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Review
"a model of fascinating description and measured analysis" --Sunday Times
`Segev draws a vivid portrait of Wiesenthal the man.' --The Independent, Carole Angier
`Segev draws a vivid portrait of Wiesenthal the man.' --The Independent, Carole Angier
Book Description
From esteemed Israeli journalist and historian Tom Segev, the first fully documented biography of Simon Wiesenthal, revealing the fascinating truth behind this simultaneously admired, despised, and feared hunter of Nazis.
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9 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Tom Segev, an Israeli writer and reporter for Haaretz, has produced a scrupulously researched account of Simon Wiesenthal's life and "legends", by which he means the often varying versions of Wiesenthal's hunt for Nazi criminals. Wiesenthal did his work from an office, first in Linz, then in Vienna, combing through documents in search of SS officers -- "the murderers among us", as Wiesenthal termed it. Famous for locating Eichmann in Argentina, for hunting down the commandant of Treblinka and many others, most famously Mengele, Wiesenthal gave varying accounts of his activities. Segev has gone through the archives, the biographies, the adventure stories, with - I can only say the doggedness of a Wiesenthal.
Unfortunately, not all the details of Wiesenthal's work in, say, the 1950's are necessary. I could have skipped a lot of the minutiae without regret. Martin Gilbert also collects minute details about Churchill but as a historian he is a compelling, lucid writer and Tom Segev, at least in translation, is not. The narrative gets bogged down and the reader loses the thread. As the story develops and Wiesenthal gains greater reknown, however, the story picks up speed. Segev describes the establishment of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles and Wiesenthal's initial support for its director, Marvin Hier, and his growing dissatisfaction at being treated he felt, as a mere figurehead. Even more interesting was the rivalry Wiesenthal felt with Elie Wiesel for moral authority and indeed, for the Nobel Prize. Segev brings out the basic philosophical difference between the two: Wiesenthal was a universal humanist, insisting the Holocaust happened not just to the Jews, but to millions of other victims of the Nazis. Wiesel, on the other hand, in establishing the Washington Holocaust Museum spoke out for the primarily Jewish effect of the Holocaust, though there were other victims.
Segev's tone is strictly dispassionate. Nazi crimes are mentioned only in very general terms. The focus of the book is on retelling the life and sifting for the truth as thoroughly as possible. Segev is very factual. He asks at every turn, is there evidence?
Segev presents Wiesenthal as a difficult person, with reason. He seemed not to care about his wife and child. His daughter grew up and went to school in Austria, an anti-Semitic country. Wiesenthal brought many Nazis to justice, but he had many failures, too. Segev astutely assesses his motives for Nazi hunting as rooted in survivor guilt. He explains this better than I could in the last chapter. I think Segev's journalistic skepticism is needed, but at times I feel he is overly European in his outlook. For example, he dismisses Golda Meir as "a suspicious person with narrow horizons" in the same breath as he praises Austrian chancellor Bruno Kreisky as "a statesman who thought in the broadest international terms". Yet Segev's discussion of Kreisky's character in contrast to his arch-rival Wiesenthal in terms of Viennese Jew versus Ostjude is right on target. Lots of good material here, but most of it is in the last 100 pages of a 400 page book.
Unfortunately, not all the details of Wiesenthal's work in, say, the 1950's are necessary. I could have skipped a lot of the minutiae without regret. Martin Gilbert also collects minute details about Churchill but as a historian he is a compelling, lucid writer and Tom Segev, at least in translation, is not. The narrative gets bogged down and the reader loses the thread. As the story develops and Wiesenthal gains greater reknown, however, the story picks up speed. Segev describes the establishment of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles and Wiesenthal's initial support for its director, Marvin Hier, and his growing dissatisfaction at being treated he felt, as a mere figurehead. Even more interesting was the rivalry Wiesenthal felt with Elie Wiesel for moral authority and indeed, for the Nobel Prize. Segev brings out the basic philosophical difference between the two: Wiesenthal was a universal humanist, insisting the Holocaust happened not just to the Jews, but to millions of other victims of the Nazis. Wiesel, on the other hand, in establishing the Washington Holocaust Museum spoke out for the primarily Jewish effect of the Holocaust, though there were other victims.
Segev's tone is strictly dispassionate. Nazi crimes are mentioned only in very general terms. The focus of the book is on retelling the life and sifting for the truth as thoroughly as possible. Segev is very factual. He asks at every turn, is there evidence?
Segev presents Wiesenthal as a difficult person, with reason. He seemed not to care about his wife and child. His daughter grew up and went to school in Austria, an anti-Semitic country. Wiesenthal brought many Nazis to justice, but he had many failures, too. Segev astutely assesses his motives for Nazi hunting as rooted in survivor guilt. He explains this better than I could in the last chapter. I think Segev's journalistic skepticism is needed, but at times I feel he is overly European in his outlook. For example, he dismisses Golda Meir as "a suspicious person with narrow horizons" in the same breath as he praises Austrian chancellor Bruno Kreisky as "a statesman who thought in the broadest international terms". Yet Segev's discussion of Kreisky's character in contrast to his arch-rival Wiesenthal in terms of Viennese Jew versus Ostjude is right on target. Lots of good material here, but most of it is in the last 100 pages of a 400 page book.
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