On Holocaust Remembrance Day, Gov. Schwarzenegger And Mayor Villaraigosa Participate In Dedication Of Simon Wiesenthal’s Original Office At The Museum Of Tolerance

April 30, 2008

ON HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY, GOV. SCHWARZENEGGER AND MAYOR VILLARAIGOSA PARTICIPATE IN DEDICATION OF SIMON WIESENTHAL’S ORIGINAL OFFICE AT THE MUSEUM OF TOLERANCE

On Thursday, May 1, 2008, in observance of Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), CA Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa joined Simon Wiesenthal Center officials, trustees and other guests to dedicate the Museum of Tolerance’s newest interactive exhibits: a dramatic recreation of legendary Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal’s office in Vienna. The dedication took place at the Museum of Tolerance, Los Angeles.

The exhibit, made possible by a generous grant from Alan and Susan Casden, was created using the actual artifacts from Mr. Wiesenthal’s office — his desk, books, and the many of awards and honors he received for his work—brought over piece by piece from Austria. It was from this very office that Wiesenthal, working largely on his own, contributed to the capture and successful prosecution of over a 1,100 Nazi war criminals, including Adolf Eichmann, Franz Stangl, Commandant of Treblinka death camp and Karl Silberbauer, the Nazi who arrested Anne Frank. The exhibit is also the setting for a state-of-the-art multimedia presentation that highlights significant events in Mr. Wiesenthal's life, featuring exclusive footage of personal interviews, conversations and speeches to dramatize sensational cases of the pursuit and prosecution of Nazi war criminals, and showcases significant artifacts, archival documents, letters, and photographs from the Center's prestigious collection including the original sketches Wiesenthal drew of the horrors he witnessed in Mauthausen concentration camp, and the first letter Mr. Wiesenthal wrote to the U.S. Camp Commander in May 1943, offering detailed information about Nazi murderers and their victims.

Photo: Bart Bartholomew

 
For more information, please call the Wiesenthal Center’s Public Relations department, 310-553-9036.