Czech Jewish community remembers legendary Nazi-hunter Wiesenthal

Legendary Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal will be buried in Israel on Friday, after a life-time spent bringing war criminals to justice. Tributes to Mr Wiesenthal have been pouring in since his death on Tuesday, including many from the Czech Republic, which lost 80,000 Jews to the Holocaust. Rob Cameron spoke to Tomas Kraus, chairman of the federation of Czech Jewish communities, about his legacy.

Simon Wiesenthal, photo: CTK

"I think his legacy is enormous. This is a living memento. And even now he's passed away, this legacy will go on. It's not only a legacy which is concerning the Jewish community, it's a very general issue. It's a memento which is I would say a very overall memento valid for the whole of society as such. And this memento says whenever there is a crime against humanity, and we are not speaking only about Nazi crimes, crimes against humanity may be very contemporary and current, but wherever there is a criminal he or she has to be aware of the fact that sooner or later someone like Simon Wiesenthal will come and pursue justice."

Did you have the opportunity to meet Simon Wiesenthal?

"Yes I did, several times, but I remember the very first time, which was in Olomouc, about six or eight years ago, when he received an honorary doctorate at the university. We spoke, and I was astonished that he spoke Czech. He still had his Czech because he studied architecture in Prague before the war, and he learnt very good Czech. And he was remembering his years in Prague as some of the best in his life."

Tomas Kraus

Mr Wiesenthal tracked down more than 1,000 Nazi war criminals. Were any of them hiding in the Czech Republic?

"Not as far as we know. But there was a case that was related to the Czech Republic. There was somebody who was hiding in Germany but who had very close links to Czechoslovakia and especially to Terezin [the concentration camp]. I'm referring to the case of Anton Malloth. And when we discovered this man was hiding in Germany, of course we consulted the whole case with Simon Wiesenthal and his centre in Vienna. In the end Anton Malloth and imprisoned, though he was in his late 80s."

The former Czech President Vaclav Havel said Simon Wiesenthal "taught us never to forget." Will we forget the Holocaust, one day?

"This is a very important question. We hope the issue of the Holocaust will always remain a part of the legacy of the human memory. And we - I'm not referring only to the Jewish Federation or Jewish institutions in this country, it's an issue which is of concern to many institutions - are trying are best to incorporate the legacy of the Holocaust for instance in the curricula of Czech schools. We have to do our best to keep the memory alive."