How Did Simon Wiesenthal Survive The Holocaust

World War II was no doubt a very dark time, but there were people who vowed revenge on the Nazis for what they had done. According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum up to 6 million Jews were killed during the Holocaust. Simon Wiesenthal was a devoted Nazi hunter after he was placed in several concentration camps during World War II and survived through all five of them (“Simon Wiesenthal”). When people think of all the lives the Nazis took, the thought of Nazis killed in revenge normally does not come to mind. Simon Wiesenthal was no doubt one of the strongest Jews to survive the Holocaust and contain the bravery to bring justice upon the Nazis.

Simon Wiesenthal was born in 1908 on December 31st. He was born in a city called Buczacz located in Galicia. The Wiesenthal family was already involved with war even before the Holocaust. Simon Wiesenthal's father died in World War I being a part of the Austrian Army. His father's death did not stop him from wanting to be educated. Wiesenthal earned a degree in architectural engineering and put that to work in his own practice which was located in Lvov. A couple years after his practice was set up the Soviet Union took over Lvov. After the

Union took over, Wiesenthal was forced to work in a bedspring factory which was nothing compared to what would come. While working, Simon bribed people to ensure his wife, Cyla, and himself were not shipped off to Siberia (“Simon Wiesenthal”).
So many Jewish families during the Holocaust were faced with many deaths. Simon Wiesenthal's step father was taken to prison by Secret Soviet Police where he eventually died. Wiesenthal's step brother was shot shot by the same people who took his step father. Even though Simon and his wife could be considered lucky ones for escaping being deported, they were brought somewhere else. The two were brought to labor camps where they were to work for the Ostbahn works which was a repair shop for the Lvov’s Eastern Railroad (“About Simon Wiesenthal”).
During the Holocaust, many Jews tried to escape the concentration camps but few succeeded. To be able to make it out of any concentration camp is unbelievable. In October of 1943, Simon Wiesenthal escaped camp Ostbahn. After Wiesenthal's escape, he was brought back to a camp by the name of Janowska just a year later. There were only a few Jews who made it out of that camp and Wiesenthal was one of them. Once at camp Janowska the prisoners were sent to Mauthausen located in Austria. “Weighing less than 100 pounds and lying helplessly in a barracks where the stench was so strong that even hardboiled SS guards would not enter, Wiesenthal was barely alive when Mauthausen was liberated by an American armored unit on May 5, 1945” (“Biography”).
There were millions of Jews involved in the Holocaust and once it was over many of them wanted nothing to do with it anymore. Simon Wiesenthal was one who felt the urge to bring justice upon the Nazis. When Wiesenthal decided he wanted to help find Nazis he gave the U.S. Army a list of them. Simon also ended up working in certain camps that were for refugees. He had big goals for who he was going to arrest and most of them were achieved. Adolf Eichmann was sought after by Wiesenthal and the Israeli. The Israeli ended up arresting and executing Eichmann. Wiesenthal wanted to bring justice upon Eichmann but he also believed that he could have been used for useful information. Wiesenthal continued to find and trial as many Nazis as he could (Segev).
Through the struggle of trying to identify all of the Nazi criminals, Simon Wiesenthal had a few major arrests. One of his most famous arrests were Franz Stangl. Stangl worked at two different death camps, Treblinka and Sobibor, and Wiesenthal put him in prison for life. A second major arrest was Karl Silberbauer who was involved in the arrest of the Frank family. Wiesenthal was a major part in bringing justice to millions of Jews who were sent to camps to die (Segev).
Toward the end of Simon Wiesenthal's life he was awarded and recognized for the things he has done.

Wiesenthal earned two Medals of Freedom, Dutch and Luxembourg, along with a U.S. Congressional Medal of Honor. He also had an HBO film made for him titled Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story in 1989 (“Simon Wiesenthal”). Wiesenthal was a nobleman who gave his best efforts into bringing justice to the lives of many Jews. He wrote a book called The Sunflower about his many war experiences and of the things that happened to him (Segev). In writing this book, he shows that he is strong enough and willing to tell about the many things he has endured throughout the Holocaust. Simon Wiesenthal died on on September 20, 2005, making it to the age of 94 (“Simon

Wiesenthal”).
Despite many hardships during the Holocaust, Simon Wiesenthal survived and took a stand against the terrible thing had happened to many prisoners, making him one of the strongest survivors. Wiesenthal was brave for saving himself and his wife along with having a heart full hope. Being involved in multiple famous arrests, Wiesenthal's name is greatly remembered for being a major part of the Holocaust. All in all, Simon Wiesenthal accomplished his goal of bringing justice upon the Nazi criminals and made sure that what happened during the Holocaust should always be remembered.