The Importance of Simon Wiesenthal
by Linda Jacobs Altman
Plot
Simon Wiesenthal is a Holocaust survivor. After being liberated from the death camps, he devotes his life to finding Nazi war criminals in hiding. The climax in the book is when Simon is on the trail of former Nazi Adolf Eichmann, he made what is called the "Final Solution". The rising action in the book takes place when Simon is going after multiple Nazi war criminals. Simon finds over a thousand war criminals, whether they were dead or alive. Simon thought that if he could make the war criminals feel hunted, they would never be free and always live in fear that they might get caught. Simon's motto was "Justice, not vengeance".
Conflict
In his work, Simon has to find Nazi war criminals, but that's not all. He has to take on the troubles of Nazi supporters giving him death threats, and he even has to compete against other Nazi hunters. The conflict in this would be Man vs. Society. The conflict is both external and internal. I know it's both of these because internally he feels that he hasn't caught enough Nazi war criminals. Externally his wife wants to move, and critics are hating on his work. Simon's main rival in the story is Elie Wiesel. After the two compete on many Holocaust related topics, and even compete for the Nobel Peace Prize, the become enemies. Another conflict in the story is that Simon feels that the Gypsies should be honored in the Holocaust just as much as Jews are. When he takes this idea to his own museum, they reject the idea. Simon then takes his thoughts public. Many Jews disagree with this and Simon is forced to drop the idea
Setting
The time that this auto biography takes place in is around 1908 (the time when he was born) , to around 2005 (when he died). The book takes place in numerous Concentration Camps, a Ghetto in Buczacz, and VIenna where Simon moved after the war and lived there with his wife and daughter until he died. It also takes place across the United States. Simon gets a museum named after him and comes to visit it. He also comes to America to speak with Elie Wiesel and then visits numerous Holocaust museums
Buczacz
This is where Simon was born
Vienna
Vienna was where Simon's office was and where he lived
Simon Wiesenthal's Museum
It is located in Los Angeles
Characters
Simon Wiesenthal is the main character in the book. Simon's mother, Rosa, is another main character in the book. She moves Simon and her parents away during the war into Vienna. Cyla Muller is Simon's wife. She plays a huge role in the book because she goes missing for around 5 years. Simon eventually finds her after the war is over. The final main character in the book is Heinrich Gunthert. He finds that Simon has a talent for drawing, he takes him out of the ghetto and puts him in his own office so that he can work on his talent. He later on in the book saves Simon from being deported to a death camp.
Simon Wiesenthal
Simon Wiesenthals Search for Dr. Josef Mengele (Documentary)