Simon Wiesenthal quotes

Simon Wiesenthal was an Austrian Holocaust survivor and renowned Nazi hunter. His relentless efforts led to the capture and prosecution of numerous war criminals after World War II. He became a powerful advocate for justice and the preservation of Holocaust memory. Here are 20 of his quotes:

You're a religious man. You believe in God and life after death. I also 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 jeweler.' Another will say, 'I smuggled coffee and American cigarettes.' Still another will say, 'I built houses,' but I will say, 'I didn't forget you.

Simon Wiesenthal

Survival is a privilege which entails obligations. I am forever asking myself what I can do for those who have not survived.

Simon Wiesenthal

Humour is the weapon of unarmed people: it helps people who are oppressed to smile at the situation that pains them.

Simon Wiesenthal

The history of man is the history of crimes, and history can repeat. So information is a defence. Through this we can build, we must build, a defence against repetition.

Simon Wiesenthal

The schools would fail through their silence, the Church through its forgiveness, and the home through the denial and silence of the parents. The new generation has to hear what the older generation refuses to tell it.

Simon Wiesenthal

There is no denying that Hitler and Stalin are alive today... they are waiting for us to forget, because this is what makes possible the resurrection of these two monsters.

Simon Wiesenthal

Survivors should be like seismographs... They should sense danger before others do, identify its outlines and reveal them. They are not entitled to be wrong a second time or regard as harmless something that might lead to catastrophe.

Simon Wiesenthal

For evil to flourish, it only requires good men to do nothing.

Simon Wiesenthal

The combination of hatred and technology is the greatest danger threatening mankind.

Simon Wiesenthal

God must have been on leave during the Holocaust.

Simon Wiesenthal

Justice for crimes against humanity must have no limitations.

Simon Wiesenthal

What connects two thousand years of genocide? Too much power in too few hands.

Simon Wiesenthal

Discovering witnesses is just as important as catching criminals.

Simon Wiesenthal

For your benefit, learn from our tragedy. It is not a written law that the next victims must be Jews. It can also be other people.

Simon Wiesenthal

The end was surely near. The Nazis killed you only when you were naked, because they knew, psychologically, that naked people never resist.

Simon Wiesenthal

Technology without hatred can be a blessing. Technology with hatred is always a disaster.

Simon Wiesenthal

When history looks back I want people to know the Nazis weren't able to kill millions of people and get away with it.

Simon Wiesenthal

I know I am not only the bad conscience of the Nazis. I am also the bad conscience of the Jews. Because what I have taken up as my duty was everybody's duty.

Simon Wiesenthal