jew who went undercover on Wiesenthal's behalf in the underground postwar neo-Nazi movement. Included among the chapters as well are the moving story of the Jewish boy who lit a prayer candle for himself when he was arrested by the SS because he knew that he was already dead, as well as a version of the thirty six righteous that had been the basis of a novel I had read when I was in college that also, perhaps not coincidentally, dealt with the Holocaust. The author also manages to write without too much bitterness, but with a certain amount of sarcasm, about the way that many people involved in the brutality of Hitler's Germany were doing business first or engaged in their own quests, and the author even discusses a castle that was a school for mass murder.
There are a lot of people who likely won't like this book's perspective, but the author manages to make a compelling memoir out of his efforts to close the door on Hitler's Germany by facing the truth of the incompleteness of denazification. This is a book that deals with the question of global networks of former Nazis seeking to escape the dragnet of arrest warrants and Nazi hunters and enjoy the company of others of like mind. It is perhaps somewhat ironic that many anti-Semites consider there to be a worldwide network of Jewry intent on controlling the world when this book details an anti-Jewish global network. Perhaps those who are engaged in such transnational networks themselves, and struggle with the creation of codes and secret lines of communication are prone to project upon those they seek to target the same sort of behavior that they do. Those with a guilty conscience are often quick to consider others just like themselves, and this book makes it clear that the author is quite willing to risk danger to help ensure that the horror of the Holocaust never happens again, at least not if he has anything to say or do about it.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2012...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2012...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2014...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2012...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2011...
June 1, 2013
Inhoud:
Gedocumenteerd relaas van de Oostenrijker die onmiddelijk na zijn bevrijding uit het concentratiekamp Mauthausen een intensieve jacht begon op intussen naar Arabische of Zuid-Amerikaanse landen ontsnapte oorlogsmisdadigers. In dit boek vertelt Wiesenthal hoe hij erin slaagde de geheimen van ODESSA (de organisatie die oorlogsmisdadigers hielp ontsnappen) te ontsluieren en Eichmann en vele andere oorlogsmisdadigers op te sporen.
Waardering:
Het vertelt het verhaal over Wiesenthal, die gelijk na zijn gevangenschap in WOII op jacht gaat naar de mensen die dit allemaal hebben gedaan. Daarnaast vertelt hij ook over zijn gevecht met de mensen om hem heen, maar soms ook met zichzelf. Dit is een verhaal dat spreekt over de weinige mogelijkheden die Wiesenthal heeft, maar ook hoe hij tegen werd gewerkt. Maar dat zijn gezin een van de belangrijkste dingen in zijn leven was, maar dat dit gezin ook gevaar liep.
De schrijfstijl is apart, omdat het soms lastig is om je er in te verplaatsen. Maar het laat wel zien wat er speelt.
Zonder twijfel vormt dit relaas adembenemende lectuur, maar evenzeer is het ook een waardig en indrukwekkend 'In Memoriam' voor de miljoenen slachtoffers die niet vergeten mogen worden.
Overige boekinformatie:
© 1967 Elsevier
Gebonden, linnen band
368 pagina's incl. zwart/wit foto's en andere illustraties
Gedocumenteerd relaas van de Oostenrijker die onmiddelijk na zijn bevrijding uit het concentratiekamp Mauthausen een intensieve jacht begon op intussen naar Arabische of Zuid-Amerikaanse landen ontsnapte oorlogsmisdadigers. In dit boek vertelt Wiesenthal hoe hij erin slaagde de geheimen van ODESSA (de organisatie die oorlogsmisdadigers hielp ontsnappen) te ontsluieren en Eichmann en vele andere oorlogsmisdadigers op te sporen.
Waardering:
Het vertelt het verhaal over Wiesenthal, die gelijk na zijn gevangenschap in WOII op jacht gaat naar de mensen die dit allemaal hebben gedaan. Daarnaast vertelt hij ook over zijn gevecht met de mensen om hem heen, maar soms ook met zichzelf. Dit is een verhaal dat spreekt over de weinige mogelijkheden die Wiesenthal heeft, maar ook hoe hij tegen werd gewerkt. Maar dat zijn gezin een van de belangrijkste dingen in zijn leven was, maar dat dit gezin ook gevaar liep.
De schrijfstijl is apart, omdat het soms lastig is om je er in te verplaatsen. Maar het laat wel zien wat er speelt.
Zonder twijfel vormt dit relaas adembenemende lectuur, maar evenzeer is het ook een waardig en indrukwekkend 'In Memoriam' voor de miljoenen slachtoffers die niet vergeten mogen worden.
Overige boekinformatie:
© 1967 Elsevier
Gebonden, linnen band
368 pagina's incl. zwart/wit foto's en andere illustraties
January 6, 2010
This book gives some of stories of Wiesenthal's 'clients' - the Nazis he located and help bring to justice. And some of those who managed to escape justice. It's amazing to me the perspective that he was able to maintain - he was not consumed with hate or bitterness, just a need to see justice done by all sides. He is someone I would love to meet - maybe that will be possible in the next phase of life.
January 2, 2015
This book is well organized and well-written; truly interesting to read about the past of the author, his experiences during the Holocaust and most of all his journey fighting for justice during the decades following the war.
August 29, 2015
I first watched the Netflix documentary called "I Have Never Forgotten You" about Simon Weisenthal, the famous Nazi hunter, which let me to this memoir. It is a remarkable story told by a remarkable man.
January 28, 2020
I read this book shortly after it was published. It has never been forgotten. It stands as a testimony to man's ability to subjugate those who are weaker or considered inferior.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews