Wiesenthal Center Praises Pope's Visit to Auschwitz

May 27, 2006

WIESENTHAL CENTER PRAISES POPE’S VISIT TO AUSCHWITZ

The Simon Wiesenthal Center praised the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the site of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp.

“This is an historic trip as important as that of his predecessor Pope John Paul II,” said Rabbi Marvin Hier, Founder and Dean of the Wiesenthal Center.”

“The fact that a German Pope raised in Nazi Germany and who once wore the uniform of the Hitler Youth kneels in prayer at the site of the world’s greatest atrocity and condemns hatred is a repudiation of antisemitism and a repudiation of those like Iranian President Ahmadinejad who refer to the Holocaust as a myth,” Hier concluded.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS and the Council of Europe.

For more information, please contact the Center's Public Relations Department, 310-553-9036.