"We are laying to rest today the conscience of the Holocaust," said Rabbi Marvin Hier, the founder and head of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. "No one has done more than Simon Wiesenthal for keeping alive the memories of the Holocaust."
Among the hundreds of people at the funeral were foreign dignitaries, including the German minister of justice, the Russian president and the Italian ambassador.
The Israeli government rejected criticism that no ministers attended. A government spokesman explained that Rabbi Michael Melchior, Deputy Minister for Diaspora Affairs, attended. "He was the most suitable because of his close relation with Wiesenthal and also because of his government position," a government spokesman said.
Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel attended a memorial service in Vienna on Wednesday before Wiesenthal's body was flown to Israel.
Wiesenthal founded the Jewish Documentation Center, later named after him, in Vienna in 1977, but the main branch is in Los Angeles. "Wiesenthal's personal mission has ended, and there are others who are carrying on with the work," said Ephraim Zuroff, director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Israel.
Wiesenthal was born in what is now Ukraine to a family of well-off merchants. After earning an architecture degree, he married and worked in Ukraine until 1941, when the Nazis invaded. Wiesenthal escaped but was caught and survived for four years in several death camps. His wife also survived, and they reunited in 1945 and gave birth to a daughter.
After liberation, Wiesenthal worked at the War Crimes Office of the U.S. army and helped prepare evidence against Nazi war criminals. He is credited with tracking down 1,200 Nazis in 16 countries. The most infamous was Adolf Eichmann, who carried out the Jewish extermination program in which six million were murdered or died from starvation and diseases.
Acting partially on information provided by Wiesenthal, Israeli Mossad agents captured Eichmann in Argentina in 1960 and smuggled him to Israel. He was subsequently interrogated, prosecuted and executed by the Israel authorities, the only person Israel ever has sentenced to capital punishment.
Wiesenthal also helped find the Nazi officer who had arrested teenager Anne Frank, who died in a concentration camp and whose diary from her family’s hiding place in Amsterdam has become famous.
Among the hundreds of people at the funeral were foreign dignitaries, including the German minister of justice, the Russian president and the Italian ambassador.
The Israeli government rejected criticism that no ministers attended. A government spokesman explained that Rabbi Michael Melchior, Deputy Minister for Diaspora Affairs, attended. "He was the most suitable because of his close relation with Wiesenthal and also because of his government position," a government spokesman said.
Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel attended a memorial service in Vienna on Wednesday before Wiesenthal's body was flown to Israel.
Wiesenthal founded the Jewish Documentation Center, later named after him, in Vienna in 1977, but the main branch is in Los Angeles. "Wiesenthal's personal mission has ended, and there are others who are carrying on with the work," said Ephraim Zuroff, director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Israel.
Wiesenthal was born in what is now Ukraine to a family of well-off merchants. After earning an architecture degree, he married and worked in Ukraine until 1941, when the Nazis invaded. Wiesenthal escaped but was caught and survived for four years in several death camps. His wife also survived, and they reunited in 1945 and gave birth to a daughter.
After liberation, Wiesenthal worked at the War Crimes Office of the U.S. army and helped prepare evidence against Nazi war criminals. He is credited with tracking down 1,200 Nazis in 16 countries. The most infamous was Adolf Eichmann, who carried out the Jewish extermination program in which six million were murdered or died from starvation and diseases.
Acting partially on information provided by Wiesenthal, Israeli Mossad agents captured Eichmann in Argentina in 1960 and smuggled him to Israel. He was subsequently interrogated, prosecuted and executed by the Israel authorities, the only person Israel ever has sentenced to capital punishment.
Wiesenthal also helped find the Nazi officer who had arrested teenager Anne Frank, who died in a concentration camp and whose diary from her family’s hiding place in Amsterdam has become famous.